Star Trek: Enterprise Season 5's Pre-Cancellation Plans Explained

"Star Trek: Enterprise" ran for four seasons between 2001 and 2005. A prequel set in the 22nd century before Captain Kirk or the Federation, "Enterprise" also holds an embarrassing dishonor. It was the first "Trek" series since the original to not make it to seven seasons and more than 100 episodes. ("Enterprise" barely missed the mark at 98.) That, and a not-so-stellar first half, mean that "Enterprise" has a black sheep reputation. "Enterprise" didn't kill "Star Trek" — J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" film came out only four years later — but it did end 18 years of new "Trek" being continuously produced.

For "Enterprise" co-creator Brannon Braga, that hiatus wasn't the worst thing for "Star Trek."

"I thought it was time, ['Star Trek'] needed a break, it needed some time for people to want another show," said Braga at the STLV17 convention. "Enterprise" wasn't the show that made people want more, but it could've been. "Enterprise" season 4, when the late Manny Coto took over as showrunner, is usually considered the series' best. At that aforementioned convention, Braga complimented Coto's work on season 4 and is most critical of himself. (Braga feels that he personally botched writing the "Enterprise" series finale, "These Are The Voyages..." )

"I think Manny had finally found [the] voice of the show, and season 4 should've been season 1, and I think that the show should have continued," said Braga. If "Enterprise" had continued, what stories would it have told? Would it have kept up the momentum of season 4?

Several of the writers, including Braga and Coto, have shared their "Enterprise" season 5 plans and pitches over the years. There's enough detail to get a broad picture of what the season would've been like. Knowing those details, you can also see how "Enterprise" season 4 was building towards the unmade season 5.

Most of the plans for "Star Trek: Enterprise" season 5 circle back to one word: Romulans! Introduced in the classic "Star Trek" episode "Balance of Terror," the Romulans are an offshoot of the Vulcans who embrace emotion rather than logic. They're some of the oldest recurring "Trek" villains, predating the Klingons by about a dozen episodes. The Romulans are also famous for their raptor-themed starships, cloaking devices, and corresponding deceptive nature, and Roman-themed culture. (Their adopted homeworld is named Romulus, after the mythical founder of Rome.)

"Balance of Terror" established that, a century prior, Earth and the Romulans had gone to war. The conflict ended in a peace treaty, which created a Neutral Zone between Federation and Romulan territory. 

"Enterprise" was set right around when the Romulan War would've been waged. Yet the Romulans are in little of "Enterprise." Before season 4, they only showed up in the season 2 episode "Minefield" as an enemy of the week. Instead, "Enterprise" initially focused on a "Temporal Cold War" story about factions fighting across time for future dominance. The main villains of this were the alien Suliban, led by a silhouetted (and ultimately never revealed) benefactor.

One of Coto's changes as showrunner was selecting the Romulans to be the series' new overarching antagonist. One trilogy of episodes ("The Forge," "Awakening," and "Kir'Shara") revealed the Romulans had infiltrated Vulcan. Romulan agents, allied with corrupt Vulcan minister V'Las (Robert Foxworth), had been pushing the Vulcan people and government away from logic and towards militarism. 

V'Las and his partners specifically try to start a war with Vulcan's neighbors, the Andorians, which the Enterprise crew stops. Another arc ("Babel One," "United," and "The Aenar") featured Romulan operatives using a cloaked drone ship to frame other interstellar powers for acts of aggression. (For example, the drone holographically disguises itself as a Tellarite ship and destroys an Andorian fleet.)

It's clear where this was going. The Romulans, long the isolationists, were trying to ferment unrest and war among the major powers across the Alpha Quadrant. Then, they could come in and conquer what was left. The eventual four founders of the Federation — humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites — would've come together to oppose the Romulans. "Enterprise" season 5, and then presumably seasons 6 and 7, would've tied the Romulan War and the founding of the Federation into the same event.

But there's also a hurdle that "Enterprise" would've had to abide by. "Balance of Terror" stated that the humans and Romulans never saw each other during the war, it being fought with spaceships and all. This was so the episode could do a dramatic reveal where Kirk and co. learn that the Romulans are identical to Vulcans. But this would mean that, across "Enterprise," the heroes would never actually be able to meet any of the Romulan villains face-to-face. How would the show have handled or written around that? That's something that can only be learned from seeing the idea in execution, which we never got to see.

"Enterprise" writer Mike Sussman had a bold plan that would've let the heroes meet at least one Romulan. He had an idea to reveal T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), the Vulcan on the "Enterprise" cast, as half-Romulan. (Explained by her father being a Romulan spy.) Sussman's comments make it seem like this was only his idea, but he was also confident that "I could've sold [co-creator Rick Berman] and Brannon on it."

There were also reportedly plans to tie the Temporal Cold War to the Romulans; the Suliban's benefactor would've been revealed as a future Romulan trying to "instigate" (or change) the war. However, Braga also claimed that Suliban's master would be a future version of Captain Archer (Scott Bakula) himself, so that part isn't set in stone. But not all of the "Enterprise" season 5 plans involve the Romulans.

In more Federation foreshadowing, the plan was for the Andorian Shran (Jeffrey Combs) to go from a recurring character to one of the main cast in "Enterprise" season 5. Apparently, he would've joined the crew as an "auxiliary or an advisor."

Coto also had some unused episode ideas for season 4, such as the founding of the first Starbase, and a two-parter set on the floating city Stratos from the original series episode "The Cloud Minders." These could've easily been repurposed for season 5.

Besides the Romulans, there was one other major thread from "Enterprise" season 4 left hanging. The two-parter "In A Mirror Darkly" moved the setting to the Mirror Universe, where humans (or, rather, Terrans) are expansionist conquerors and our heroes are vile backstabbers. Had "Enterprise" gone for season 5, the plan was to revisit the Mirror Universe. Braga has even said they discussed doing an entire season set in the Mirror Universe. "In A Mirror Darkly" is fun, but following entirely different characters for a whole season probably wouldn't have worked; the Mirror Universe works because it isn't the norm of "Star Trek."

Writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens also wanted to revisit the controversial Borg episode "Regeneration." The pitched episode would've starred Alice Krige and depicted the origins of her character the Borg Queen (revealed to have originally been a Starfleet medical officer). 

The first two seasons of "Star Trek: Enterprise" struggled because the show had no new ideas. But by season 4, it felt like the people making the show rediscovered their passion for "Star Trek" and those ideas started flowing. It's a shame the show ended just as the people making it locked in.