Kind of a complex question.

Consider for a moment the static nature of the Trek universe up until JJTrek. There were larger scale events, like the Xindi attack in ENT, or the Dominion War in DS9, but no matter how or what happened, the universe always returned to a sort of status quo.

But JJTrek changed that. Suddenly, a major power in the area was hit, and hard. The status quo is changed, knocked for a loop, and as a result, numerous new storytelling possibilities have opened up. Imagine if Tasha Yar hadn't died in early TNG; we'd've lost Sela, as well as many interested character moments for not only Data, but several other characters over the course of the series. Not to mention how screwed Yesterday's Enterprise would have been.

Just... bringing back Romulus, for the sole purpose of having a staging ground for a Romulan faction, stomps all over several potential plot points in favor of the same tired ones from the pre-JJ static Prime universe, with a few spins in the form of New Romulus and Iconian involvement. It's not all that different from the infamous "Death of Superman"; what started as a powerful action, the death of an incredibly iconic character, turned into a farce when they just resurrected him four issues later. That event it credited as killing death in comics. Frankly, I find that idea unappealing.

I'd rather see something like this: Sela, after being taken, has been leading a shadow operation backed by the Iconians, making connections among the scattered Romulans still loyal to her, under everyone's noses. With Iconian tech making her essentially untraceable and giving her unlimited access to anyplace she could want to go, this would be entirely within reason. Then one day, a rift opens, and her clandestinely collected forces spill out, backed by a starbase of Iconian build with Romulan influence - a hub for a faction. Sela, her gathered loyalists, some of her Hirogen allies, and perhaps other species she's contacted in the meantime, form the heart of the faction. Though still far from the previous strength of the RSE, she still commands far more forces than anyone expected.

Very nice story line, Jexsamx. It could/would provide for a decent back ground for introducing a playable Romulan faction, especially at a mid-range rank level like say, 25.

and yet the article you linked to stated he was always supposed to be archer and not a romulan.

What if we got Mirror Romulus tied into this all somehow... you know... with Tholians and the like?

Maybe, but just because the Iconians abducted Romulus doesn't mean they're going to give it back. Perhaps the Romulan/Iconian alliance goes sour and they go against the Iconians and try to get their homeworld back. That could justify a romulan faction.

I always thought if Romulus ever came back it would be rouge Romulans steal Project Genesis from section 31 and we are sent to stop them but then find out they are not using it to wage war but rebuild Romulus and we let them.

time travel to bring it back meh....been done to death.

Hey, maybe the Romulan ships in the teaser are Mirror Romulans for all we know

And jexsamx, I never said anything about bringing Romulus back I was thinking more along the lines of we find out the Iconians swapped Romulus with a proxy (which was destroyed), we try and find out more about why and how, and perhaps even find the original on the other side of the galaxy through a gateway XD But even if not, we deal a blow to the Iconians anyway.

This will heal the Romulans a bit, and maybe strengthen relations just a bit, but they'll continue as normal, sorta. After all, time traveling to stop this from happening would null JJ's Trek... which I doubt CBS would approve of.

Cool idea. I like it.

Things change, before he made those comments both Braga and Coto had mentioned that Future Guy was "probably going to be a Romulan" and would tie into the Romulan War with a future Romulan trying to "instigate" things".

Since neither the "Romulan" or "Archer" ideas were carried out, because of cancellation, it leaves the door open for STO to use either for future plot developments. The Romulan idea would fit better as someone from say, the 26th century, trying to undo the destruction of their homeworld or at least the restoration of the Romulan Star Empire.

I think it's quite likely Future Guy will tie into STO somehow. If nothing else because he's a character with no actor/likeness restrictions.

And we still don't know who fed us all that intel on New Romulus.