Steven Culp To Play MACO Leader

See Also: 'The Xindi' Episode Guide

After being cut out of Star Trek: Nemesis, actor Steven Culp has been called back into action for a recurring role in Enterprise's third season.

Culp will play Major Hayes, the leader of Enterprise's military contingent, StarTrek.com reported. His Nemesis character, Commander Martin Madden, would have been seen as the Enterprise-E's new first officer in the original ending of the film.

These military officers — formerly referred to vaguely as "commandos" or even "space marines" — now have an official name: the Military Assault Command Operations team, or MACOs for short. Culp and several other actors portraying MACOs will make their debut in the season premiere, "The Xindi", though Rick Berman has said additional characters will be introduced as the need arises.

The MACOs include some recognisable genre faces. The first is Daniel Dae Kim, who was a regular on the short-lived Babylon 5 spin-off Crusade, and has appeared in recurring roles on Angel and 24. Kim, who also guest-starred in Voyager's "Blink of an Eye", will play Corporal Chang, a character first revealed last week (story).

Marco Sanchez, who played Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz on SeaQuest DSV, has been cast as another MACO, Corporal Romero. His superior, Sergeant Kemper, will be portrayed by Nathan Anderson, whose credits include The West Wing, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the role of Namon in Voyager's "Nemesis".

The guest cast for "The Xindi" also includes the following actors:

• Richard Lineback as Kessick
• Stephen McHattie as Alien Foreman
• Chris Freeman as Alien Head Guard
• Randy Oglesby as Degra
• Scott MacDonald as Xindi-Reptilian
• Rick Worthy as Xindi-Sloth
• Tucker Smallwood as Xindi-Humanoid
• Adam Taylor Gordon as Young Trip

Richard Lineback previously appeared as Romas in The Next Generation's "Symbiosis" and Selin Peers in Deep Space Nine's "Dax", while Stephen McHattie uttered the immortal line, "It's a fake!", as Vreenak in DS9's "In The Pale Moonlight". Tucker Smallwood was Admiral Bullock "In the Flesh" on Star Trek: Voyager.

Randy Oglesby has several Trek credits, including the roles of Trena'L in Enterprise's "Unexpected", Kir in Voyager's "Counterpoint", Silaran Prin in Deep Space Nine's "The Darkness and the Light" and Ro-Kel/Ah-Kel in that same show's "Vortex".

The same goes for Scott MacDonald, who played Lieutenant Rollins in Voyager's "Caretaker", Sub-Commander N'vek in TNG's "Face of the Enemy", Tosk in DS9's "Captive Pursuit" and Goran'Agar in "Hippocratic Oath".

Rick Worthy is probably best known to franchise fans as Crewman Noah Lessing in Voyager's "Equinox, Parts I and II", but his Trek alter egos also include Automated Personnel Unit 3947 in "Prototype" (Voyager), Koman in "Soliders of the Empire" (DS9) and an Elloran Officer in Star Trek: Insurrection.

The only two actors who haven't appeared in Trek before are Chris Freeman, whose credits include Malcolm in the Middle and NYPD Blue, and Adam Taylor Gordon, who can be seen in the upcoming Wuthering Heights, CA.

The original cast list is available at StarTrek.com.

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