A reboot of TOS for the small screen would have in part a fundamental dullness to it. Worse, it could be pastiche - a issue lately for millennial artists, many of whom are better versed and trained than ever, but lacking originality or artistic purpose.
If this were the time of ENT, a gay or bisexual captain would have been a logical next step (
other series did dare to take it), but of course Trek went with the lowest-common-denominator choosing a white American man.
An alien might be good
if they could keep the intrigue going for 7 years. How excited were you to learn new things about the Kazon every week? General audiences especially would drop a boring mock-able forehead alien fast for any number of other lighter sci-fi or general entertainment flooding our computer or television or smartphone screens.
I don't think a Romulan could carry a series, despite my love for them, and the different places I'd go with them. A Cardassian today would have the Kardashian problem, despite how amazing they would look given the advances in make-up since. Michael Westmore I think was asked what race he'd love to give the Big Screen treatment said Cardassian; sigh, we may never know...
It might be interesting if they could find an actor with the presence of Patrick Stewart or Idris Elba and put him, or her, in an impressive new make-up. The gravitas of the actor could aid in the suspension-of-disbelief in times when the effect of the make-up was wearing thin on the audience.
At the same time, giving the character some curious twist might make the viewing experience all the more intriguing...the [male] Talosians were played by women for example. Or giving the alien some unusual alien sexuality...one more asexual than stoic Spock's, or one more pansexual where you never knew who the captain would seduce, or one more polyamorus (sp?) like Phlox's, except in a species with maybe four distinct genders...might make for historic TV viewing when the spouses came to visit.
The character, the details of the species, the romances, all would trickle out over the course of the series, and, as with any other character, would be secondary to the events of the story that week.
