Rainn Wilson is making a case to return to Star Trek
By Chad Porto
Rainn Wilson is open to returning to Star Trek with Strange New Worlds
Rainn Wilson will forever be Dwight K. Schrute to many Americans, having played the character for over a decade on the American version of The Office. His humor and comedic timing opened up the possibility of him landing other roles outside of that universe, namely in Star Trek. Wilson made his Trek debut on Discovery as iconic original series character Harry Mudd.
When talking to The Big Issue about possibly returning to Star Trek, Wilson wasn’t shy about being a fan of Strange New Worlds and was even asked if he had emailed anyone at the show about returning.
In a clearly comedic response, he did say he emailed Akiva Goldsman, and while his tone was
"As a matter of fact I have (emailed someone). Akiva Goldsman. He’s a kind of a big deal. Oscar winner.I said, ‘Hey, bring back Harry Mudd. He would fit right in.’"
Though the question of continuity came up, as no one on the original series had met Mudd before, and since Spock is on the Enterprise in Strange New Worlds, they’d have to get creative. Wilson had an easy plan though;
"…Because in the original series, Spock would have said [Wilson begins a very good Spock impression] ‘I know this man captain. I met him with Captain Christopher Pike. He’s not to be trusted.’ “I guess we just need to get Spock out of the picture.”"
Harry Mudd would make a great addition to Strange New Worlds
You could easily bring back Mudd to Star Trek with Strange New Worlds. With characters like La’an Noonien Singh and Erica Ortega, you have two characters who could easily sit down with Mudd in the story and have an interaction with them that never bleeds over into the original.
It could be a top-secret mission, Singh could do something against regulation and want to bury it or Ortega could screw up, and want to form a bond with her (after constant arguing, obviously), Singh can cover for Ortega, and thereby keeping the name of Harry Mudd out of the records and away from Spock.
It’s easy, so let’s do it.