Star Trek Discovery: 10 Awesome Villains They Should've Used Instead

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery, the first televised Star Trek production in over a decade, has busied itself with an exploration of the fascinating period preceding the Original Series.

Dark twists on established tropes, modern retellings, and juicy tidbits to add to the existing canon have all been high priorities for Discovery thus far. The decision, then, to bring back one Harcourt Fenton Mudd, intergalactic conman and generally conniving slimeball, for a recurring role in the show’s debut season was somewhat mystifying.

Sure, it worked out fine, the episode including his re-introduction was strong in itself, and Rainn Wilson’s portrayal was entertainingly devious. The problem is that the vast history of Star Trek, like space itself, is full of inspiring wonders and mortal perils. You could draw the name of a Star Trek villain out of a hat and still likely end up with a more intriguing option to explore than Harry Mudd. He’s the villain no-one particularly asked to see again, and as a result the reaction to him was decidedly muted.

Discovery didn't exactly lay an egg with Mudd’s return, but there were so many potentially better options to delight Trek fans. How incredible would it have been to see these guys portrayed in Discovery as an introduction to the prequel setting?

Garth of Izar, the formerly heroic military icon of Federation lore and later infamously insane criminal, is around and kicking in Discovery’s time period if needed. What’s more, his story has vast amounts of potential to explore.

Only years after leading the Federation to a crucial victory at the Battle of Axanar, Garth at this time could still be enjoying his status as a celebrated, influential Starfleet Captain. A full decade before being exiled on Elba II’s asylum (seen in TOS’ “Whom Gods Destroy”), the chance to delve into the man whose legend so beguiled a young Captain Kirk is difficult for Discovery to pass up, story-wise.

Badly maimed in an accident, Garth was nursed back to health by the aliens of Antos IV, who gifted him the wondrous ability of shapeshifting to save his ruined body. However, while his physical form was restored, his mind had long before gradually began to deteriorate beyond repair. After being rebuffed in his proposal of shared conquest of the galaxy, he attempted genocide on the planet before being mercifully thwarted by his own crew.

The exact date, as well as the full details of the accident that marked his descent to madness aren’t known, only that it occurred sometime prior to the Enterprise’s arrival at Elba II in 2268.

If Discovery chose to explore the origins of the fallen hero’s ravaged mind in the flesh, it’d no doubt make for a fascinating experience for any long-time Trek fan, and one significantly more interesting than anything involving Harry Mudd.