Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 9 - “Fissure Quest”
19 years afterStar Trek: Enterpriseended, Jolene Blalock is back as T’Pol inStar Trek: Lower Decks, and she is perfect. In its final season on Paramount+,Star Trek: Lower Decksset the USS Cerritos on a mission to close rifts leading to alternateStar Trektimelines. However,Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5, episode 9 centers on a different starship, the Defiant Class Anaximander led by Captain William Boimler (Jack Quaid), which Section 31 charged with a mission to stop a rogue vessel that’s threateningStar Trek’s multiverse.
Jolene Blalock portrayed Subcommander T’Pol in all fourseasons ofStar Trek: Enterprise.Clad in skintight catsuits, Blalock cut a striking figure as T’Pol, whoEnterpriseretconned as the first Vulcan Science Officer on a Starfleet vessel. T’Pol’s cool logic and experience were an invaluable contrast to the emotional Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer), with whom T’Pol would have a relationship.Jolene Blalock’s performance as T’Pol honored Leonard Nimoy’s pioneering work as Spock, but nearly 2 decades afterStar Trek: Enterprisewas canceled, it seemed unlikely Jolene would return toStar Trek.
Jolene Blalock’s Perfect Star Trek: Lower Decks Comeback As T’Pol Explained
Enterprise’s Vulcan Hero Is Just Like Fans Remember Her
Star Trek: Lower Decks' comeback for Jolene Blalock as T’Pol could not have been more ideal. Jolene (who was credited without a surname) slid right back into the role of T’Pol as if 19 years hadn’t passed.Jolene’s cadences and vocal performance as T’Pol were perfect,and the Vulcan sounded exactly like she did onStar Trek: Enterprise. Star Trek: Lower Decks’animated T’Pol downplayed the Vulcan’s signature sex appeal, but this is also logical since, in her alt reality, T’Pol is about 60 years older than the Vulcan heroine onStar Trek: Enterprise.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Cast Guide: Who Voices Each Character In The Final Season
Meet the Lower Deckers and bridge crew of the USS Cerritos as Star Trek: Lower Decks warps into its fifth and final season on Paramount+.
Even coming from another universe, T’Pol is recognizably the same highly intelligent and perceptive Vulcan, who has learned patience and understanding towards humans after decades ofT’Pol being married to Trip Tucker. T’Pol also developed an understated sense of humor, and she has hilarious lines inStar Trek: Lower Decks.
Perhaps Jolene may be even persuaded to play T’Pol again.
Heartwarmingly, T’Pol also values her (one-sided) friendship with Curzon Dax (Fred Tatasciore). The Vulcan makes a great sacrifice by downloading the Dax symbiont’s memories via mind meld when Curson is seriously injured. It’s safe to say,this is one of the best presentations of T’Pol ever seen inStar Trek.Perhaps Jolene may be even persuaded to play T’Pol again.
T’Pol’s Return In Star Trek: Lower Decks Makes Perfect Sense
Fans Hoped Jolene Blalock Would Play T’Pol On Strange New Worlds
Jolene Blalock returning as T’Pol inStar Trek: Lower Decksis an unexpected and welcome shocker, but it’s logical. In the years sinceStar Trek: Enterprise’s series finale, Jolene left her acting career, married, and started a family. Blalock made an appearance on Star Trek Day 2021 that ignited fans' hopes she would reprise T’Pol, but no live-action Star Trek on Paramount+ series managed to secure Jolene’s comeback as the Vulcan.Voicing T’Pol in aStar Trekanimated series makes perfect sense for Jolene,since it required a simpler session in a voice recording booth.
Hopefully,Star Trek: Lower Decks’series finale will find a way for T’Pol to meet T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz).
WhenStar Trek: Strange New Worldslaunched as a prequel toStar Trek: The Original Series, many fans did the math and determined that T’Pol could still be alive in the mid-23rd century. However, Jolene Blalock would have to portray an elderly T’Pol if she ever guest stars onStrange New Worlds. Thanks to the multiverse, Jolene Blalock is able to reprise T’Pol as close to herStar Trek: Enterpriseincarnation as possible, and her animated Vulcan arguably stole the show inStar Trek: Lower Decks' penultimate episode.
Can Jolene Blalock & Star Trek: Enterprise’s Cast Return In Live-Action?
Star Trek’s Multiverse Opens Up A Possibility
Star Trek: Enterprise’s status as a 22nd-century prequel seemed to rule out the possibility of a live-action reunion. It didn’t seem feasible for Captain Archer’sEnterprisecast to come back together, and the controversial death of Trip Tucker inStar Trek: Enterprise’s series finale is another hurdle to overcome. Star Trek on Paramount+’s series likeStar Trek: Strange New WorldsreferencedEnterprise, butactually seeing Captain Archer and his NX-01 crew again outside of animation seemed highly unlikely.
Star Trek: Enterprise Cast & Character Guide
Star Trek: Enterprise introduced new faces to the prequel series set a century before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series.
However,Star Trek: Lower Decksopened the door to the multiverse (as didStar Trek: Prodigy), and suddenly, there could be a way - if there’s a will.Star Trek’s multiverse means an alternate reality could be presented whereStar Trek: Enterprise’s cast could return in a timeline whereTrip Tucker never died. There’s a Quantum Reality where the NX-01’s crew could reappear at their current ages after exploring the galaxy for decades.
Maybe a full-fledged, live-actionStar Trek: Enterprisereturn could happen if fans with faith of the heart demand it.
Whether or not Scott Baluka, Jolene Blalock, and the rest ofEnterprise’s actors would come back - andif Paramount wants to create aStar Trek: Enterprisereunion show or streaming movie- are the big questions. But maybe a full-fledged, live-actionStar Trek: Enterprisereturn could happen if fans with faith of the heart demand it.
Star Trek: Enterprise
Cast
Star Trek: Enterprise acts as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, detailing the voyages of the original crew of the Starship Enterprise in the 22nd century, a hundred years before Captain Kirk commanded the ship. Enterprise was the sixth series in the Star Trek franchise overall, and the final series before a twelve-year hiatus until the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. The series stars Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer, with an ensemble cast that includes John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park, and Connor Trinneer.
