Manuel “Manny” Coto, known to Trek fans for his work on Star Trek: Enterprise, has passed away. The Emmy-winning writer and producer was 62.
RIP Manny Coto
The Hollywood trades are confirming that Manny Coto passed away on Sunday at his home in Pasadena. According to Deadline, Coto died of Pancreatic cancer. His family says Coto has been fighting the disease for 13 months and passed away surrounded by loved ones.
Manny Coto joined Star Trek: Enterprise for its third season as a writer and co-executive producer, rising to executive producer and showrunner for the fourth and final season. He helped the show transition to more serialized storytelling and his love for Star Trek was evident in many of the season 4 storylines tied into franchise lore.
In a statement to TrekMovie.com, Enterprise co-creator and executive Rick Berman offered his thoughts on Coto’s passing and praised the work he did for the series:
If we had been given a fifth (sixth and seventh) season on Enterprise, Manny would have lifted it to levels beyond my imagination. A lovely and surprisingly talented writer and friend. How very sad.
Enterprise co-creator and original showrunner Brannon Braga has said he feels Coto’s fourth season was the best of the series, adding, “That is what Enterprise should have been from the beginning.”
After Enterprise, Coto went on to success as a writer and executive producer on a number of series including 24, 24: Legacy, 24: Live Another Day, Dexter, and American Horror Story. He also created the Fox series NeXt. He won an Emmy for his work on 24 in 2006 and was nominated four times for his writing by the WGA. Before his time with Star Trek: Enterprise, Coto created the sci-fi series Odyssey 5 starring Peter Weller, which ran for two seasons on Showtime. He would later bring Weller on to Enterprise for a multi-episode arc in season 4.
His time on Star Trek was special to Coto. Last year on the 21st anniversary of the series he shared a fan tweet about Enterprise saying it was the happiest time of his career.
