Spock’s father, Sarek, won’t be the only character from the original Star Trek to show up on the forthcoming show Discovery; now intergalactic con artist and bonafide human trafficking criminal Harry Mudd will appear, and he’ll be played by actor Rainn Wilson.
On Friday, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the Office-famous Wilson “will take on the role of Harry Mudd, the charismatic con man and intergalactic criminal first introduced in the original Star Trek TV series.” While that description is accurate — Harry Mudd was a con man — this fails to mention that his first appearance was in the episode “Mudd’s Women” in which he not only tries to deal space drugs but is also practicing in human trafficking by peddling prostitutes to space colonists.
In one of the original Star Trek’s less-than-stellar moments, the episode “Mudd’s Women” finds the crew of the Enterprise dealing with Harry Mudd and his prostitutes. Obviously, the enlightened Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk aren’t down with this behavior, but it’s still somewhat shocking that the new series decided to bring Harry Mudd, a pimp, back to the canon.
Harry Mudd, space pimp.
Played by Roger C. Carmel, Mudd made only one other appearance in the classic series, the considerably better episode titled “I, Mudd” in which a colony of robots abducts the entire crew of the Enterprise. In that one, we learn Mudd stepped out on his wife, who nags him in robot form. Presumably, Discovery will do something different with this character when he appears on the new show. Perhaps it will even address Mudd’s crimes? But at present, according to the Hollywood Reporter, “it’s unclear just how many episodes the Emmy-nominated actor will appear in.”
Here’s everything we know about Star Trek: Discovery.
