Harry Mudd In Star Trek: The Original Series & Discovery Explained

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (Roger C. Carmel) made his Star Trek debut on Star Trek: The Original Series, and went on to appear in two other series. A con man extraordinaire, Harry Mudd spent much of his time traveling the galaxy participating in various, usually illegal schemes, while trying to avoid the many people he had wronged. Before his first encounter with the USS Enterprise in 2266, Mudd was already wanted by the United Federation of Planets for a lengthy list of crimes, including smuggling and attempted murder.

In his second encounter with Harry Mudd, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) described him as a "thief," a "swindler and a conman," and a "liar and rogue," while Mudd insisted he was merely an "entrepreneur." Mudd made such an impression on Star Trek: The Original Series that he returned in an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, as well as two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery and one of Star Trek: Short Treks. Rainn Wilson brought Mudd to life for modern Star Trek audiences, and Discovery gave the character a darker undercurrent than he had on TOS.

Harry Mudd Appeared In Star Trek: The Original Series 2 Times

Mudd Appears In TOS Season 1, Episode 3, "Mudd's Women" & Season 2, Episode 12, "I, Mudd"

In his first canonical appearance in the Star Trek franchise, Harry Mudd was rescued by the USS Enterprise after he attempted to outrun the Constitution-class starship. Mudd arrived on the Enterprise with three stunningly beautiful women who distracted the male crewmen on the ship. Before long, Captain Kirk discovered Mudd's criminal history and learned that he had been giving the women the Venus drug to make them appear more beautiful. In the end, Kirk made a deal with miners on a nearby planet for the lithium crystals the Enterprise needed, and the three women found husbands among the miners.

"Mudd's Women" ended with the Starship Enterprise taking Mudd into custody, but he later escaped his prison, stole a spaceship, and ended up on a planet inhabited by androids. In Harry's Star Trek season 2 comeback, "I, Mudd," an android hacked the Starship Enterprise and brought it to Mudd's planet, where the con man informed Kirk that the androids had requested humans to study. When the androids refused to take Mudd away from the planet with them, he worked with Kirk and the other crew members to confuse the androids until they shut down. Kirk ultimately left Mudd on the planet, with hundreds of android copies of his wife, Stella (Kay Elliot).

Harry Mudd Returned In Star Trek: The Animated Series

Mudd Appears In The Animated Series Season 1, Episode 10, "Mudd's Passion"

Mudd returned in Star Trek: The Animated Series, having stolen another spaceship and escaped the android planet. Mudd found a love potion crystal that he attempted to sell on various planets, until he was again caught by Captain Kirk and his crew. While he was in the brig on the Enterprise, Mudd gave his love potion drug to Nurse Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett), who used it on Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Although Spock did fall in love with Chapel, the effects were only temporary. Mudd was eventually sentenced to rehabilitation therapy, although its effectiveness was uncertain.

Mudd was undoubtedly a memorable character on Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Animated Series. Still, all three of his appearances on these shows had problematic elements that would not work on television today. From Ruth, Eve, and Magda in "Mudd's Women" to Stella in "I, Mudd" to Nurse Chapel in "Mudd's Passion," none of the women in these stories are treated particularly well. This is not a problem with Mudd as a character, so much as it is a product of the 1960s, and Mudd's return in Star Trek: Discovery proves the character can still work in modern Star Trek.

Star Trek: Discovery Brought Back Harry Mudd

Mudd Appeared In Discovery Season 1, Episode 5, "Choose Your Pain" & Episode 6, "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad"

In an inspired bit of casting, Rainn Wilson took on the role of Harry Mudd, who encounters the crew of the USS Discovery. Star Trek: Discovery filled in more of Mudd's backstory with Stella (Katherine Barrell), revealing that he stole her dowry and fled to Klingon space. At some point, Mudd was captured by the Klingons and spent time in a Klingon prison alongside Lt. Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) and Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs). When Lorca and Tyler escaped, they left Mudd behind, partly because he had been passing information about his fellow prisoners to the Klingons.

Later, Mudd managed to escape, and he tracked down Captain Lorca with plans to steal the USS Discovery to pay off his debts to the Klingons. Equipped with a time displacement device, Mudd trapped Discovery's crew in a time loop as he tried to successfully kill Lorca and steal the ship. Lt. Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) helped thwart Mudd, but he later escaped again, and created android copies of himself to fool bounty hunters.

Rainn Wilson's final appearance as Harry Mudd was in the Star Trek: Short Treks episode, "The Escape Artist." Rainn Wilson directed himself as Harry Mudd in Short Treks from a script written by Mike McMahan, who went on to create Star Trek: Lower Decks. Fitting with Star Trek: Discovery's darker tone, Rainn Wilson's Harry Mudd was a crueler, more ruthless version of the character first seen on Star Trek: The Original Series.