John Billingsley wants to bring Phlox back to Star Trek

Star Trek: Enterprise actor, John Billingsley, wants to bring Phlox back to Trek.

John Billingsley is known to many Star Trek fans as Phlox, of Star Trek: Enterprise fame. At the time of the show’s launch in 2001, it was following the tail end of Star Trek: Voyager, and the market seemed to be burdened by the glut of Trek that had been produced steadily in both television and movie form since the late 1980s.

Enterprise was the last Trek series in the standard timeline, with the next Trek property launching five years later in the form of the 2009 Star Trek reboot. From there, Enterprise was seen as the run of the Rick Berman/Brannon Braga Era of Star Trek. Arguably the most successful era. So for Enterprise to be seen as a failure, compared to the other shows, was a real blow.

Streaming services and re-runs have reignited a fanbase for Enterprise, however. The show is now seen as beloved and misunderstood. It now has a dedicated crop of fans that sing its praises, many of whom (myself included) only got in on it when it went to Netflix.

This has opened up some serious thought of exploring more with these characters, which brings us back to Billingsley, who is very enthusiastic about returning to the character of Phlox, the very same one he played on Enterprise.

John Billingsley wants to bring back Phlox on Star Trek: Prodigy

When speaking to Heavy about his time on Enterprise, the idea of coming back to Star Trek was brought up. Billingsly was apparently approached about trying out for a role in Prodigy but since he was already a Star Trek character, he offered instead to return as the character

"They asked me if I wanted to audition for a small, supporting role on ‘Prodigy’. And I said… could you tell them that I played Dr. Phlox? Maybe they’d like to have Dr. Phlox back?"

Billingsly went on to talk about how much he’d enjoy returning to the franchise.

"Animated would be fun. I’d be happy to come back as Dr. Phlox animated!"

Billingsley’s return to Star Trek would be a big moment for many fans. With him being Denobulian and their species not having much revealed about their lifespan, the possibility he’s still alive over two hundred-plus years later is possible. Maybe he’s simply a hologram that Dal can interact with as he did with the likes of Spock.

Another option is Strange New Worlds, set far closer to the events of Enterprise than Prodigy. Either show would work, and if we’re thinking of more than just Billingsley’s Phlox (Jonathan Archer and T’Pol?), then Strange New Worlds would be a better fit.