Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Harry Mudd
3. There Was Almost A Third Harry Mudd Story
Harry Mudd's popularity almost led to a third appearance in an episode called Deep Mudd, written by Harry's creator Steven Kandel. It would have seen Harry Mudd battle the Enterprise crew on a planet with a treacherous surface of molten mud. Which is exactly the sort of knowing plotline you would expect from a third outing.
Deep Mudd was planned as a direct sequel to I, Mudd which ended with Harry stranded on his planet of seductive androids. The con artist was held up as a human failure from which the androids could learn. He's also - in an example of classic 1960s family-friendly sexism - is stranded with multiple android copies of his ex-wife.
In his conniving to leave the planet, Mudd gets hold of an incredibly powerful cache of weapons that buys him passage on a ship full of space pirates. It all goes spectacularly wrong, of course. The third Mudd story wasn't to be, however, as actor Roger C Carmel was contracted to a feature film. Not only that but Gene Roddenberry was firmly against space pirates in his utopian future.