Scott Bakula’s Shocking Star Trek Comeback: Plan For New Archer TV Series Explained

Scott Bakula is eyeing a return to Star Trek in a new TV series, 20 years after playing Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise. Bakula led Enterprise for 4 seasons on United Paramount Network (UPN). After Enterprise was canceled in 2005, Bakula went on to star in Two and a Half Men and NCIS: New Orleans, and Scott earned his fifth Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Behind the Candelabra.

Star Trek: Enterprise has gained a greater following and appreciation in recent years, prompting hopes that Scott Bakula would return to Star Trek the way Patrick Stewart reprised Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: Picard. After years away, Bakula has renewed his ties to Star Trek, appearing at the Peabody Awards, guesting on The D-Con Chamber podcast, and making his first appearance since 2016 at STLV: Trek to Vegas 2025 Convention.

At STLV, TrekMovie exclusively reported that Star Trek: Enterprise writer-producer Mike Sussman has been developing a new TV series with Scott Bakula centering on Scott's return to his iconic role as Jonathan Archer. Naturally, this has ignited a frenzy of excitement and speculation among Star Trek fans. Here's what we know about Scott Bakula's Star Trek: United.

New Scott Bakula-Led Star Trek TV Series Concept Explained

Bakula & Mike Sussman Are Developing Star Trek: United

Scott Bakula's new Star Trek TV series concept - dubbed Star Trek: United or possibly Star Trek United - would be about Jonathan Archer's time as President of the United Federation of Planets. This idea was born from a graphic seen in the Mike Sussman-penned episode of Star Trek: Enterprise season 4, "In A Mirror Darkly," in which the Mirror Universe's Jonathan Archer learned about his Prime Universe counterpart.

Star Trek: Enterprise's data card, which is recognized as official canon, revealed that after his years as Captain of the NX-01 Enterprise, Jonathan Archer entered galactic politics and served as the first Federation President. This is fitting since Archer's voyages on Star Trek: Enterprise created the crucial alliances that led to the founding of the Federation.

Mike Sussman told TrekMovie that the seed for Star Trek: United was planted because of Star Trek: Picard, and Scott Bakula's proposed series would be “a political thriller and a family drama set in those chaotic, formative years of the Federation.” This was an idea that an excited Bakula "was really intrigued by."

Sussman hopes Star Trek: United would "do for Star Trek, what Andor did for Star Wars," as "a show where you can tell adult stories about adults and tell them in a very grounded, realistic way.” Sussman says Bakula likes the idea of a different take on Jonathan Archer, and Star Trek: United offers a different direction for the former starship Captain.

What Happened With Scott Bakula’s Star Trek: United TV Series

The Time Wasn't Right For Star Trek: United

Mike Sussman revealed to TrekMovie that a couple of years ago, with Scott Bakula's approval, he brought the concept for Star Trek: United to Alex Kurtzman and Secret Hideout, which oversees the development and production of Star Trek on Paramount+'s TV series. Sussman prepared what he called a "high-level overview," with a follow-up pitch that would have “included a pilot story, character arcs, and episode ideas.”

Secret Hideout liked Sussman's idea and took Star Trek: United seriously enough that they brought it to Paramount executives. Star Trek: United had the added appeal of Scott Bakula's return as a CBS Studios and Paramount series lead, since the Golden Globe winner was a huge star for the network.

Unfortunately, Paramount and Secret Hideout opted not to pursue Star Trek: United. One reason was the similarities between Sussman's pitch and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which was in development, and is now set to premiere on Paramount+ in early 2026 with Oscar-winner Holly Hunter as series lead. Paramount+ was reducing its streaming series, canceling hit shows like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Can Scott Bakula’s Star Trek: United TV Series Still Happen At Paramount+?

Paramount New Skydance Regime May Welcome Star Trek: United

In early August 2025, Skydance Media, under CEO David Ellison, completed its purchase of Paramount Global. As a new regime sets in at Paramount, Mike Sussman believes the time could be right to pitch Star Trek: United again. Sussman and Bakula have continued to work together on a non-Star Trek project, but Mike has also refined Star Trek: United's concept.

In order to avoid conflict with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which is set in outer space and San Francisco, Sussman changed Star Trek: United's setting to the planet Babel, tying it closer to Star Trek: The Original Series, which introduced Babel as a galactic diplomatic hub. Of course, Star Trek: United would be set in the late 22nd century, 1000 years before Starfleet Academy.

New Paramount CEO David Ellison is a Star Trek fan who executive produced Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond. Ellison also announced that Paramount will have a new focus on streaming, promising, “We are committed to increasing investment in premium, exclusive content."

Mike Sussman and others, like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, hope Paramount's new regime will welcome new Star Trek projects. Perhaps Star Trek: United still has a chance of bringing back Scott Bakula two decades after Star Trek: Enterprise. As Bakula encouragingly teased fans on stage at STLV, "You never know."