It’s a well-known fact that before becoming a modern television titan and presiding over the Dutton family’s fate on “Yellowstone,” Taylor Sheridan was an actor. Not that he ever really stopped, mind you. Even after creating, writing, and generally helming various Paramount shows, Sheridan’s chiseled features have appeared on-screen in several episodes of his neo-Western drama as the cowboy Travis Wheatley. But long before he launched “Yellowstone,” Sheridan spent most of his time in front of the camera, including an episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise.”
While Sheridan’s first truly big break was his recurring role as Deputy Chief David Hale on “Sons of Anarchy,” before that, he was largely a journeyman who guest starred on shows like “Party of Five,” “NYPD Blue,” various “CSI” programs, and “Veronica Mars.” This part of his journey, incidentally, also included a rare foray into science fiction in 2004 with the aforementioned “Enterprise,” which was canceled after four seasons. The actor appears in the third season episode “Chosen Realm” as Jareb, a Triannon religious zealot who helped take over the Enterprise in the episode.
Since Sheridan’s face is obscured by facial prosthetics — and his name is misspelled as “Tayler Sheridan” in the credits — it’s understandable that this particular part of his resume may have escaped fans of both “Star Trek” and Sheridan alike. Here’s a closer look at the “Yellowstone” co-creator’s obscure role as a one-and-done “Star Trek” antagonist.
Taylor Sheridan’s Jareb was part of a hostile alien cult on Star Trek: Enterprise
If you haven’t seen this episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise,” “Chosen Realm” revolves largely around a hijacking. When the Enterprise crew rescue a ship full of ultra-religious Triannons, they soon turn out to be dangerous fanatics who set their sights on taking the starcraft for their own destructive ends. Sheridan’s Jareb isn’t the main antagonist of the episode — that honor goes to the Triannon ship’s captain D’Jamat (Conor O’Farrell) — but he’s still one of the key villains at play here, tasked with taking over the ship’s science station.
Without spoiling how this goes for him, the fact that this remains Sheridan’s (and Jareb’s) only appearance in the franchise so far may or may not offer a clue. Outside an outright “Star Trek” and “Doctor Who” crossover, “Star Trek” and “Yellowstone” crossing paths must be one of the strangest ideas for on-screen franchise synergy. Granted, Sheridan was still quite some time removed from his eventual neo-Western greatness, but when the viewer realizes that it’s him under Jareb’s alien makeup, it may prove difficult to shake off the image of Travis Wheatley terrorizing the Enterprise.