Back in May of 2005, Star Trek: Enterprise ended its 4-season run to less than mediocre reviews. It was the end of an era. After nearly 40 years of (mostly) consistent programming, be it on television or the big screen, Star Trek’s impulse engines came to a full stop.
Thankfully, Star Trek returned the big screen in the 2009 J.J. Abrams alternate timeline/reboot, followed by Into Darkness in 2013 and Beyond in 2016. Though many Trek loyalists saw this new take as a far cry from the source material, it injected a much-needed boost of adrenaline in a staling franchise.
Cut to 2017, where the airwaves (or stream-waves, rather) are ready to activate their warp drives with Star Trek: Discovery, a new story in the prime timeline set 10 years before Kirk’s deep space mission on the Enterprise.
In that decade-plus gap, there have been many attempts to get Trek back on TV, as well as the big screen, that were not successful. Here’s a look at the shows and movies proposed to revive Star Trek between the time of the cancellation of Enterprise in 2005 and the premiere of Discovery this month.
8. The Worf Chronicles
Another Next Generation alum, Michael Dorn pitched The Worf Chronicles, a spin-off which initially would have shown Worf as a commanding officer in the Klingon Empire, as they attempted to integrate with the Federation.
“The Worf Chronicles idea was right in that wheelhouse, because the Klingon Empire is gritty,” said Dorn in an interview with Den of Geek in 2015. “It does have a dark quality. It’s Shakespearean, it’s about assassinations and coups, the power behind the throne.”
Dorn had big plans for The Worf Chronicles, looking to bring back fan favorite characters from previous series.
However, he also added, “[the series that would eventually become Discovery] probably is the final nail in the coffin for Worf.”
