See Also: 'The Expanse' Episode Guide

Enterprise's new mission into the Delphic Expanse next season will creatively energise the series, executive producer Brannon Braga said last week.

"We thought, 'We've done two years on the show, let's really shake things up, really take some risks,'" he told Kate O'Hare at Zap2it. "It turned out to be very inspirational for Rick [Berman] and I."

The new arc will kick off in next week's finale, "The Expanse", which Braga described as "really cool". When a probe launched by an alien race known as the Xindi attacks Earth, killing seven million people, the Enterprise sets course for the Delphic Expanse to stop the Xindi before they launch another attack. Unlike many Trek cliffhangers over the years, this storyline will not be tied up in a neat bow in the season three premiere. "It's going to be resolved in multiple episodes, if not the entire season," Braga said. "It's a big arc."

Although many fans have speculated the Romulans may come to play a big part in forthcoming seasons, Braga said Enterprise should be using fresh scenarios. "Sure, we could have made it the Romulans that attacked Earth. But haven't we seen the Romulans for the past 15 years? Do we really just want to keep seeing the Romulans? No. We've got to do new stuff. We've got to keep pushing the boundaries."

But the writer didn't rule out future appearances by the Romulans or other Trek staples. "That won't mean that we won't continue to see familiar species involved in this epic mission, but the main foe, we wanted to be new."

A myriad of other changes have been reported as being part of this "course correction", including a retrofitted NX-01, new commando-style characters to add "muscle", and a new hairdo and catsuit for T'Pol. Now rumours have emerged online about some sort of romantic relationship between T'Pol and Captain Archer, following on from Archer's sexual frustration in "A Night In Sickbay".

"Jolene Blalock's T'Pol will show more skin — and make out with Scott Bakula's Capt. Archer," TV Guide reported. Aaron Barnhart's interpretation at the Kansas City Star was that "the Vulcan woman and Cap'n Scott Bakula get it on."

The original interview with Brannon Braga can be found here at Zap2it. Thanks to Dick Davies at the Starfleet Library for some of this!

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