Gene Roddenberry Wrote An Unmade Pilot For A Non-Sci-Fi Show About A Classic Hero

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In David Alexander's book "Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry," it was revealed that back in 1967, Roddenberry wrote a pilot episode for a Robin Hood TV series called — what else? — "Robin Hood."

1967 was when the second season of "Star Trek" was airing, and it's worth remembering that the show wasn't a crackerjack hit at the time. "Star Trek" didn't find mass audiences until after it had been canceled in 1969 and began appearing regularly in syndication. As such, Roddenberry was likely working on other projects constantly, not necessarily putting all his eggs in the USS Enterprise, so to speak. We've actually ranked all of Gene Roddenberry's non-"Star Trek" projects, from the military drama "A.P.O. 923" to posthumous projects like "Earth: Final Conflict" and "Andromeda." Roddenberry is known today as the "Star Trek" guy, but back in the '60s, he was eager to explore many different kinds of shows and genres. 

Little is known about his "Robin Hood" pilot, although Alexander's biography does contain a letter that Roddenberry wrote to "a friend" about the script he was working on. Roddenberry wanted to make a revisionist version of Robin Hood, adding a modern edge to the character. He wanted to rid Robin Hood of his traditional corniness and fresh-faced heroism, as one might see in Michael Curtiz's legendary 1938 feature film "The Adventures of Robin Hood." Several decades after Curtiz's movie, Roddenberry wanted to make an updated Robin Hood wherein he was meant to be something of an antihero.

The writer was seemingly taking the "dark and gritty" path, decades before that became trendy in Hollywood. As for things like casting, direction, and individual stories, we can only speculate.

In the letter mentioned above, Gene Roddenberry was clearly still hammering out his "Robin Hood" script, and was asking for some input. He wrote: 

"By a strange coincidence, your letter came at a time in which I was preparing a pilot in the 'Robin Hood' area, and was at the moment wrestling with the problem of hero and antihero. I realized that Robin Hood could not succeed in today's market if he were the wimpy 'St. George and England!'-type hero and yet how far could I go in the other direction without completely destroying the value of the legendary figure? I think I have the problem solved, but it would be fun if you were here so I could sit down over coffee and discuss the questions involved." 

These seem like the kinds of questions that many makers of modern reboots might ask themselves, as we live in an entertainment marketplace that is lousy with pop figures that are many decades old. Superman and Batman, both created in the 1930s, are still being refreshed and rebooted to this day, for instance. Heck, even "Star Trek" itself, now 60 years old, is also constantly undergoing changes and reboots, with the most recent season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" coming out in 2026. 

Sadly, the above passage seems to be all the information the world has about Gene Roddenberry's "Robin Hood." The script is not readily available online (as far as I was able to find), and there are seemingly no outlines or treatments around, either.

"Star Trek" and Robin Hood did eventually cross over, albeit in an oblique way, and it happened early enough in "Star Trek" history that Gene Roddenberry was able to see it before his death in October of 1991. 

In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "QPid," the impish trickster deity Q (John de Lancie) witnesses that Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) is experiencing a pinched relationship with Vash (Jennifer Hetrick), a woman he hooked up with on his last vacation. To give Picard an opportunity to express some old-fashioned chivalry, Q magically teleports Picard and his senior staff into a living, breathing version of Sherwood Forest, with Picard playing the role of Robin Hood. Q becomes the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Vash becomes the imprisoned Maid Marian whom Robin Hood must rescue. 

It's one of the most whimsical episodes of "Next Generation," and is often pointed to by Trekkies as an example of how silly the franchise can sometimes become. (That's a gentler way of saying that some fans have written missives with titles like "QPid is the stupidest episode in human history.") Personally, I think the humor works, as it's a good contrast with the ordinarily stern and serious "Next Generation" characters who typically endeavor to remain professional at all times. The comedy episodes of "Star Trek" are great, but the franchise can occasionally go overboard.

The script for "QPid" is credited to Ira Steven Behr and Randee Russell, so it's unlikely that Roddenberry contributed to it in any significant way. But one can hope that it was the final realization of Roddenberry's Robin Hood fantasies that begun 24 years earlier.