"I think Rick [Berman] and Brannon [Braga] have been very forthcoming about the changes they're planning for next season," he said when asked about acknowledgement of fan complaints. "Wait until you see 'The Expanse'. They've thrown the ball over the metaphorical fence, and next season, the writers are going to have go after it. The script was a page-turner... in some ways, it's almost a new pilot. I can't wait to see the finished episode."

He says next season may have more of a focus on science fiction-themed stories.

"I'm told season three will have more of an emphasis on weird, high-concept, science fiction ideas," Sussman told another fan.

One question asked about the season two episode "Future Tense," involving the Tholians, and Sussman revealed that the original idea was a full sequel to the classic episode "The Tholian Web."

"We'd learn that after the Defiant disappeared into the 'spatial interphase', it emerged in the 22nd Century," he says, referring to the TOS story. "Archer would eventually discover that the Tholians from his era had somehow weakened the fabric of space/time, hoping to trap a ship from the future. The Tholians would then try to reverse engineer the ship and get all sorts of cool futuristic technology. And of course it would fall upon Archer to retrieve the Defiant and destroy it to prevent this from happening."

"As much as I would've loved to see Archer and the gang wandering the decks of a Constitution Class starship (and possibly running into a ghostly James Kirk in his silver bee-keeper suit), the story had some problems, not the least of which would be the expense of recreating the Defiant. And since DS9 pretty much did the same thing in 'Trials and Tribble-ations' (it probably wouldn't have been as cool as I thought at the time."

Read more of Sussman's answers, including reponses to questions about freelancing, cloaking devices on the show, VOYAGER episodes and more here.