Star Trek: Agent Daniels, Explained

Before we can really dive into this strange Star Trek character, we need to explain what temporal agents are and the exact role Daniels plays in this franchise.

He works for a mysterious organization in the 31st century and his job is to enforce the Temporal Accord–basically, an agreement between galactic civilizations that nobody will use time travel for their own benefit.

In practical terms, Daniels mostly goes back in time and tries to protect the timeline from those who are trying to violate it.

Star Trek: Enterprise first introduced us to temporal agent Daniels in the episode “Cold Front.” He had infiltrated the Enterprise in the hopes of capturing the leader of the Cabal, a Suliban named Silik.  At the time, it looked like we would never see Daniels again because he was shot and apparently killed by the very villain he was trying to apprehend.

Despite this, the character returned a year later for the two-part Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Shockwave,” where temporal agent Daniels proved just how high-stakes his job really is.

When his old foe Silik threatens to destroy the Enterprise, Daniels saves Archer by taking him to the 31st century. Removing Archer from the timeline somehow destroyed the future as Daniels knew it, and the two of them had to work together to return the captain to his original timeline, thus preserving the timeline for both characters.

In future Star Trek: Enterprise episodes, Agent Daniels had more misadventures: in “Carpenter Street,” he sent Archer and T’Pol to 2004 to stop the Xindi from developing a bio-weapon that could wipe humanity out.

In “Azati Prime,” he successfully persuades Archer to call off a suicide mission against the Xindi because the captain is too important to the timeline, eventually persuading the Starfleet officer to seek peace with the Xindi after they visited the Enterprise-J in the 26th century. 

His final appearances were in “Zero Hour” and the two-part episode “Stormfront,” where he attempted to save Archer’s life by transporting the Enterprise to an alternate 1944 featuring a World War II where the Nazis teamed up with aliens and successfully invaded America.

Later, a dying Daniels explains that this is an alternate reality caused by everyone’s collective Temporal Cold War incursions into the timeline. As you might expect, Archer ends up saving the day: he prevents this alternate reality, saves Daniels, and even brings the Temporal Cold War to an end.

Before the Star Trek: Discovery series finale, fans of Agent Daniels last knowingly saw him onscreen nearly 20 years ago. However, the finale revealed that “Kovich” was a code name and that he was actually an older Agent Daniels.

He tells Captain Burnham “I’ve lived many years, Captain, and many lives,” which is probably about as much explanation as we will ever get for how he survived that seemingly fatal attack from Silik (when Archer says he thought the alien had killed the agent, Daniels responded, “He did… in a manner of speaking”).

Alright, Star Trek fans…you’re now fully caught up on Agent Daniels, one of the strangest characters we’ve ever encountered. It’s possible that his older incarnation will appear again; Starfleet Academy will be a Discovery spinoff, meaning that Kovich/Daniels will still be around and could play a major role in the franchise again.

If he doesn’t, though, the character leaves behind a rich legacy of cool storylines along with an utterly confusing backstory. 

Honestly, though, what else were you expecting from a time traveler?