Rainn Wilson emailed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to say Harry Mudd would 'fit right in'

Roguish smuggler and conman Harry Mudd is one of the most popular recurring characters in Star Trek. He first appeared in an episode of the original series, Mudd’s Women in 1966, played memorably by Roger C. Carmel.

For Star Trek: Discovery, the character was brought back for a couple of episodes, played now by Rainn Wilson, best known as Dwight from The Office.

Now with numerous Star Trek TV shows in production, there is the opportunity for many established characters to boldly go where they have been before.

Strange New Worlds is currently attracting rave reviews. Set on the Enterprise in the days Christopher Pike was Captain, the time period would certainly be right for Mudd to bump into them.

And Rainn Wilson told The Big Issue in a recent interview that he is a fan of the show.

“I’ve watched the first episode. I liked it a lot. I’m excited to see more,” Wilson said.

Asked if he had written an email to anyone about bringing back Harry Mudd, Wilson replied: “As a matter of fact I have. Akiva Goldsman. He’s a kind of a big deal. Oscar winner.”

Goldsman is one of the creators of Strange New Worlds, as well as Discovery and Picard, and this is the message from Wilson that landed in his inbox.

“I said, ‘Hey, bring back Harry Mudd. He would fit right in.’”

The biggest obstacle to Harry Mudd beaming into Strange New Worlds is the fact that it’s set before the character is first introduced in the original Star Trek series. That means when Kirk’s crew meet Mudd for the first time, they’d already be aware of his wily ways.

How would Wilson explain that? Certainly Spock would remember…

“That is true,” Wilson said. That would be problematic. Because in the original series, Spock would have said [Wilson begins a very good Spock impression] ‘I know this man captain. I met him with Captain Christopher Pike. He’s not to be trusted.’

“I guess we just need to get Spock out of the picture.”

Before we find out how whether Mudd will return, you can catch Rainn Wilson in new film Jerry & Marge Go Large, starring alongside Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening, available to watch now on Paramount+.

There will be more from Wilson about that film, his memories of The Office and his search for the meaning of life coming soon…