10 Reasons To Greenlight Star Trek: United NOW

2. Let's Talk About The T'Pol In The Room

We have made no secret on the channel of our enduring love for T'Pol. The Ups & Downs for Star Trek: Lower Decks' episode Fissure Quest were a love-letter to Jolene Blalock, delighted as we were for her very unexpected return to Trek.

While yes, any extension of Star Trek: Enterprise would offer an opportunity to see T'Pol in live action again, expectations should and must be tempered. We want her back, yet the likelihood dwindled some time ago.

In an interview with TrekMovie, John Billingsley spoke about the lack of contact between the cast and Blalock in the years that followed Enterprise's cancellation. Though she did make an appearance at the Star Trek Day celebrations in 2021, which in itself spurred a whirlwind of rumours about a return, it was simply that: an appearance. Mike McMahan reached out to her after this to invite her back for that cameo, yet as TrekMovie points out in their article, she didn't take part in any of the press surrounding the episode.

TrekCulture has for years hoped for a T'Pol cameo in Strange New Worlds. While one hundred years later in the universe, what is a century to a Vulcan? To date, there has been no appearance, nor a flashback to Enterprise's era, despite several references to the earlier show dotted throughout.

So, greenlighting United must not be predicated on the hope that Jolene Blalock will return to the role. Having said that, greenlighting United now would at the very least provide a platform for the entire cast to return, should the correct story arise. 

Eighteen years passed between Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek: Picard, twenty between Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Prodigy, and now twenty-one years between These Are The Voyages and today. Actors like Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating, John Billingsley, and Anthony Montgomery remain active on the Trek social and convention circuits, while Linda Park and Jeffrey Combs are frequent guests at conventions and cruises. 

The cast may not be getting any younger. While United may never be a sequel to Enterprise in the strictest sense, the time is very much now to get this cast into a scene together, albeit perhaps for the last time.