TV veteran Scott Bakula is in talks to take the helm of the latest “Star Trek” series, according to a devoted “Trekker” Web site.

Bakula, best known for playing Dr. Sam Beckett on NBC’s popular time-travel series, “Quantum Leap,” is negotiating to play Jackson Archer, the headstrong captain of the newest “Trek” starship, reports trektoday.com.

The “Trek” role could catapult Bakula into cult status, as he would be following in the footsteps of other popular “Trek” Captains, William Shatner (James T. Kirk, “Star Trek”), Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”), Avery Brooks (Benjamin Sisko, “Deep Space Nine”) and Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway, “Voyager”).

Bakula’s reps declined to comment yesterday.

Like other “Star Trek” projects in development, details about the new show are shrouded in secrecy. But Captain Archer – according to a casting sheet for the new show – is a physical, intensely curious captain with a bold personality.

The latest “Trek” show is said to take place many years before all four other series, when the show’s stars and their spaceships did not yet resemble high-tech, space-bound versions of “The Love Boat.”