Why Kim Rhodes didn’t get cast as T’Pol on Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise cast Jolene Blalock for the role of the Vulcan T’Pol.

But Jolene Blalock wasn’t the first actress in the running for the part of the Vulcan on Star Trek: Enterprise. In fact, Kim Rhodes, best known for her role as Sheriff Jody Mills on Supernatural, was also up for the part. After she had a successful appearance on Star Trek: Voyager, Kate Mulgrew told executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, via Rhodes, to get the girl on their show. Mulgrew wanted Rhodes to appear as a recurring character on Voyager.

Kim Rhodes appeared on a recent Delta Flyers episode with Robert Duncan McNeill and Garrett Wang during a rewatch of “Ashes to Ashes,” the season six episode on Star Trek: Voyager to discuss her time on the series and what transpired afterwards. [via Trekmovie] After Mulgrew’s request to bring Rhodes onto Voyager, Braga and Berman told Rhodes that they had written a role for her in the next Star Trek series, which was Star Trek: Enterprise.

The actress went on to say that she screen tested in front of thirty-five people at Paramount, and then her agent had to tell her she didn’t get the part because she was the wrong physical type. McNeill clarified by asking, “They said you were the wrong physical type?” And Rhodes’ heart undoubtedly dropped when she asked her agent for further information.

"“I specifically said ‘did they mean I was too fat?’ and my agent said ‘yes.’”"

Couldn’t the higher-ups at Paramount simply have said they were going with another actress? Why they felt it was necessary to specify their reasons for not hiring Rhodes is beyond ridiculous. Maybe that was how things were done back then, but that still doesn’t make it right.

Not getting the role of T’Pol on Star Trek: Enterprise sent Kim Rhodes away from Hollywood.

After being turned down for the Star Trek: Enterprise role in such a heartbreaking manner, Kim Rhodes headed back to the theater for a year, telling McNeill and Wang that  “I learned what exactly pretty is as pretty does in Hollywood.”

Fortunately, the actress went on to have a successful career, being cast as one of the main characters on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody before her recurring role as the sheriff on Supernatural.