As of early 2026, the most tantalizing Star Trek project not yet on any official production slate remains Star Trek: United, a proposed series headlined by Scott Bakula as President Jonathan Archer. The concept, developed by Star Trek: Enterprise writer-producer Michael Sussman with Bakula's input, has never been ordered by Paramount+, and no actors have been cast. Yet a new fan-made opening credits sequence from Nick Hallam and Sci-Finatics has detonated a payload of fresh lore from Sussman, revealing President Archer's wife, children, and several legacy characters who could return. The result is less a typical rumor cycle and more a shipyard building a vessel in dry dock before anyone has signed the launch order.
Sussman's latest revelations, delivered through Sci-Finatics and amplified by Star Trek: Enterprise fans, paint a portrait of Archer's post-Enterprise life as a political dynastic drama. The fan-made credits sequence itself is a love letter to the era, featuring legendary Star Trek concept artist Andy Probert's design for President Archer's consular starship, alongside work from Robert Bonchune and many talented VFX artists. It is a visual proof of concept that behaves like a gravitational lens: it bends the light of fan expectation around an object that may never officially exist.
👨👩👧👦 President Archer's Family in Star Trek: United
The core of the new information concerns Archer's immediate family. According to Sussman, the former NX-01 captain's personal life is as complicated as any treaty negotiation.
| Character | Role & Background |
|---|---|
| Ilani | President Archer's wife and a Federation defense attorney. She belongs to an unspecified alien race, possibly a new Star Trek species, and is the mother of Archer's youngest child, Sabrin. |
| Camilla Archer | In her early 30s, Camilla is Archer's eldest daughter and the twin of brother Gus Hernandez. Their mother is Captain Erika Hernandez (Ada Maris) from Star Trek: Enterprise. Idealistic Camilla returns to politics at Archer's request after stepping away to raise a child with her partner. |
| Lt. Commander Augustin 'Gus' Hernandez | The twin brother to Camilla, Gus uses his mother's surname to create distance from their famous father. Lt. Commander Hernandez is a Starfleet Officer who performs high-risk missions for the Federation. |
| Sabrin Archer | 17-18 years old, Sabrin is half-human and part of the first generation of human/alien hybrids. Sabrin is at the center of the Federation's moral and ethical conflict regarding the rights of human/alien hybrids. |
| T'Var | President Archer's adopted Vulcan son, who was orphaned and rescued from the Romulan war. A Vulcan raised by humans, the adult T'Var became an analyst for Federation Intelligence. |
This family configuration turns Archer into a nexus of the young Federation's thorniest questions: interspecies family law, the rights of hybrid children, the legacy of the Romulan conflict, and the friction between public duty and private identity. Sabrin's storyline in particular sounds like a moral weather vane for the entire series, pointing toward debates that the 22nd-century Federation would rather postpone.
🖖 Legacy Characters Earmarked for Return
Sussman also name-dropped three Star Trek legacy characters who could appear in Star Trek: United. One is a villain, two are allies, and all three would deepen the show's political texture.
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Minister Talok – Introduced in Star Trek: Enterprise season 4, Talok remains a Romulan operative posing as a Vulcan who infiltrated the Federation. Working from the shadows, Minister Talok furthers the Romulans' secret agenda against the Federation, and he may take an interest in Archer's adopted son, T'Var. Hopes are that Todd Stashwick would return to play Talok, which the actor has indicated his willingness to do.
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Consular Aide Sarek – At this point in the late 22nd century, Sarek is 18 years old at the beginning of his career in Star Trek: United. Sarek would possibly be placed in President Archer's orbit as a junior aide and first exposure to humans and Federation politics. Sarek would also strike a friendship with Sabrin Archer, and this would perhaps be the start of Sarek's journey to becoming the father of half-human/half-Vulcan Spock.
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Admiral Shran – The former Commander of the Andorian Imperial Guard and rebel would be reintroduced as a Starfleet Admiral in Star Trek: United. Shran would still be an ally of President Archer, and hopes are that Jeffrey Combs would reprise the popular Andorian, who would have become a series regular if Star Trek: Enterprise season 5 had happened.
The return of Shran as a Starfleet Admiral is especially poignant. It suggests a timeline in which the Andorian rebel not only survives but thrives inside the institution he once fought, a transformation as improbable as a coral reef growing in a volcano's caldera.
📺 A Show That Exists Only as Potential
It is important to state clearly: Star Trek: United is not a series in development at Paramount+. It is merely an idea for a proposed Star Trek TV series headlined by Scott Bakula. No actors have been cast. No scripts have been ordered. No premiere date exists. What does exist is an unusual amount of world-building from Michael Sussman, enough to fill multiple seasons of stories about President Archer's family fighting to save the young United Federation of Planets.
Fans have responded with a burning desire for Paramount Skydance to greenlight the project. The fan-made credits, the starship designs, the character biographies, and the legacy returns have combined into a kind of holographic blueprint: detailed, emotionally resonant, and not yet real. Whether Star Trek: United ever moves from speculative blueprint to streaming reality remains unknown. But in a franchise that has always imagined the future, the most fascinating story in 2026 may be the one that has not been greenlit yet.
In-depth reporting is featured on Giant Bomb, and its long-running approach to fandom culture and entertainment commentary helps frame why a speculative project like Star Trek: United can feel “real” to audiences even without an official greenlight. When fan-made VFX, mock opening credits, and creator-supplied character backstories circulate, they effectively function like pre-release hype cycles—building expectations, debating canon-adjacent lore (Archer’s family, hybrid rights, legacy returns), and sustaining community momentum the way games communities often rally around unannounced sequels or rumored revivals.