Summary

• UPN canceled Star Trek: Enterprise due to low ratings and a lack of network support for the series.
• Enterprise season 4 involved a creative shift with Manny Coto taking over as showrunner, but it couldn't save the series from cancelation.
• Although the show ended in 2005, Star Trek: Enterprise has gained a new fanbase due to streaming on platforms like Netflix and Paramount+.

Star Trek: Enterprise was the first Star Trek series since Star Trek: The Original Series to get canceled by its network, but why did it get the axe? Created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, Enterprise (its original title) launched in 2001 just months after the end of Star Trek: Voyager. Enterprise was to be a decidedly different Star Trek series. Set a century before the voyages of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Enterprise was a prequel about humanity's first steps into deep space exploration aboard the NX-01 Enterprise, Earth's first warp 5-capable starship commanded by Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula).

Enterprise season 1 was a success for the United Paramount Network (UPN), but by season 2, ratings had dipped significantly. UPN mandated significant changes for Enterprise season 3: the prequel transitioned from standalone episodes to a serialized war story about new antagonists the Xindi, which was an effort to reflect the darker mood of post-9/11 America at the time. The now-renamed Star Trek: Enterprise's new direction was largely well-received by fans, but the ratings continued to fall, and Enterprise changed creative gears, with the late Manny Coto replacing Brannon Braga as showrunner for Enterprise season 4. But ultimately, it wouldn't be enough to save the prequel.

Why Star Trek: Enterprise Was Canceled After Season 4

Several factors put an end to Rick Berman's fourth and final Star Trek TV series

The cast of Star Trek: Enterprise was told upon signing on that the show intended to run for 7 seasons, just like Rick Berman's previous series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager. There were also hopes to transition Enterprise to feature films like TNG. However, by Star Trek: Enterprise season 4, the show's ratings were no longer sustainable, and UPN canceled the series. Another major factor that doomed Enterprise was a regime change at UPN, with incoming executives neither understanding Star Trek nor supporting the struggling and expensive-to-produce Enterprise.

It was the first time since 1987, there was no active Star Trek television in production.

In a callback to the letter-writing campaign that saved Star Trek: The Original Series from cancelation after its second season, fans launched an effort to convince UPN to give Star Trek: Enterprise a season 5, but there would be no eleventh-hour reprieve this time. Enterprise, and the Star Trek franchise as a whole, was dead. It was the first time since 1987 that there was no active Star Trek television in production. The failure of 2002's theatrical Star Trek: Nemesis and Enterprise's cancelation in 2005 put the franchise on ice.

J.J. Abrams revived the Star Trek movie franchise in 2009, and the next Star Trek TV series wouldn't premiere until Star Trek: Discovery in 2017.

Can Star Trek: Enterprise Have A Revival?

Enterprise has gained a new fanbase since its cancelation

After Enterprise began streaming on Netflix and Paramount+ in the 2010s, the prequel has been reassessed more positively by a newer and more appreciative audience.

Following its widely disliked and controversial series finale, Star Trek: Enterprise bore the burden of being known as 'the show that killed the Star Trek franchise' until Star Trek: Discovery premiered in 2017. But after Enterprise began streaming on Netflix and Paramount+ in the 2010s, the prequel has been reassessed more positively by a newer and more appreciative audience. Enterprise's narrative holds up nicely to binge-watching, and today, there is a groundswell of support to see the crew of the NX-01 come back to Star Trek on Paramount+.

Connor Trinneer revived his Star Trek: Enterprise character, Trip Tucker, in the non-canonical Star Trek: very Short Treks episode, "Holograms All The Way Down", in 2023.

Unfortunately, a litany of issues prevents a full-on Star Trek: Enterprise revival. Key cast members like Scott Bakula and Jolene Blalock have moved on from Star Trek, and Enterprise's 22nd-century setting makes it difficult to transition the characters into the current Star Trek shows set 200 years later. However, Enterprise's actors returning to voice their characters in the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks or Star Trek: Prodigy remains a possibility. Enterprise's Connor Trinneer also hosts The Shuttlepod Show, formerly with his co-star Dominic Keating, which relives the glory days of Enterprise and delves into the lives and careers of other Star Trek actors. Star Trek: Enterprise may have been unceremoniously canceled, but its legacy has grown stronger since the series ended.

Star Trek: Enterprise is available to stream on Paramount+.