Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Harry Mudd
2. Harry Mudd Was Almost In The Star Trek Pilot
The Cage, Star Trek's unaired pilot was famously rejected by the network, calling a halt to the adventures of Pike, Spock, and Number One until they returned to Star Trek in Discovery season 2. The second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before was more successful and began the adventures of the iconic Enterprise crew properly. However, the second pilot was almost very different.
In response to NBC's concerns about the high-concept sci-fi and truly alien creatures from The Cage, writer Steven Kandel put forward a more human antagonist. Taking the archetype of a con man, Kandel believed that such a character would be identifiable to an audience. Seeing the character as a sort of intergalactic Wizard of Oz - the con man behind the curtain, rather than his terrifying creation.
Gene Roddenberry gave Kandel a Star Trek story outline entitled "The Women" about the treatment of sex workers in space. Believing that the antagonist wasn't engaging enough, Kandel slotted his outer space con man into the story so The Women became Mudd's Women. The network was very uncomfortable about this storyline as a launching pad for their new sci-fi show and went with Where No Man Has Gone Before instead.