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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Full Cast & Crew

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Drama, Action & Adventure, Science Fiction
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Different races try to coexist peacefully in the third 'Star Trek' spin-off. This one takes place on a 24th-century space station that serves as a frontier town on the edge of a wormhole that enables travellers to journey vast distances in short periods of time.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the fourth Star Trek series and entered production in 1992 . It was broadcast in first-run syndication from January 1993 until June 1999 .

It was the first Star Trek series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller rather than by Gene Roddenberry . It was also the only series to air alongside another Star Trek production throughout its entire run, airing alongside Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1993 until 1994 , and then with Star Trek: Voyager from 1995 until 1999 .

Main Title Theme (seasons 1-3) file info
(Themes composed by Dennis McCarthy ).
1.1 The characters
1.2 Alien races
1.3 The mirror universe
1.4 Technology
1.5 Costumes
2.1 Development
2.2 Serialization
3.1 Starring
3.2 Also starring
3.3 Special guest stars
3.4 Special appearances by
3.5 Recurring characters
4 Executive producers
5 Staff writers
6.1 Season 1
6.2 Season 2
6.3 Season 3
6.4 Season 4
6.5 Season 5
6.6 Season 6
6.7 Season 7
7 Related topics
9 External links

Summary [ ]

Deep Space Nine goes where no Star Trek series had gone before – DS9 was the first Star Trek production not based on a starship , but instead, a starbase , known as Deep Space 9 (the starship USS Defiant was introduced in season 3, but the station remained the primary setting of the series). The show is known for its complex characters and storylines, engaging battle scenes and darker (less Utopian) atmosphere. Unlike its predecessors Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine tended to avoid an episodic format for most of its run and instead featured multiple-episode story arcs .

The show broke the "standard format" for Star Trek shows a number of times as well, with a direct, first-person narrative providing the commentary for the episode " In the Pale Moonlight ", a retelling of a classic TOS episode from a different angle in " Trials and Tribble-ations ", life in the racially segregated 1950s in " Far Beyond the Stars ", and a reintroduction of the concept of "black ops" to the Star Trek universe with Section 31 : " Inquisition ". The show also broke with tradition – and with the two Star Trek series that followed it – by featuring a commanding officer as the star of the show at the rank of commander, rather than captain, for a significant portion of its run, until Sisko was eventually promoted to captain in " The Adversary ". Additionally, a number of the episodes and main storylines focused entirely on characters who weren't members of Starfleet: for example, those revolving around Kira, Odo, Jake Sisko, and Quark. (" Progress ", " Shakaar ", " The House of Quark ", " Heart of Stone ", " Prophet Motive ", " Little Green Men ", " Bar Association ", " Body Parts ", " Nor the Battle to the Strong ", " The Ascent ", " The Darkness and the Light ", " Business as Usual ", " Ties of Blood and Water ", " Ferengi Love Songs ")

The characters [ ]

Unlike other Star Trek series, DS9 also had a large cast of recurring characters . Such characters included Nog , Rom , Elim Garak , Dukat , Vedek Bareil Antos , Winn Adami , Weyoun , the Female Changeling , Damar , Martok , Kasidy Yates , Leeta , Brunt , Ishka , and Zek .

Miles O'Brien , and later Worf , were two characters imported from TNG. Worf – a major character from TNG – played a large role on DS9. Several Next Generation characters also had recurring roles on the show, such as Keiko O'Brien and Gowron . Several other TNG characters made appearances too, such as Captain Jean-Luc Picard , Thomas Riker , Q , Lwaxana Troi , Kurn , Lursa , B'Etor , Admiral Alynna Nechayev , Vash , Toral and Alexander Rozhenko . In addition, Julian Bashir and Quark also had one-time appearances on The Next Generation , in " Birthright, Part I " and " Firstborn " respectively. Quark (and the station itself) also made a cameo in the pilot of Star Trek: Voyager , " Caretaker ". Characters from The Original Series were also re-introduced in DS9, including Kor , Kang , Koloth , and Arne Darvin .

The series also featured a number of episodes in which the character of Miles O'Brien was subjected to particular trauma. This became an in-joke among the DS9 writing staff, who called them "O'Brien Must Suffer" episodes and went to great lengths to produce at least one such episode per season. ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ? ))

Alien races [ ]

The series focused on several races that were first featured on TNG, such as the Bajorans , the Cardassians , the Trill , and the Ferengi . Later, the Klingons and the Romulans (both created in TOS) became pivotal species in the series. Many other species made appearances on the series, including Vulcans , Bolians , and Benzites . The series also created many species of its own, most notably the Changelings , the Vorta , and the Jem'Hadar , who formed part of the Dominion .

Jadzia Dax and other Trills portrayed in DS9 were distinctly different from how Trills had been depicted in the TNG episode " The Host ". In DS9, the relationship between host and symbiont was described more as a truly symbiotic relationship rather than the symbiont dominating the host. Trills now having spots, rather than prosthetic make-up, was due to studio executives feeling that Jadzia Dax actress Terry Farrell was too attractive to cover her face up. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 23, No. 6, p. 21)

Another significant change was the relationship Ferengi had with Humans . The Ferengi on TNG had originally been intended to be a new adversary comparable to the Klingons in TOS, although the writers had quickly realized how ridiculous the Ferengi were as villains. In DS9, the Ferengi were mainly entrepreneurs and the Ferengi Alliance was a politically neutral economic power.

Deep Space Nine also featured several regular characters who were not members of Starfleet , with Kira Nerys , a member of the Bajoran Militia , and Odo , the station's chief of security , as well as civilians such as Quark and Jake Sisko .

The mirror universe [ ]

The series spent some time exploring the mirror universe , which had not been seen since the TOS episode " Mirror, Mirror ". The mirror universe was featured in five episodes of the series: " Crossover ", " Through the Looking Glass ", " Shattered Mirror ", " Resurrection ", and " The Emperor's New Cloak ".

Technology [ ]

The show also focused on a wider array of uses and depictions of functions for holographic simulations (known as a holodeck in TOS and TNG but as a holosuite in DS9). In addition to many obvious activities (such as those referenced by Chief O'Brien and Julian Bashir) which were completely in keeping with holodeck usage on The Next Generation , the numerous applications of the holosuites on DS9 included them being used as: a recurring background for people to hang out in, in the form of a 1960s Las Vegas lounge (in numerous episodes); a weapons showroom (by Quark); and the location for a baseball game between teams assembled by Sisko versus Solok , a long-time rival Vulcan captain (in " Take Me Out to the Holosuite ").

Costumes [ ]

DS9 initially featured a noticeable change in Starfleet uniform to a reversed color scheme of the TNG uniform, which is a black design with the division color on the shoulders and a grayish-indigo undershirt underneath the uniform, resembling the cadet uniforms seen on The Next Generation . This design is called the old DS9-style uniforms . It was mostly implemented as a continuation of Star Trek 's pattern of changing uniforms over time, although factors such as the discomfort of wearing TNG-style uniforms played a role as well.

What came to be known as the DS9-style uniforms were more of a variant than a switch, however, due to the cost of producing all-new uniforms. This is why, for example, the DS9 crew themselves wear old DS9-style uniforms from the beginning of DS9 pilot episode " Emissary " up to the fifth season episode " The Ascent ", and this style was also later used throughout Star Trek: Voyager . Meanwhile, even after TNG had gone off the air, the dress uniforms and flag officer uniforms on DS9 up until the sixth season (as well as uniforms on Earth , as seen in the fourth season episodes " Homefront " and " Paradise Lost ") were " TNG-style ".

These discrepancies were corrected with the later switch to a unified, "gray-on-black" format with the division color undershirts (known as the “ DS9-style ”), which was used through Star Trek Nemesis and were also used in this series, starting with " Rapture " and for the remainder of this series, though the old DS9-style uniforms in this series appeared four more times following the uniform change in the episodes, " In Purgatory's Shadow " and " By Inferno's Light " as well as seen on a photograph of " Field of Fire " and in the flashback scenes of " What You Leave Behind ".

Background information [ ]

Development [ ].

The decision to set the series on a space station, rather than a starship, spawned when Brandon Tartikoff originally approached Rick Berman about the show, in 1991, and specifically said he wanted it to have a format that was new for Star Trek but was classically western; if The Next Generation was Wagon Train in space, Deep Space Nine was to be The Rifleman in space – a man and his son coming to a dilapidated frontier town on the edge of known civilization. Berman brought this concept to Michael Piller , and together they set about creating a western in space. As Robert Hewitt Wolfe later explained, " We had the country doctor , and we had the barkeeper , and we had the sheriff and we had the mayor , we had it all, it was all there. We had the common man, Miles O'Brien , the Native American, Kira . " Indeed, the producers initially discussed setting the show at a colony on an alien planet rather than on a space station. This idea was ultimately rejected because it was felt that it would involve too much location shooting, and because they felt that fans of Star Trek wanted to see story lines set primarily in space , not on a planet. ( New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine , DS9 Season 2 DVD special features)

The change of venue to a space station was largely intended to differentiate DS9 from The Next Generation , because the producers felt that having two shows about a starship airing simultaneously would be unacceptable. As co-creator and executive producer Rick Berman later explained, " Because there were two years of overlap with The Next Generation , we could not create a show that took place on a spaceship. It just seemed ridiculous to have two shows and two casts of characters that were off going where no man has gone before. It was a land-based show, it was a show that in a sense was taking place on a space station. So it had to be an entirely different concept. " ( Deep Space Nine: A Bold Beginning , DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)

The decision to set the show on a fixed station rather than a traveling starship was also based upon a desire to look deeper into the actual workings of the Federation and to see how it dealt with the type of problems one wouldn't find in a show set upon a starship. Michael Piller felt that, by having the characters standing still, they would be forced to confront issues not usually applicable to people on a starship. Whereas on The Next Generation , issues raised each week could simply be forgotten about the following week as the ship visited somewhere else, on a space station, events couldn't be forgotten or left behind but instead had to have implications for the future. As Piller explained, " We didn't want to have another series of shows about space travel. We felt that there was an opportunity to really look deeper, more closely at the working of the Federation and the Star Trek universe by standing still. And by putting people on a space station where they would be forced to confront the kind of issues that people in space ships are not forced to confront. In a series that focuses on a starship, like the Enterprise , you live week by week. You never have to stay and deal with the issues that you've raised. But by focusing on a space station, you create a show about commitment. It's like the difference between a one-night stand and a marriage. On Deep Space Nine , whatever you decide has consequences the following week. So it's about taking responsibility for your decisions, the consequences of your acts. " ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ? )) Similarly, in 2002 , Piller stated, " If you look at The Next Generation , it's really about movement. You don't ever stay in one place long enough to get to know anybody. Well Deep Space Nine is a show where everybody is forced to stay week after week, so each episode, each show, is fundamentally dealing with the people who have to learn that actions have consequences, and they have to live with the consequences of their actions on a weekly basis. " ( New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine , DS9 Season 2 DVD special features)

Setting the show in a fixed location meant that a large cast of recurring characters could be built up with relative ease; much more so than in The Original Series or The Next Generation before it, or Star Trek: Voyager , Star Trek: Enterprise , or Star Trek: Discovery since. As Rick Berman, speaking in 2002, stated, " The show was land-based, but the benefit we got from that was that by staying in one place, it enabled us to create twenty or thirty secondary and recurring characters, which really enriched the show because of all the multi-layers of relationships that have existed over the years. It's a very character-driven show as a result, and I think that makes it quite unique. " ( Deep Space Nine: A Bold Beginning , DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)

The decision to set the show in a fixed location was regarded as a benefit by the series' staff writers. For example, Ira Steven Behr , speaking in 1996 , commented, " We have certain advantages that I think no other Star Trek series has had, because we do have a base of operations that doesn't travel through space, which is the space station. Every story we do, the repercussions, the consequences don't disappear. It's not like the other shows where you have an adventure and then you zoom off into the great unknown. We are here, we have made a home, what we do has consequences. And I think we're able to do this mosaic, this fabric of life in the future, which I like. " Similarly, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, speaking in 2002, stated, " I think if Next Generation and The Original Series were about going out there and discovering new things about other races, Deep Space Nine is about staying in one place and discovering new things about ourselves. Not that we didn't go out there and discover things, but we had the same characters, we didn't change location every week. Sisko couldn't just solve a problem and sail off into the sunset, and never have to go back to that place again. That place was always there, and that problem could always come back to haunt him. So, in a lot of ways, it was a more complex show. " ( New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine , DS9 Season 2 DVD special features)

The series was designed to have more interpersonal conflict than its predecessors, while still staying true to the universe that Gene Roddenberry had created. Rick Berman commented, " [Deep Space 9]'s an alien space station that doesn't work the way they want it to, and that in itself created a lot of conflict. At the same, our core characters are Starfleet officers; Sisko, O'Brien, the doctor and Dax in no way vary from The Next Generation in terms of the lack of conflict among themselves. That was a rule we had to follow. " ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages , p. 5) Berman also commented, " What we wanted to do was something that was almost paradoxical – bring conflict but not break Gene's rules. They still play paramount importance in what we're doing. We created an environment where Starfleet officers were in a location that they weren't happy about being in, and they were in a location where the people who lived there weren't all that happy about them being there. " ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages , p. 8)

The show's main cast was intentionally assembled to create conflict (Quark and Odo, Kira and Sisko, etc.), so as to contrast the relatively tranquil atmosphere aboard Federation starships. This was another very specific decision taken by the producers. Gene Roddenberry's golden rule was that there was to be no conflict among Starfleet characters, so the producers decided to introduce non-Starfleet characters so conflict could come from within the show rather than always coming from outside (as it did on TNG). Rick Berman recalled, " We [....] created a situation where we had people who were members of our core group who were not Starfleet: the security shapeshifter Odo; the Bajoran Major, Kira; the bartender, Quark. A group of our integral people are not Starfleet officers, and the ones that are Starfleet officers aren't crazy about where they are, so we have a lot of frustration and conflict. " ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages , p. 8) Writer Joe Menosky explained, " You can see right away they're not the perfectly engineered Humans of TNG. They seem more real. I don't know if that makes them as attractive to viewers or not. But they are really different, and they represent a different way to tell a story. And it was definitely a conscious choice to create that potential for conflict. " Similarly, Berman stated, " Viewers didn't see that group of loving family members that existed on the first two Star Trek shows. " ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ? )) Michael Piller also commented on this somewhat controversial aspect of the show; " One of the primary goals of the development process was to come up with a show that had more inherent conflict than The Next Generation . In order to do that, you have to understand that Gene Roddenberry had a very specific vision for humanity in the 24th century. What that meant for The Next Generation was that everybody gets along remarkably well on the Enterprise . There's very little room for interpersonal conflict between those people. In this series, we set out to create a situation that would provide natural conflict. We've populated the show with several aliens, primarily Bajorans , as we are stationed on the edge of the Bajoran star system . And the Bajorans are very different people than we are. They are people who are very spiritual and mystical and have a whole different way of looking at life than the 24th century humanist views which many of our Starfleet people will have. So immediately, there are conflicts. And then there's additional aliens from elsewhere who are thrown into the mix. So, as regular characters, not all the people are Starfleet, not all the people are Human, and as a result, you have this continuing conflict, because people who come from different places, honorable, noble people, will naturally have conflicts. " ( Deep Space Nine: A Bold Beginning , DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)

Unlike with TOS and TNG, Gene Roddenberry wasn't directly involved in conceptualizing DS9. Regarding Roddenberry's involvement in the series, Rick Berman stated, " Michael and I discussed it with Gene when we were still in the early stages, but never anything conceptual. " " We never got a chance to discuss it (the concept) with Gene. By the time we had it to the point that it was discussable, he was in pretty bad shape and not really in the condition that it would have been wise to discuss it with him. On two specific occasions I was with him at his house and we tried to bring it up, but it wasn't really appropriate. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 328) Director Paul Lynch remarked, " My gut feeling is that Gene would be jumping up and down. This is definitely a different take on what Gene spawned, but I think he would love it [....] While it's quite different, Deep Space Nine is also, in many ways, quite the same. All of Gene's moral requirements are upheld in this show. If we've done anything, we've expanded on what Gene created. " ( The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine issue 1 , pp. 10 & 12)

Initially, Berman and Piller were at a loss for a title for the series and toyed with calling the series "The Final Frontier". During further development, the station was temporarily dubbed "Deep Space Nine", which not only stuck permanently as the name of the station, but also the title of the show itself. Despite this, the two co-creators were reportedly dissatisfied with the name. ( Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Unauthorized Story , pp. 17-18)

Miles O'Brien was brought aboard DS9 and made a part of the space station's senior staff because the producers felt that Colm Meaney was too talented an actor to confine his character to a transporter room . Additionally, they hoped the TNG crossover would help boost the new series' ratings.

In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ? ), Michael Piller explained the rationale behind each of the principal cast members, why each character was chosen, and what each one was to bring to the mix;

Jadzia Dax: " The Trill is a great race. They had some interesting ramifications on TNG. A Trill character would provide great potential for dichotomy and paradox. "
Odo: " We knew that we needed some kind of Data / Spock character who looks at the world from the outside in. And the idea that an alien entity would have to find some way to pass as Human was fascinating, and seemed to give us an avenue into the kind of 'complexion of humanity' stories that we wanted to tell. "
Quark: " A Ferengi would provide the show with instant humor and built-in conflict. I saw Quark as the bartender who is a constant thorn in the side of law and order, but who has a sense of humor about it. He'd be someone who could obviously throw lots of story dynamics into play. "
Julian Bashir: " We decided to create a flawed character. He'd have to be brought down to size in order to grow. And we wrote him as kind of a jerk for much of the first season . "
Miles O'Brien: " After we decided we were bringing him over to the new show, we thought, 'How do we use him?' We'd already decided to focus on Bajor, with this long backstory, establishing his bitterness towards the Cardassians , so it worked very nicely together. "
Kira Nerys: " We liked the idea of having somebody working with the commander of the station who would be a thorn in his side, who would represent a different point of view. We knew we'd get conflict and interesting dynamics between the two characters. "
Benjamin Sisko: " Every hero needs a journey. You want to take your leading man on a quest where he has to overcome personal issues as well as whatever space stuff happens to be out there. The idea of a man who is broken and who begins to repair himself is always a great beginning for drama. "

The first officer aboard DS9 would have been Ro Laren , but she was replaced by Kira Nerys ( Nana Visitor ) because Michelle Forbes did not want to commit to a six-year contract working on DS9. Indeed, the reason the producers had decided to set the show on Bajor in the first place was because of Ro.

Following the highly rated appearance of James Doohan as Montgomery Scott in TNG : " Relics ", it was reported, in 1993, that Doohan had been urging Paramount to add him to the cast of DS9. It was also rumored that William Shatner had expressed interest in participating in DS9 in some capacity. ( Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Unauthorized Story , p. 15)

During pre-production for the series, the producers were especially keen to ensure that the aesthetic of the show was very different from anything yet seen in the Star Trek universe. For example, Director of Photography Marvin Rush said the producers told him that they wanted "a darker, more sinister place" than the Enterprise -D. Rush himself described the final look as "dark and shadowy." Similarly, Herman Zimmerman said, " The marching orders for the station were to make it bizarre. " Finally, Supervising Producer David Livingston summed up the differences between DS9 and TNG by comparing the Enterprise 's bridge with Deep Space 9's Ops ; " The bridge is a very easy set to shoot. It's a three-wall open set with a lot of room, big and cavernous. Ops, on the other hand, is a multilevel set with a lot of cramped areas and very contrasty lighting. It's more interesting visually. " ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ? )) As Colm Meaney elaborated, " Because it was an alien space station, it gives the whole thing a very different feel I think to Next Generation or the original show, where you have the Enterprise , which is this very perfect environment. This is much more kind of dark and eerie, and also nothing works, the whole thing is a terrible mess. " ( Deep Space Nine Scrapbook: Year One , DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)

From the very beginning, DS9's darker aesthetic, more antagonistic characters and less Utopian setting were somewhat controversial among die-hard fans of Gene Roddenberry's universe. As Ira Steven Behr, speaking in 1996 (about halfway through the show's seven-year run), stated, " At the beginning of Deep Space Nine 's life, there was feelings that this was not a show that Gene would approve of by some of the fans, feeling that, you know, we had gone away from the image of the future as a paradise, that we had much more conflicts between our people, life isn't always great. But I think Gene, just by his very nature as a creative individual, as a writer, as a forward-thinking person, knows that any franchise has to move forward like a shark, or it dies. And I think he would understand what we're doing, and I think he would like what we're doing, and I think we're in the pocket of the Star Trek universe, and we try to push the envelope. And I see nothing wrong with that, and I have a hard time believing that Gene would see anything wrong with that. " ( New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine , DS9 Season 2 DVD special features) The sense that DS9 was too "dark" to be a Star Trek show only increased over the years, with episodes such as " Nor the Battle to the Strong ", " In the Pale Moonlight " and " The Siege of AR-558 ", and topics such as Section 31 charting territory never before seen on a Star Trek show, and creating a great deal of controversy among fans of both The Original Series and The Next Generation .

Robert Hewitt Wolfe recalled that Sisko holding the rank of commander led to unfavorable comparisons to the other series. " Whenever people would do articles about Star Trek they would talk about the three captains: Kirk , Picard , and Janeway . " The decision to promote Sisko to captain was prompted by the producers feeling that he deserved the higher rank as much as the other lead characters. ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. 253))

Identifying one way in which he believed DS9 differed from TNG, Colm Meaney stated, " On Next Generation they were dealing with more philosophical ponderings where we on DS9 tend to deal with more hands-on immediate crises that I think of as more resonant with the problems we have in the world today [….] I think that's probably the single main difference. We connect more with contemporary issues, issues relevant to the 1990s, than did Next Generation." ("Mr. Goodwrench", Star Trek: Communicator issue 105 , p. 20)

Serialization [ ]

The series is best remembered for an approach to serialization, predating the format of the late-2010s Star Trek series. Ira Behr commented: " The fact that Discovery is serialized or that Picard is serialized doesn't mean much to me, because how could they not be serialized in 2019? They get to just stay with the times. It's easy to be serialized now. Thank God they're doing that, but it would only be worthy of discussion if they didn't do it. The serialization was a bold move. I look back at it now and I was really a bit of an asshole, because everyone was saying people can't keep up with it. The show was syndicated and on at different times. I didn't care about any of that. I just wanted to do the best show we could do. I could understand why certain people involved and other producers and studios would feel that that was a little bit of an annoying take, because it did hurt the fan base, but at the time, I wasn't thinking about the future. I just wanted to do the best show we could do ". [1]

Ron Moore commented, " I think a lot of Battlestar was born at Deep Space Nine in that Deep Space started as much more episodic because of the nature of the show, it became more a continuing serialised structure. I really liked that, and I discovered I really liked that style of storytelling, and also particularly when we got into the later years of Deep Space , and we started telling the Dominion War story (1997-99), we would sit and argue and fight with the powers that be at Trek about making it a more realistic war, about making it grittier, and ugly; adding more ambiguity to the characters, and roughing it up a little bit, and I kept bumping my head against the strictures at Trek . What Star Trek is could not accommodate things that I wanted to do, so I started to have this sort of pent up frustration about ‘well if we were really going to do it right’, these ideas would sit in the back of my head so when Battlestar came along, I could now do all of those things that I was never allowed to do at Deep Space . " [2]

Due to the non-episodic nature of DS9, some of the series was lost on the casual viewer when it first aired. Many also believe that the changing television landscape contributed to DS9's ratings trouble, as local TV stations which had aired TNG in prime time became WB and UPN affiliates and pushed syndicated programming to the margins. Subsequent Star Trek shows Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise had network support from UPN and a guaranteed time slot. DS9 was also the only series to run opposite another Star Trek show (first The Next Generation , then Voyager ) for the entirety of its run (the first twelve episodes of the third season aired without another series on). Additionally, certain markets, notably in the UK, would only play one Star Trek series, in its entirety, at a time. Thus, events alluded to in The Next Generation or Voyager that happened in Deep Space Nine took months to "sync up."

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was nominated for 32 Emmy Awards , mostly in "technical" categories such as visual effects and makeup. It won four: "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music", "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Special Visual Effects", and "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series" (twice).

Deep Space Nine remained a fan-favorite series throughout its seven-year run, with reviewers consistently lauding the series for its bold shift in tone from The Next Generation . Most notable among such changes was the concept of inter-personal conflict – something which Gene Roddenberry himself was said to have forbidden.

Said Ronald D. Moore , DS9 producer and screenwriter:

"I'd like us to be remembered as the Trek series that dared to be different. We took chances in a franchise that has every reason to play it safe and spoon-feed the same old thing to the audience week after week. We challenged the characters, the audience, and the Star Trek universe itself. Sometimes we failed (sometimes spectacularly) but we never stopped trying to push the show into new directions."

Robert Hewitt Wolfe remarked, " The truth of DS9 is, we had a great ensemble cast. Michael Piller created all these terrific characters [with the exception of Worf]." ("Flashback: The Way of the Warrior", Star Trek Magazine issue 127 )

Several former producers and head writers from DS9 have been involved in other sci-fi series, including the creation of the "re-envisioned" Battlestar Galactica , as well as The 4400 , Farscape , Medium and Outlander .

In 2019, the documentary What We Left Behind was released. The documentary featured interviews with the actors, writers, production staff and fans, as well as featuring segments in which the writers pitched a new episode.

There was also a rivalry with another popular and critically acclaimed television series, Babylon 5 , created and produced by J. Michael Straczynski for Warner Bros. The two productions, which ran largely concurrently, were observed to be so similar that Babylon 5 fans accused Paramount, to whom Straczynski had previously pitched his series, of plagiarism. Considering how fellow Star Trek alumni like Walter Koenig and Andreas Katsulas had major roles in the rival series, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry agreed to a guest appearance in Babylon 5 as a gesture of goodwill to encourage a reconciliation between the two sets of fans. Rick Berman commented that rivalry was: " purely a fan thing, " adding: " there was a time when, I don’t know whether it was specifically Straczynski or other people, it was implied that he had pitched an idea similar to DS9 to Paramount and that it had been rejected and that, lo and behold, a year or so later DS9 came about. The implication being that Michael Piller and I perhaps stole all or part of his idea, which was always amusing to Michael and I because it was completely untrue. We had no knowledge of this gentleman. If he did pitch something to Paramount, we never heard about it. DS9 was a show that was created by Michael and me and Brandon Tartikoff, who was the recent head of Paramount at the time, without any knowledge of Straczynski or of anything that he had ever pitched. So when we were accused of stealing his idea it was a little sad but at the same time a little comical to us. " [3]

Main cast [ ]

The first season promotional image of the cast of Deep Space Nine

Starring [ ]

Avery Brooks as Commander / Captain Benjamin Sisko

Also starring [ ]

Rene Auberjonois as Odo
Nicole de Boer as Ensign / Lieutenant jg Ezri Dax ( 1998 - 1999 )
Michael Dorn as Lt. Commander Worf ( 1995 - 1999 )
Siddig El Fadil as Doctor Bashir
Terry Farrell as Lieutenant / Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax ( 1993 - 1998 )
Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko
Colm Meaney as Chief O'Brien
Armin Shimerman as Quark
Nana Visitor as Major / Colonel Kira

Special appearances by [ ]

Bernie Casey as Calvin Hudson
James Darren as Vic Fontaine
Robert Picardo as Lewis Zimmerman / Emergency Medical Holographic program
Chris Sarandon as Martus Mazur
Vanessa Williams as Arandis

Recurring characters [ ]

Cecily Adams and Andrea Martin as Ishka
Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat
Philip Anglim as Vedek Bareil
Casey Biggs as Damar
Jeffrey Combs as Liquidator Brunt
Max Grodénchik as Rom
Aron Eisenberg as Nog
Hana Hatae as Molly O'Brien
J.G. Hertzler as General Martok
Barry Jenner as Admiral Ross
David B. Levinson as Broik
Kenneth Marshall as Michael Eddington
Chase Masterson as Leeta
Robert O'Reilly as Chancellor Gowron
Duncan Regehr as Shakaar
Andrew J. Robinson as Elim Garak
Mark Allen Shepherd as Morn

Executive producers [ ]

Rick Berman – Executive Producer
Michael Piller – Executive Producer (1993–1995)
Ira Steven Behr – Executive Producer (1995–1999)

Staff writers [ ]

Ira Steven Behr , Staff Writer
Hans Beimler , Staff Writer (1995–1999)
René Echevarria , Staff Writer ( 1994 –1999)
Ronald D. Moore , Staff Writer (1994–1999)
Bradley Thompson , Staff Writer ( 1996 –1999)
David Weddle , Staff Writer (1996–1999)
Robert Hewitt Wolfe , Staff Writer (1993– 1997 )

Episode list [ ]

Season 1 [ ].

DS9 Season 1 , 19 episodes:

Season 2 [ ]

DS9 Season 2 , 26 episodes:

Season 3 [ ]

DS9 Season 3 , 26 episodes:

Season 4 [ ]

DS9 Season 4 , 25 episodes:

Season 5 [ ]

DS9 Season 5 , 26 episodes:

Season 6 [ ]

DS9 Season 6 , 26 episodes:

Season 7 [ ]

DS9 Season 7 , 25 episodes:

External links [ ]

List of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine characters at Wikipedia
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at the Internet Movie Database
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at TV.com
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes at the iTunes Store
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at StarTrek.com
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at Wikiquote
2 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)
3 Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Cast and Character Guide

The groundbreaking Star Trek: Deep Space Nine revealed a darker side of the final frontier. Here's a guide to the main cast and characters.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine broke new ground for the venerable franchise when it debuted in 1993. For seven seasons and 176 episodes, it explored the dark corners of the Federation aboard a strategically vital space station far from the rest of Starfleet.

For the first time, Gene Roddenberry's bright future showed its flaws: expanding the scope of what the franchise could do in the process. Part of its success comes from an amazing cast and compelling characters, whch is one of Star Trek's staples. Here's a brief breakdown of the central figures on the show, along with the people who played them and where they are now.

RELATED: Lower Decks Season 4 Takes a Stab at Deep Space Nine's Most Controversial Episode

Avery Brooks Is Captain Benjamin Sisko

Ben Sisko is a survivor of the Borg attack at Wolf 359, who takes command of the show's titular space station at the edge of a stable wormhole near the planet Bajor. He becomes a kind of Moses figure to the Bajorans when he makes contact with the "Prophets" -- advanced beings who live in the wormhole -- as well as playing a central role in the Dominion War. Avery Brooks portrays him as strong and decisive, as well as a good father to his son Jake.

Like many Star Trek actors, Brooks has a Shakespearean background, and theatrical work has dominated much of his career. Television fans got to know him as Hawk in the 1980s detective series Spenser: For Hire , where his shaved head became something of a signature. He had a major role in 1998's American History X alongside Star Trek: Voyager actor Jennifer Lien.

Nana Visitor Is Kira Nerys

Major Kira is the Bajoran liaison to the Starfleet officers on Deep Space 9 and is a former guerrilla fighting Cardassian rule over her planet. From the beginning, she's portrayed as an "anti-Riker." While Picard's Number One is loyal and supportive, Kira often challenges Sisko, and rarely takes "no" for an answer. Over time, they evolve into close companions, as she grapples both with Sisko's revered status among her people and her own trauma from the Cardassian occupation.

Actor Nana Visitor started her career onstage, and worked steadily throughout the 1980s with one-off television roles in the likes of Knight Rider, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Murder, She Wrote. She's continued her TV work after Deep Space Nine with recurring roles in Dark Angel , Wildfire , and voiceover work in Family Guy .

RELATED: Lower Decks Season 4 Promises the Return of a Classic Deep Space Nine Couple

Terry Ferrell Is Jadzia Dax

Jadzia Dax is a Trill , a joined species consisting of a worm-like symbiote (almost centuries old) inhabiting a humanoid host. It makes her wise beyond her years and possessing a serene self-confidence in her duties as Deep Space 9's science officer. She also serves as Ben Sisko's trusted advisor, and becomes something of a big sister for other members of the crew.

Ferrell got her start as a very successful model, then transitioned to acting with the likes of Back to School and Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth . She had a smattering of television appearances before Deep Space Nine made her famous. She quit the show after Season 6, citing mistreatment from producer Rick Berman, and subsequently joined the cast of Becker , where she remained for the show's first four seasons. She retired from acting in 2002, though she still makes regular appearances at Star Trek conventions and expos.

Alexander Siddig Is Doctor Julian Bashir

Bashir serves as a counterpoint to the quiet experience and professionalism of Beverly Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation : chatty, enthusiastic and often with his foot planted firmly in his mouth. He's a skilled and compassionate doctor -- almost naïve at times -- and yet he carries a dark side to him, possibly due to his status as a secret Augment. He forms an especially close bond with Chief O'Brien, and regularly participates in holosuite scenarios with him. Garak, the station's decidedly shady Cardassian tailor, also makes a singular connection with the good doctor.

Alexander Siddig came to the attention of Star Trek's producer for his role as King Faisel opposite Ralph Fiennes in the made-for-TV movie A Dangerous Man: Lawrence after Arabia . Since Deep Space Nine , Siddig has gone on to a number of prominent roles: appearing on the big screen in the likes of Syriana, Reign of Fire, and Game of Thrones. Batman fans will recognize him as a very effective Ra's al Ghul in the Gotham TV series.

RELATED: Deep Space Nine's Most Unusual Couple Deserves a Chance in Another Star Trek Entry

Colm Meaney Is Chief Miles O'Brien

O'Brien serves as a recurring character on The Next Generation for over 50 episodes before departing to serve as Deep Space 9's Chief of Operations. He's effectively an homage to Montgomery Scott in The Original Series : pleasant, stalwart, extremely knowledgeable about how things work, and stout as an ox when the situation calls for it. Unlike Scotty, O'Brien is a family man, whose wife Keiko is a recurring character on both series as well. He's close friends with Julian Bashir, and the two spend a lot of leisure time together on the station.

Actor Colm Meaney followed the pattern of many Deep Space Nine actors, with television appearances in such fare as Moonlighting and Remington Steele before joining the Star Trek universe. He remained very active in movies and television both during and after his run as Chief O'Brien. That included prominent roles in The Barrytown Trilogy -- The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van -- as well as Hollywood fare like Under Siege and Con Air . He remains active as of this writing, and is slated to appear in the upcoming thriller In The Land of Saints and Sinners with Liam Neeson.

René Auberjonois Is Constable Odo

One of three primary characters who don't belong to Starfleet, Odo is a shapeshifting Changeling who serves as the station's chief of security. His people control the sinister Dominion, having launched a war against the entire Alpha Quadrant in the series' last two seasons. However, he knew nothing of them most of his life, and turned his back on them in the face of their ambitions. He's stoic, methodical, deeply cynical, and very reliable with a strong sense of justice to guide his actions. In many ways, he's the loneliest character in the entire franchise.

As memorable as he is, Odo is just one component in the amazing career of actor Rene Auberjonois. He first rose to prominence in the 1970s: appearing in the likes of M*A*S*H, King Kong, and McCabe and Mrs. Miller, as well as numerous television shows and animated features. He starred alongside fellow future Star Trek alum Ethan Phillips in Benson , playing fussy straight man Clayton Endicott III, and made a minor appearance as a treacherous Starfleet officer in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country before playing Odo. Afterward, he continued to work regularly, most notably in Boston Legal as a series regular from 2004-2008. He passed away in 2019 at the age of 79.

RELATED: Star Trek's Next Great Villain Is Hiding in Deep Space Nine

Armin Shimerman Is Quark

When Deep Space Nine began, Star Trek: The Next Generation had thoroughly botched the Ferengi's potential as threatening villains. Quark serves as a redemption project: recasting the species as interstellar used car salesmen and making them wonderful additions to the final frontier in the process. Ostensibly, Quark runs the station's bar , which comes equipped with games of chance and "holosuites" that serve salacious purposes as well as innocuous ones. He's also routinely engaged in more overt criminal activities, which leads to his adversarial relationship with Constable Odo. Despite that, he's preferable to most alternatives, and even finds himself on Starfleet's side more often than not.

Like many Deep Space Nine actors, Armin Shimerman has been active in the theater for much of his career. Before Deep Space Nine , he was best known for the gentle piper Pascal in the Beauty and the Beast TV series. Afterwards, he continued to work steadily in television, as well as providing voice acting for numerous animated series and video games. His resume is impressively full -- with over 200 acting credits in IMDB -- and he returned to the role of Quark for a Star Trek: Lower Decks episode in 2022.

Cirroc Lofton Is Jake Sisko

Jake is Ben Sisko's teenage son, who comes with his father to Deep Space 9. His mother died in the Borg attack at Wolf 359, and he and his father have grown close. He's smart and inquisitive, though also very much a teenager. His unlikely friendship with the Ferengi Nog becomes one of the series' most important subplots. Jake runs against expectations by declining to follow his father to Starfleet, opting for a career as a writer instead.

Lofton is still primarily known for playing Jake, though he's made sporadic television appearances since then. That includes roles in the likes of 7th Heaven and CSI: Miami. He was also one of the main cast members of the Showtime series The Hoop Life.

RELATED: Star Trek's Version of Secret Invasion Has Lessons for the MCU

Michael Dorn Is Lieutenant Commander Worf

After seven seasons aboard the Enterprise-D, the Klingon Worf joins the cast of Deep Space Nine starting in Season 4. Worf is very much a man in exile on Deep Space Nine , as his feud with the Klingon Chancellor Gowron becomes more pronounced. He finds ready support with his new friends, and falls in love with Jadzia Dax only to see her murdered on the eve of their wedding. He remains one of Star Trek's most popular characters and returned for a curtain call in Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard .

Before his career-making role as Worf, Dorn was best known for Jebediah Turner on the hit cop show CHiPs in the early 1980s. Post- Star Trek , he has amassed an impressive array of voiceover credits, including Kaliback in the DCAU's Justice League and Kraven the Hunter in Spider-Man:The New Animated Series.

Nicole de Boer Is Ezri Dax

Terry Ferrell's departure meant killing off Jadzia Dax at the end of Season 6. The Dax symbiote lives on, however, and finds a new host in Ezri: a young ship's counselor who was the only compatible Trill available at the time. It makes her markedly different from Jadzia in many ways. She's still getting accustomed to the radical shift in perspective, and lacks her predecessor's self-confidence. (Jadzia was also quite a bit taller to boot.)

A native Canadian, Nicole de Boer began her career at the age of 11 and was a successful child actor before transitioning into grown-up roles. She's worked regularly in television both before and after her stint on Deep Space Nine, most notably opposite Anthony Michael Hall in the cult classic series The Dead Zone . Other roles include the sci-fi thriller Cube and a recurring part in the mystery-comedy show Private Eyes.

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Firsts and Lasts: The Cast of Deep Space Nine

From "Emissary" to "What We Leave Behind."

For seven seasons, audiences fell in love with the crew of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . We're taking a look back on the first and last appearances of the major players in the series.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine Cast: Where Are They Now?

It's been over 20 years since DS9 wrapped: what have the cast been up to since?

Deep Space Nine was the show that enjoyed one of the largest supporting cast out of all of the Trek series to date. Aside from the core characters, there were the regulars in Quark's bar and those Starfleet officers who dropped in from time to time to try to recall. Added to this, there was the mighty Dominion and the Klingon Empire - without a chart, sometimes it's a little difficult to keep all of the characters in check.

While there are dozens of characters who made up the cast of Deep Space Nine across the years, this list represents some of the most important recurring and main roles in the series' runtime. Characters like Kai Winn, Leeta, the Female Shapeshifter and Michael Eddington, while certainly important in their own right, aren't here simply because there is only so much room to work with - THAT'S how big the supporting cast was!

One of the major positives to a large cast however was the many different directions that the actors careers have taken them since. While many have remained on in television, some have moved into entirely new directions. Some are teaching, some are writing and others have run for office! Without further ado, here's what some of the favourite Deep Space Nine stars have been up to in the years since What You Leave Behind first aired.

19. Admiral Ross - Barry Jenner

Admiral William Ross was an addition to the series in its sixth season, taking Sisko on as his right hand man. From the beginning of this season, Barry Jenner appeared in several more episodes up to the seventh season finale. He passed away in 2016.

He was a popular addition to the convention circuit and attended as often as possible. His work post Deep Space Nine slowed down considerably, though he had been involved in various television and film projects beforehand. He had made appearances in Knots Landing, Dallas, Somerset and Another World.

To audiences outside of Star Trek, he may be better known by his role of Lieutenant Murtaugh, whom he played between 1990 and 1992. He had been a member of the professional actor's workshop Theatre East for over twenty years, working as an actor and director. He also did voice over work during his career, including a stint on the Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats.

He was an avid fan of both tennis and golf, playing in many tournaments to raise money for charity. He died in August 2016 from acute myeloid leukemia. He was 75.

Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick

What Happened To The Cast Of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine After The Show Ended

Chronicling the adventures of a space station crew at the mouth of the galaxy's only stable wormhole, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" distinguishes itself from the rest of the "Star Trek" franchise in many ways. With a group of sympathetic characters that includes a money-hungry criminal, a former terrorist, and an exiled spy, "Deep Space Nine" added a level of moral ambiguity and complexity not seen before or since in "Trek" films or shows. While it may not have been the most popular "Trek" series when it first aired, its more serialized storytelling makes it a perfect match for the era of streaming services.

"Deep Space Nine" was also different from other "Trek" shows because of its huge cast. Along with the principal actors, "Deep Space Nine" commanded a small army of recurring players, some of whom portrayed characters that remain fan favorites. We couldn't fit all those actors into a single story about what happened to the show's cast after it ended, but we've tracked down enough to fit in a shuttlecraft.

Avery Brooks dealt with industry hurdles after DS9

Few "Star Trek" captains shoulder the kind of responsibility borne by Benjamin Sisko, who Avery Brooks played for all seven seasons of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." Along with the usual duties of keeping his crew safe, Sisko is charged with nudging Bajor toward the Federation, unintentionally becoming a religious figure, and waging a war against the Dominion, all while raising his son alone.

When Brooks joined the faculty of Rutgers' Mason Gross School of the Arts , it was widely believed his departure from professional acting was a willing one . In a 2020 interview on Orville Nation, however, Brooks' co-star Cirroc Lofton suggested Brooks was blacklisted in Hollywood even before "Deep Space Nine." He said showrunner Ira Steven Behr was warned against hiring Brooks for "Deep Space Nine" by "other producers" — advice Behr thankfully ignored. Lofton didn't say why Brooks was reportedly blacklisted, but did say he thought his TV father was "being discriminated against" and suggested at least part of the motivation was racial.

Regardless, Brooks hasn't left acting behind entirely. Among other things, he starred as a detective in the 2001 crime thriller "15 Minutes." He's also done voice work for audiobooks as well as narrating documentaries for National Geographic and the Discovery Channel.

René Auberjonois left behind a body of great work

Before "Deep Space Nine," René Auberjonois was best known as the snooty Clayton Endicott III on the popular sitcom "Benson," a character who couldn't be farther from Constable Odo. A solitary, uncompromising security chief, Odo often feels more like the hardboiled private eyes Captain Picard likes to dress up as on the holodeck. While many DS9 residents see him as aloof and hard-hearted, Odo bears a torch for Kira Nerys that eventually develops into a romance, and he occasionally betrays a soft spot for the station's most well-known crook, the Ferengi bartender Quark.

Unfortunately, in December 2019 news broke that Auberjonois had passed away from metastatic lung caner at the age of 79 . After "DS9," Auberjonois never stopped working, and kept landing great roles in movies and TV shows. For example, he joined another "Trek" alum — William Shatner — on the dramedy "Boston Legal." He also built an impressive body of voice work before his death, including on animated series like " Archer ," "Avengers Assemble," and "Young Justice."

Cirroc Lofton shifted focus

One of the many things that distinguishes "Deep Space Nine" from other "Star Trek" series is the relationship between Ben Sisko and his son Jake, the latter played by Cirroc Lofton. While his father bears the weight of the galaxy on his shoulders, Jake forges a friendship with the Ferengi Nog, navigates the dating world, and discovers his passion — writing.

Lofton continued to act, though his acting credits grew more sparse the more time that passed from the end of "Deep Space Nine." His first role after "Trek" was as Curtis Thorpe on the Showtime drama "The Hoop Life," but in more recent years he's taken smaller roles, including as a security guard on two episodes of "Days of Our Lives."

Lofton's switched focus to other endeavors. For example, in 2010 he opened Cafe Cirroc in Culver City, California , though it's since closed. More recently, in 2019, Lofton helped launch the Star Trek podcast "The 7th Rule" with his late friend and co-star Aron Eisenberg.

Alexander Siddig found more great roles

The serialized storytelling of "Deep Space Nine" facilitates a lot more character growth than we see in other "Trek" series. A perfect example is Doctor Julian Bashir, played by Alexander Siddig. Early in the series, Bashir is often the last person any of the other characters want to talk to. Naive, long-winded, and cursed with an unfortunate tendency to hit on his patients, Bashir matures over the course of "Deep Space Nine" (though he still occasionally hits on his patients).

Few "Deep Space Nine" alum have landed as many varied and prominent roles as Siddig since the Trek series ended. In particular, Siddig's enjoyed a lot of great TV work including playing the sickly Prince Doran Martell in "Game of Thrones," the artist Ruben Oliver in Netflix's period crime drama "Peaky Blinders," and the immortal villain Ra's al Ghul in "Gotham." You also may have seen him in the films "Kingdom of Heaven," as the Greek god Hermes in 2010's "Clash of the Titans," or more recently in the crime thriller led by the late Chadwick Boseman, "21 Bridges."

Colm Meaney never took a break

Originally appearing in the recurring role of Miles O'Brien on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Colm Meaney graduated to series regular on "Deep Space Nine" as the station's tireless, overworked chief of operations. Among other things, O'Brien is known for enduring more creative narrative torture than just about any character on the show — including being subjected to the virtual memories of a decades-long prison sentence, having teeth ripped out by Cardassians, and even dying from radiation exposure and being replaced by a future version of himself.

While O'Brien may not have always been the luckiest of souls, Meaney found great fortune before and after "Deep Space Nine." Before playing DS9's chief of operations, he landed smaller roles in popular movies like "Dances with Wolves" and "Under Siege." He's kept busy since the end of the "Deep Space Nine" with a variety of projects that includes playing an Irish gangster in 2004's "Layer Cake" and Thomas "Doc" Durant in the AMC Western "Hell on Wheels."

In March 2021, Meaney told Looper that while no one's talked to him about reprising the role Miles O'Brien for "Star Trek: Picard," that he'd be willing to do it with the proviso there would need to be "a good and valid reason for him to pop up."

Nana Visitor is still among the stars

Major — and later Colonel — Kira Nerys isn't your average "Star Trek" first officer. A former self-proclaimed terrorist who fought to free Bajor from the Cardassian occupation, Kira doesn't trust the Federation at first. Early in the series she bumps heads with Sisko more often than not, though eventually they earn each other's respect and friendship.

Nana Visitor and co-star Alexander Siddig began dating in 1995 . They married two years later and, while they divorced in 2001, one important piece of their union is a part of "Trek" history. In Season 4's "Body Parts," Visitor's real life pregnancy was written into the series in order to explain the telltale "baby bump." Kira winds up carrying the baby of Miles and Keiko O'Brien after an accident injures the pregnant Keiko.

Visitor continues screen acting today. Following "Deep Space Nine," she was the sadistic Madame X on the science fiction drama "Dark Angel" and later played Jean Ritter on ABC Family's "Wildfire." Along with other one-offs and recurring roles, she's dipped her toe into voice work, in particular voicing several characters on "Family Guy."

Armin Shimerman became an author

In many ways, the Ferengi bartender Quark (Armin Shimerman) is at the very center of what sets "Deep Space Nine" apart from other "Trek" series. Quark doesn't share the Federation's high-minded ideals, and his criminal schemes tend to make bad situations worse on DS9. Still, Quark is no villain. Either out of pure self-preservation or emotional attachments to which he won't admit, Quark often finds himself on the good guys' side, including briefly taking up arms against the Dominion in Seasons 6 and 7.

Along with various live-action work, Shimerman's built a thriving voice acting career since closing his bar on DS9 for good. Fans of animation have heard him on "The Tick" and "Regular Show," among others. If you're a gamer there's a good chance you've heard his voice in "World of Warcraft" or as the villain Andrew Ryan in "BioShock." Shimerman's also a professional author. Most notably he's written a book series called "The Merchant Prince" in which Shimerman and various co-authors use science fiction to reimagine the real-life Elizabethan figure John Dee.

Terry Farrell built a new life

Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) of "Deep Space Nine" boasts one of the series' most interesting origin stories. Jadzia is a Trill who shares her body with a slug-shaped symbiote — Dax — living within her. While Jadzia is a young woman, Dax has lived for centuries and all of those memories are shared with their host. Dax's previous host, the late Curzon, was Ben Sisko's friend and mentor, explaining why Sisko refers to Jadzia as "old man."

Farrell proved to be the only member of the original regular cast to not be around for the final season. When contract negotiations broke down between Farrell and producer Rick Berman, she left the series and her character was killed off in the Season 6 finale.

After "Deep Space Nine," Farrell played Reggie on the Ted Danson-led sitcom "Becker," but she was written out of the show after the fourth season . Farrell retired from acting , though she returned in the late 2010's starting with the fan-made TV series "Star Trek: Renegades." She also married Adam Nimoy — son of the late Leonard Nimoy, best known as the iconic "Trek" character Spock.

Michael Dorn hasn't left Worf behind

Beginning with the Season 4 premiere "The Way of the Warrior," Worf (Michael Dorn) from "The Next Generation" joins his fellow Starfleet officers on DS9. Used to a much more ordered and predictable environment, Worf at first has trouble adjusting to the station, but soon becomes an integral part of the crew.

Dorn continued to play Worf in "TNG" films, including in the final installment of the series, 2002's "Star Trek: Nemesis." Starting with the second film, Dorn became a regular fixture in the "Santa Clause" movies and landed the recurring role of a psychiatrist in the crime dramedy series "Castle."

In January 2021, Dorn told Horror Geek Life that he was campaigning for either a solo Worf TV series or film and in April 2021, he cryptically tweeted that he was "summoned back to action. Starfleet calls." It was later confirmed, however, that Dorn wouldn't be playing Worf for any upcoming Paramount+ TV show or a film , leaving fans dismayed when it turned out he was referring to a video game .

Aron Eisenberg left behind a powerful Star Trek legacy

No "Deep Space Nine" character evolves more during the series than the Ferengi Nog, played by the late Aron Eisenberg. In the beginning of the series he's a petty thief who talks about humans like they're garbage, and by the final season he's a courageous Starfleet officer.

Eisenberg's acting credits grew sparse after "Deep Space Nine," though the late 2010s saw the actor making a return starting with the 2016 TV movie "Cozmo's." In 2019 he joined "DS9" co-star Cirroc Lofton on the podcast "The 7th Rule," but sadly Eisenberg was destined not to see 2020. Suffering chronic health problems for most of his life, Eisenberg died of heart failure at the age of 50 in September 2019 . The day before his death, his final film appearance was released in theaters — the gambling comedy "7 Days to Vegas."

In its third season, "Star Trek: Discovery" paid tribute to Eisenberg in a special way. In "Die Trying," the crew of the Discovery is reunited with the Federation after jumping over 900 years into the future, and one of Starfleet's new ships is named "USS Nog."

Andrew Robinson told us Garak's life story

As demonstrated in the 2018 documentary "What We Left Behind," plenty of "Deep Space Nine" fans name the enigmatic Garak as their favorite character from the series. The Cardassian is a spy exiled from his homeworld for reasons he consistently lies about. While he often works alongside the crew of DS9, it's never a guarantee, and to the end of the series his past remains shrouded in mystery.

One of the first things Robinson did after the end of "Deep Space Nine" was to give fans Garak's life story. In 2000, his novel "A Stitch in Time" was released. Created from notes Robinson made while playing Garak, "A Stitch in Time" gives us Robinson's version of the Cardassian's history. Much of his acting work after "DS9" came in one-offs and recurring roles on TV series, though he has had the opportunity to return to the role of Garak in interesting ways. In particular, Garak is much of the focus of the non-canonical remote series "Alone Together: A DS9 Companion" that Robinson made alongside other "DS9" alums.

Max Grodénchik moved across the pond

The Ferengi of "Star Trek" are known for their trickery and avarice, but Rom of "Deep Space Nine" — played by Max Grodénchik — is a breed apart. Rom is deceptively complex. While most of DS9's population initially see him as good-hearted but stupid, Rom proves to be an engineering prodigy on par with Starfleet's best. Not only does his raw know-how singlehandedly keep his brother Quark's replicators and holosuites running, but it's Rom who conceives of the ingenious minefield in the Season 5 finale "Call to Arms" that holds the overpowering Dominion at bay.

Grodénchik continued to make brief appearances in TV shows like "Six Feet Under" and "CSI" after "Deep Space Nine," as well as contributing his voice to video games like "Star Trek: Armada II" and "Star Trek Online." By the time StarTrek.com interviewed Grodénchik in 2014 , he'd moved to Austria with his wife and daughter in order to be closer to his wife's family. He hasn't left his passion for acting behind, however, and continues to appear mostly in European-produced films and TV series.

Marc Alaimo

"Deep Space Nine" has the honor of being the home of Star Trek's greatest villain – Gul Dukat, played by Marc Alaimo. Beginning as your average power-hungry Cardassian and eventually becoming a DS9 frenemy, a warlord, a madman, and eventually a vessel for the evil gods known as the Pah-wraiths, Dukat displays more growth and change over the course of "Deep Space Nine" than any antagonist in the franchise.

Some interesting and potentially revealing moments in the 2018 documentary "What We Left Behind" suggest that life may have imitated art when it came to Alaimo's relations with the rest of the crew. In the documentary, Nana Visitor recalls being mortified at the suggestion that the writers might create a romance between her character and Dukat while, like his character, Alaimo admits to being attracted to Visitor.

While it's been some time since Alaimo has earned any acting credits, he did make a very interesting appearance in 2020. While the principal photography was completed in 1983, it took 37 years for the horror flick "Grizzly II: Revenge" to finally be released , in which Alaimo not only co-stars with Louise Fletcher — who would go on to play both Alaimo's enemy and lover in "Deep Space Nine" — but with a star-studded cast that includes Charlie Sheen, Laura Dern, and George Clooney.

Jeffrey Combs

There are quite a few actors who have played multiple roles in the "Star Trek" franchise , but the undisputed king of them is Jeffrey Combs, who first reached prominence as the star of the 1985 comedy horror classic "Re-Animator." Among other "Trek" roles, Combs played not one but two of the most memorable recurring "DS9" villains. He's the Ferengi Brunt who keeps showing up to make Quark's life miserable, but he's best remembered as Weyoun — the mischievous but charismatic Vorta representative of the Dominion who coordinates the war effort against the Federation and their allies.

Combs seemingly hasn't been interested in taking a break since the vengeful Garak murdered his final clone in the "Deep Space Nine" series finale. The following year he appeared as an alien gladiator recruiter in the Season 6 "Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Tsunkatse" and, starting with its first season, portrayed the recurring blue-skinned frenemy Commander Shran on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Along with other brief appearances, he's the paranoid Kevin Burkhoff on "The 4400" and has a prosperous voice acting career.

Nicole de Boer is still entertaining in the Great White North

Terry Farrell's departure from "Deep Space Nine" marked the tragic end of Jadzia's story, but not the end of her symbiote Dax. In the final moments of the Season 7 premiere, Nicole de Boer reveals herself to the Siskos as Ezri — the newest host of the Dax symbiote. Less confident than Jadzia and more socially awkward, Ezri Dax gives the series an interesting new chemistry in its twilight season.

De Boer is Canadian, and much of her post-"Trek" work has been in joint American-Canadian productions such as her first big TV role after leaving "Deep Space Nine" — as Sarah Bracknell Bannerman, the female lead of USA's "The Dead Zone." Starting in 2010, she landed a recurring role on another Stephen King adaptation. She plays the antique store owner Marion Caldwell in the supernatural series "Haven," based on King's 2005 novel "The Colorado Kid." More recently on the Canadian crime drama "Private Eyes," De Boer plays the ex-wife of Jason Priestly's investigator lead.

Chase Masterson found her voice

As soon as Leeta (Chase Masterson) shows up in Season 3's "Explorers," the attractive Bajoran Dabo girl is set up as a new romantic interest for Dr. Bashir. The pair enjoy a romance that ends with Season 5's "Let He Who Is Without Sin..." She goes on to fall in love with her boss' brother Rom and marry him in the Season 5 finale. While she's rarely a major player, "DS9" wouldn't be the same without her.

Since shedding her Bajoran nose ridges, Masterson has taken command of her voice in more than one way. Like a number of "DS9" alum, she's become a hotly sought-after voice actor. Along with other series, she provides the voice of the computer for the CW's sci-fi series "Pandora." After appearing in "Doctor Who" audio plays as the bounty hunter Vienna, Masterson landed her own spinoff "Vienna" audio series. She's also a singer and has released a number of jazz records, including 2008's "Thrill of the Chase."

Louise Fletcher loved her time on DS9

If you want to make a "Deep Space Nine" fan growl, say the name "Kai Winn" within earshot. Best known for her Oscar-winning performance as Nurse Ratched in 1975's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," Louise Fletcher evokes similar reactions from "Trek" fans as Winn Adami. Winn is a power-hungry religious fanatic who reeks of passive aggression in almost every scene.

Speaking to StarTrek.com in 2012, Fletcher said she wasn't much of a Trek fan before joining the cast of "Deep Space Nine," but she treasured the experience of playing Kai Winn . She said the show was blessed with "the most professional cast and crew imaginable," and that working with them "was like playing a symphony for the 99th time."

Fletcher continued to appear in TV and films regularly after "Deep Space Nine." Among other productions, she landed recurring roles on "ER" and "Heroes," as well as playing the main character's mother on Showtime's "Shameless."

Salome Jens continued her already impressive career after DS9

While subordinates like Dukat and Weyoun might have more screen time, on "Deep Space Nine" there was no higher-ranking villain in the Dominion than the unnamed Female Changeling, played by Salome Jens. While she would later take a larger hand in the military aspect of the war with the Federation, at first the Female Changeling is at her most devious in her attempts to seduce Odo away from his DS9 found family.

Few "Deep Space Nine" cast members had careers as prolific as Jens, who first started showing up on the screen in the mid-'50s. Jens appeared in classic TV series like "The Untouchables," "Gunsmoke," and the original '60s "The Outer Limits." A few years before showing up on "Deep Space Nine," she even played Martha Kent on the syndicated "Superboy" series.

Since "Deep Space Nine," Jens appeared as one of the Guardians of Oa in 2011's "Green Lantern." She's also scored a number of voice roles in "Star Trek" video games, along with the 2001 comedy "Cats & Dogs."

Penny Johnson Jerald found her way back to the stars

Ben Sisko doesn't have a lot of romantic storylines in "Deep Space Nine," though that changes in Season 3's "Family Business" when his son Jake plays matchmaker and sets him up with the freighter captain Kassidy Yates (Penny Johnson Jerald). They seem like the perfect match right away, and their relationship miraculously survives the reveal toward the end of Season 4 that Yates is working with the rebellious Maquis. In the final season, Ben and Kassidy are married in spite of warnings from the Prophets, though their wedded bliss ends in the series finale when Sisko is called home to live among the godlike aliens.

Jerald has enjoyed a rich and diverse acting career since the end of "Deep Space Nine." She's President Palmer's ex-wife Sherry in "24," precinct captain Victoria Gates in "Castle," and the Director of National Intelligence in "The 4400." She also got the chance to graduate from Captain Sisko's love interest to the ship's doctor as Claire Finn on Seth MacFarlane's love letter to "Star Trek," "The Orville."

Casey Biggs is a lot more resilient than Damar

When he spoke to TrekMovie in June 2020, Casey Biggs said he never expected to play Damar — Gul Dukat's second-in-command — for more than one episode, but his character would go on to become one of the most important recurring characters in the series. Little more than the Dominion's puppet, Damar is installed as the Cardassian head of state after Starfleet captures Dukat. Unable to confront his impotence as a leader, Damar first tries to drink his problems away. Eventually, however, his masters heap enough abuses on Cardassia that Damar is willing to lead a rebellion against the Dominion and dies fighting in the series finale.

Biggs returned to the world of "Star Trek" as an Illyrian captain in the final season of "Star Trek: Enterprise." Along with his "Trek"-related appearances at conventions and other events, Biggs continues his career as a character actor. Since the end of "Deep Space Nine," he's appeared mostly in minor roles on TV series like "The X-Files," "Shameless," and "The Mentalist."

Rosalind Chao could have spent a lot more time on Star Trek

When Miles O'Brien accepts his new position on DS9, he's joined by his wife Keiko (Rosalind Chao), who never seems to find a place for herself. She eventually accepts a research job that keeps her away from the station for months at a time, but things change when she finds herself pregnant with a second child.

For all seven seasons of "Deep Space Nine," Chao only appears in 19 episodes as Keiko O'Brien, though according to the actor, she could have had a lot more time onscreen if she'd wanted. In 1996, she told the Chicago Tribune she was originally offered a regular role on the series but preferred the option of a recurring role, which freed up her schedule to pursue outside opportunities.

Chao's work in film and TV has kept her very busy since "Deep Space Nine," including appearing in the 2001 drama "I Am Sam," as Dr. Kim on "The O.C.," and as Hua Li, the titular hero's mother in the live-action remake of Disney's "Mulan."

J.G. Hertzler still hasn't left Star Trek behind

While he plays a few other characters on the series — including an unnamed Vulcan captain in the premiere episode — J.G. Hertzler's best-remembered "Deep Space Nine" role is the Klingon General Martok, a one-eyed warrior who forges a strong friendship with Worf and eventually ascends to the Chancellorship of the Klingon Empire. Speaking to StarTrek.com in 2019, Hertzler said he secured his role as Martok in a surprising but effective way — by slamming a chair into a wall during the audition.

While "Deep Space Nine" may be over, Hertzler never fully put "Star Trek" in his rear view mirror. He was cast as one of the hunting-obsessed Hirogen on "Voyager," played two different Klingons on "Enterprise," provided voices for multiple "Trek" video games, and as recently as 2020 voiced a Drookmani captain for the goofball animated series "Star Trek: Lower Decks." He's also lent his vocalizations to non-"Trek" video games like "Dead Space" and the first two "BioShock" installments.

Brock Peters left behind wonderful performances

In Season 4's "Homefront," we're introduced to a new Sisko — Ben's father Joseph, played by Brock Peters. A chef and New Orleans restaurant owner, Joseph is stubborn, charismatic, and fiercely protective of his grandson Jake. While he only appears in six episodes, Peters' time as Joseph Sisko is unforgettable. "Deep Space Nine" wasn't Peters' first time in the "Trek" franchise, either. In 1986's "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" and 1991's "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," Peters plays Admiral Cartwright — a high-ranking Starfleet officer who eventually turns traitor.

Peters enjoyed a long acting career before "Deep Space Nine." He plays the wrongly convicted Tom Robinson in 1962's "To Kill a Mockingbird" and Chief Hatcher in the classic 1973 dystopian thriller "Soylent Green."

Unfortunately, Peters passed away from pancreatic cancer in August 2005 at the age of 78 . Much of his acting between "Deep Space Nine" and his death was voice work, including voicing the police officer Jomo in the 2002 animated film "The Wild Thornberrys" and playing the Klingon General Mi'Qogh in a video game from the same year, "Star Trek: Starfleet Command III."

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Cast – Where Are They Now?

In the vast universe of “Star Trek,” the “Deep Space Nine” (DS9) series stands as a beacon of intricate storytelling, complex characters, and a unique take on the beloved sci-fi franchise.

Premiering in 1993, DS9 took us on a seven-year voyage through the challenges and triumphs of life on a space station at the crossroads of the galaxy.

The ensemble cast brought life to this space opera, leaving an indelible mark on Trekkies worldwide.

But as the wormhole closed and the credits rolled on the series finale, many fans were left wondering: where did the stars of DS9 journey next? As we warp forward to the present, let’s embark on a voyage of discovery to find out where the cast of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” is now.

Avery Brooks as ‘Captain Benjamin Sisko’

Avery Brooks starred in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Commander/Captain Benjamin Sisko, marking the series’ first Black-American lead.

During his time on DS9, Brooks enjoyed some film roles including The Big Hit with Mark Wahlberg and Christina Applegate, and American History X with Edward Norton. Brooks also appeared in 2001 action film 15 Minutes alongside Robert De Niro.

Brooks clinched a few other minor roles after DS9, but his acting career seemed to disappear after Star Trek. In December 2020, fellow castmate Cirroc Lofton alleged in an interview with Orville Nation that Brooks was subject of discrimination and that his departure from acting was due to Hollywood blacklisting. No explicit details were shared.

(photo: What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

Instead, Brooks became a professor at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, teaching theater arts. Although he appeared infrequently in film and movies, he returned to theater and starred in a number of productions.

Brooks also dabbled in music, releasing an album in 2009 that included jazz, blues, and spoken word.

René Auberjonois as ‘Constable Odo’

René Auberjonois played Constable Odo and is best remembered for his shapeshifting abilities and facial prosthetics. Auberjonois appeared in various TV shows and films after DS9, including a main cast role on ABC’s Boston Legal alongside William Shatner.

Auberjonois was featured in the films Inspector Gadget, The Patriot, Certain Women, and Raising Buchanan, as well appearances on Stargate SG-1, Star Trek: Enterprise, Warehouse 13, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Beyond live appearances, Auberjonois also worked as a voice actor on Xyber 9: New Dawn, Legend of Tarzan, and Pound Puppies.

Unfortunately, Auberjonois passed away in 2019 from metastatic lung cancer. In 2020 over a Zoom call, his castmates honored his memory by sharing and recounting stories of Rene.

Alexander Siddig as ‘Dr. Julian Bahir’

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Julian Bahir

Alexander Siddig played Dr. Julian Bahir in DS9 and enjoyed an extensive career following the show’s culmination. Notable TV roles include 24, Game of Thrones, 24, and Peaky Blinders, whereas he was featured in films such as Hannibal, Syriana, Kingdom of Heaven, Clash of the Titans, and 21 Bridges.

Siddig remains active as a television and movie actor to this day.

Colm Meaney as ‘Miles O’Brien’

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Miles O'Brien

Originally introduced on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Colm Meaney reprised his role as Miles O’Brien on Deep Space Nine. Meaney’s career stayed hot following wrap on DS9 and he landed a number of film roles including Layer Cake, The Damned United, and Get Him to the Greek.

Meaney was equally successful on TV, landing roles in shows such as Random Passage, Stargate Atlantis, and Will. Between 2011 and 2016, Meaney portrayed Thomas “Doc” Durant on AMC’s Western series Hell on Wheels, a role for which he received 2 award nominations.

In 2016, Meaney appeared in a drama called The Journey in which he played real-life politician Martin McGuinness, a role for which he earned an Irish Film & Television Academy Award for Best Actor in 2017.

He is regarded as one of Ireland’s best actors and remains working in film and TV today. When asked if he would reprise the role of O’Brien for Star Trek: Picard, Meaney stated that he would be willing to appear if there was “a good and valid reason” for the character to be present.

Nana Visitor as ‘Kira Nerys’

Nana Visitor played Kira Nerys, a terrorist turned Major turned Colonel aboard the Deep Space Nine. In 1995 while the show was filming, Visitor sparked a romance with co-star Alexander Siddig and the two were married in 1997 before a 2001 divorce.

Visitor remained an actress, clinching notable roles such as Madame X on Dark Angel and Jean Ritter on ABC Family’s Wildfire. She would lend her voice to miscellaneous character’s on Seth McFarlane’s incredibly popular cartoon series Family Guy, working alongside him once more in 2015’s Ted 2.

Although she remains an actress but has not appeared in TV or film since 2018.

Armin Shimerman as ‘Quark’

Armin Shimerman portrayed Quark in DS9, a Ferengi bartender with little regard beyond his own welfare and interests.

Shimerman’s resume is extensive indeed, featuring guest spots, often as a judge, on a plethora of TV shows including Boston Legal, Charmed, The West Wing, ER, Crossing Jordan, Nip/Tuck, The Young and the Restless, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Predominantly, Shimerman pivoted to voice acting, lending his voice to characters in Regular Show, The Tick, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and Justice League Action. He also provided voices in video games including the iconic Ratchet and Clank series and as primary antagonist Andrew Ryan in the original BioShock.

Beyond his work in entertainment, Shimerman is also an author. He co-wrote a series of books between 2000 and 2003 called The Merchant Prince featuring The Merchant Prince, Outrageous Fortune, and Capital Offense. In 2020, he released another book entitled Illyria: Betrayal of Angels.

Andrew Robinson as ‘Elim Garak’

Andrew Robinson played Garak on Deep Space Nine, a Cardassian tailor and Promenade shopkeeper, for 37 episodes on the show.

After Deep Space Nine, Andrew Robinson has appeared in various televisions shows including, Martial Law, The Profiler, Jag and Without a Trace.

In 2020 he reprised his role as Garak in a Zoom based production ‘ Alone Together: A DS9 Companion ‘. He acted alongside his former costars, Alexander Siddig, Andrew Robinson, Cirroc Lofto and Armin Shimerman.

In 2022, he lent his voice to the Netflix series Dota: Dragon’s Blood.

Terry Farrell as ‘Jadzia Dax’

Terry Farrell played Jadzia Dax on Deep Space Nine for six seasons before a contract negotiation deteriorated and led to her departure from the show.

In 1998, Farrell landed a role on CBS’s Becker alongside Ted Dansen following DS9 and remained part of the main cast for 4 out of 6 of their seasons.

After Becker, Farrell met Brian Baker, an actor known predominantly for his role as the Sprint’s spokesperson in the late ‘90s, and the two were married in 2002. Farrell officially retired from acting in 2002 to focus on her family. She and Baker had a son together, Max.

In 2015, Farrell and Baker were divorced and Farrell began a relationship with Adam Nimoy, the son of the late and great Leonard Nimoy. The two were married in 2018 on Spock’s 87th birthday, but the couple divorced in 2022.

Michael Dorn as ‘Worf’

Michael Dorn’s Worf remains one of the most iconic characters in all Star Trek history, having been featured in 11 seasons, 277 episodes, and 5 films. Starting in the season 4 premier, Worf was added to the cast of Deep Space Nine and remained a regular until the series finale.

Dorn remains open to continuing appearing as Worf in any current and future iterations of Star Trek. After DS9, Dorn landed a recurring role on Castle. He also worked as a voice actor on shows such as Justice League, Kim Possible, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Ben 10, Adventure Time, and Family Guy.

Dorn also landed a recurring role as the Sandman in both The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.

Aron Eisenberg as ‘Nog’

Aron Eisenberg donned the essential Ferengi facial prosthetics to assume the recurring role of Nog on DS9. Following Deep Space Nine, Eisenberg landed a few minor movie roles and an occasional guest appearance on TV, but his acting career essentially fizzled.

By 2013, Eisenberg shifted his focus full-time to photography and opened his own gallery. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2015, but recovered after receiving a transplant that same year.

Tragically, it wouldn’t be long until he died suddenly of a heart failure in 2019. He had recently begun podcasting with former co-star Cirroc Lofton. He was 50 years old, and left behind a wife and two sons.

In 2020 over a Zoom call, his castmates honored his memory by sharing and recounting stories of Aron.

Cirroc Lofton as ‘Jake Sisko’

Cirroc Lofton played Jake Sisko on DS9, son of the Commander then Captain Benjamin Sisko. This would be the longest acting role of his career, and work would be scarce following Star Trek’s wrap.

In 1999, Lofton would portray Curtis Thorpe on a Showtime drama The Hoop Life, but the show was canceled after 1 season. Lofton enjoyed guest roles in shows such as 7th Heaven, Days of Our Lives, Invasion, and CSI:Miami.

In 2010, Lofton opened a cafe in Culver City, California named “Cafe Cirroc,” but it closed down after some time. As of 2019, Lofton hosts a Star Trek podcast calledThe 7th Rule.

Nicole de Boer as ‘Ezri Dax’

Nicole de Boer joined Deep Space Nine as Ezri Dax in the last season of the show as a replacement for Terry Farrell.

Following Deep Space Nine, Nicole would have a significant role as Sarah Bannerman on the television show ‘The Dead Zone’, where she appeared in 72 episodes.

She also appeared in one episode of Stargate: Atlantis as ‘Dr. Alison Porter’. Her next significant role would come in 2016 as ‘Becca D’Orsa’y on the television show ‘Private Eyes’.

Recently Nicole has obtained her real estate licenses and is a real estate agent in Los Angeles.

Mariska Lee

Mariska is a recovering attorney who gave up her professional job to discover new perspectives of life while traveling in a 2009 Ford Transit. She has been living the van life for 3 years and has not looked back since.

Screen Rant

Star trek’s dax actress breaks down how ds9’s cast is different from “popular kids” in tng.

Jadzia Dax actress Terry Farrell explains why Star Trek: DS9's widely varied cast still works despite being different from TNG's "popular kids".

DS9 differentiated itself from TNG by featuring a more diverse cast, including more aliens and fewer Starfleet officers.
The setting of a Cardassian space station allowed DS9 to explore complex narratives and ongoing storylines in a way that was different from previous Star Trek series.
Despite their differences, the characters on DS9 were able to come together and survive, illustrating the essential message of Star Trek: unity among diversity.

The cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine differed from the "popular kids" of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast, says Jadzia Dax actress Terry Farrell. Because DS9 premiered during TNG season 6, and the two shows aired concurrently, DS9 needed to look and feel different from TNG while still showing that it took place in the same universe. To that end, DS9 's cast had more aliens and fewer Starfleet officers than TNG , and told stories set on a Cardassian, rather than Federation, space station, but also featured crossover characters like Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn).

Terry Farrell, who played Trill science officer Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's first 6 seasons, believes there's a reason why DS9 's hugely varied cast of characters still works , and offers her explanation in The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross. Read her quote below:

People are always going on and on about what a family the Next Gen cast is and how we weren’t. Here’s my side: I think Next Generation are the popular kids in high school. They’re totally a clique. They’re all dancing to the same song; we’re each dancing to our own different songs, but we still come together. I’m not trying to say it’s deeper than what Next Gen has. It’s just different. We’re all from broken homes and we come together and make ourselves a group. They all come from the same home. We all came to the space station and we’re all coming from a different place, and they all came from Starfleet. We’re the kids from the dysfunctional family, but we survived. We’re not the f--kups that come together, we’re the survivors that come together.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Cast & Character Guide

Ds9's space station setting made it a very different kind of star trek.

As the first Star Trek series set on a space station, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine collected characters from all walks of life with an experimental but necessary departure from the formula of Star Trek: The Next Generation . Instead of boldly going into the unknown to find adventures, DS9 's stories needed to come to the station, leading to the complex format of DS9 's ongoing wartime narrative . Problems marinated in growing tension, instead of being forgotten. DS9 's popular recurring characters , like Cardassian tailor Garak (Andrew Robinson), deposed egoist Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo), and Bajoran spiritual leader Kai Winn Adami (Louise Fletcher) hung around the station and became rich and intriguing players.

The characters on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine made it a compelling and favored entry in the Star Trek franchise. The differences between DS9 's characters, once a source of lessons on how to reach across cultural divides, were thrown in sharper relief as DS9 became the hub of the Dominion War. Political affiliations and motives became more important, tensions rose, and Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) was thrown into a moral gray area. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine let itself be messy and complicated, but as Farrell pointed out, still retained the essential message of Star Trek : that those dancing to different songs can still come together, and in doing so, survive.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is available to stream on Paramount+.

Source: The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Promotional art for Star Trek: Discovery season 5, featuring a cast lineup surrounded by alien runes. LtR: Blu Del Barrio as Adira, Mary Wiseman as Tilly, Wilson Cruz as Culber, Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham, David Ajala as Book, Doug Jones as Saru and Anthony Rapp as Stamets.

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2024 Spring Entertainment Preview

Star Trek: Discovery is finally free to do whatever it wants

Imagining the future of the future

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It’s a truth universally acknowledged that even among the greatest television shows in Star Trek history, most of them take two seasons to stop being kind of bad. Never has that been more true or more excruciating than in the case of Star Trek: Discovery .

Polygon is looking ahead to the movies, shows, and books coming soon in our Spring 2024 entertainment preview package, a weeklong special issue.

Often it felt like what Discovery was really doing in its early seasons was discovering what didn’t work. Strong performances from a great cast? That works. A Klingon design that absolutely nobody liked ? Definitely not. But despite the stumbles, Discovery season 1 had still averaged C’s and B’s with reviewers, and had built an audience and a subscriber base for Paramount Plus. On the strength of Disco ’s first season, Paramount greenlit Star Treks Picard , Lower Decks , and Prodigy , three new shows covering a huge range of ages and nostalgic tastes. And spinning out of Disco ’s second season, which introduced familiar , nostalgic characters and a brighter, more Star Trek-y tone, Paramount produced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , inarguably the best new addition to the franchise since 1996.

Star Trek: Discovery crawled so that the rest of modern Trek could run... and then it started to walk. The show’s third season saw the USS Discovery and crew in the place that should have been their starting blocks: the bleeding future edge of Star Trek’s timeline. Thanks to season 3’s groundwork, season 4 became the first time that Discovery had a status quo worth returning to. In its fifth and final season, Star Trek: Discovery is finally free — free in a way that a Star Trek TV series hasn’t been in 23 years.

Sonequa Martin-Green as Captain Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery, season 5. Wearing a glowing uniformed spacesuit, she clings to the back of a spaceship speeding through hyperspace, colorful lights streaking the background.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is such an elder statesman of the television elite that it’s easy to forget that it was daring. The show’s triumph wasn’t just that it featured a new cast of characters, but also its audaciousness in imagining the future of the future — and making that future unmistakably different . The Original Series showed a racial and national cooperation that seemed fantastical in its time, with an alien crewmember to denote the next frontier of embracing the other . Next Generation saw that bet and raised it, installing a member of the Klingon species, the Federation’s once-feared imperialist rival state, as a respected officer on the bridge of Starfleet’s flagship.

Next Generation ’s time period — one century after Kirk’s Enterprise — wasn’t a nominal choice, but a commitment to moving the story of Star Trek forward. From the show’s foundations, Gene Roddenberry and his collaborators, new and old, set a precedent that the Federation would evolve. Therefore, in accordance with the utopian themes of the franchise, old enemies would in time become friends. Next Generation embraced The Original Series ’ nemeses and the rest of ’90s Trek saw that bet and raised it again, pulling many of Next Gen ’s villains into the heroic fold. Voyager welcomed a Borg crewmember and disincorporated the Borg empire; Deep Space Nine gave the franchise the first Ferengi Starfleet cadet, and brokered a Federation-Klingon-Romulan alliance in the face of an existential threat.

But Discovery — at least until it made its Olympic long-jump leap 900 years into the future — couldn’t move Star Trek forward. So long as it was set “immediately before Kirk’s Enterprise,” hemmed in by the constraints of a previously established era of Star Trek history, it could graft on new elements (like Spock’s secret human foster sister) but it couldn’t create from whole cloth (like a galaxy-wide shortage of starship fuel that nearly destroyed the Federation). Like its predecessor, the ill-fated Star Trek: Enterprise of the ’00s, it was doomed to hang like a remora on the side of the events of The Original Series , or, if you’ll pardon another fish metaphor, doomed like a goldfish that can only grow as large as its half-gallon fishbowl will allow.

Discovery ’s later, free seasons in the 32nd century have shown the Federation at its most vulnerable, a subtler echo of Picard ’s own season 1 swing at fallen institutions . (Fans of Voyager and Deep Space Nine know that this is an extremely rich vein of Trek storytelling.) In its third season, Discovery solved a galaxy-wide fuel crisis that had shattered the community of the Federation. In its fourth it fought for a fragile new Federation alliance and its millennia-old ideals.

And those seasons have also boldly committed to the idea of imagining the future’s future — 900 years of it. The centuries-old rift between Vulcans and Romulans is long healed, Ferengi serve as captains in Starfleet, the work of Doctor Noonien Soong has brought new medical technologies to the fore.

Even still, Discovery hasn’t been truly free in its third and fourth seasons. Star Trek: Picard was out there, forming new past elements of a post- Next Gen / Voy / DS9 era that Discovery had to abide by. And, after all, the show still had to make sure there was something for its own next season to come back to.

Blu del Barrio as Adira in Star Trek: Discovery. She kneels confused before a strange figure dressed in white with white hair, with red robed figures in the background.

But now — with Prodigy and Picard finished, and Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks locked into their settings of Star Trek’s established past, and Starfleet Academy and Section 31 not yet in production at the time that its final season would have been written — Discovery has reached the final final frontier for a Star Trek show. If you’re a Star Trek fan, that should excite you.

Not since Deep Space Nine in 1999 and Voyager in 2001 has a Star Trek series had the freedom to wrap up its run with the Federation in any state it wants to. With franchise flagship Next Generation at an end, and Voyager restricted to the Delta Quadrant only, Deep Space Nine used its last seasons to throw the Federation into all-out war, making sweeping changes to the established ficto-political norms of ’90s Trek. Voyager used its finale to do what Captain Picard never could: defang the Borg (mostly).

We don’t know exactly what Discovery will do with that freedom. Season 4 directors have talked about reaching “ into the past to get further into the future ,” and likened it to Indiana Jones. Official news releases have said the crew will “uncover a mystery that sends them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries.” But speculating on what that means would be beside the point.

Discovery , the show about an intergalactically teleporting starship, can finally, actually, go anywhere. It’s been almost a quarter of a century since a beloved Star Trek series was so free to boldly go. Let’s hope they’re very bold indeed.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 premieres with two episodes on April 4 on Paramount Plus.

Spring 2024 entertainment preview

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This 'Star Trek Discovery' Character Is a Deep-Cut 'DS9' Reference

Callum Keith Rennie joins Star Trek: Discovery as Kellerun Captain Rayner, revealing the obscure species from Deep Space Nine .
Rayner's Kellerun backstory is crucial to Rayner's characterization and mission, with the showrunner promising a focus on his personal history.
Discovery continues the tradition of exploring one-off alien races with new characters, adding depth and diversity to the final season.

Veteran actor Callum Keith Rennie will join the cast of the final season of Star Trek: Discovery as the alien Captain Rayner, and now we know what species he is. Fans have speculated that Rayner's pointed ears mark him as a Vulcan or a Romulan, but a new interview reveals that he is a member of the Kellerun, an obscure species from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . TrekCore.com has the details from SFX Magazine's feature on Discovery 's upcoming fifth season , which will premiere on Paramount+ early next month.

Rayner's species will apparently be important to his characterization and the mysterious mission he joins the USS Discovery crew for, as they race against time in the show's final bow. Says showrunner Michelle Paradise , "He’s Kellerun, which is a minor planet mentioned in one of the other iterations… we learn more about his personal backstory and how that plays into who he is, and why he is how he is. We learn about that as the season goes on, and the planet he’s from has a lot to do with that." It won't be the first time an important character on Discovery comes from a one-off alien race; Commander Nhan ( Rachael Ancheril ), who debuted in the series' second season, is a Barzan, a race that had up to that point only appeared in the third-season Next Generation episode "The Price".

Who Are the Kellerun?

The Kellerun made their first and (so far) only appearance in "Armageddon Game", which first aired in 1994 as part of Deep Space Nine 's second season. A species with distinctive large, pointed ears, they had been at war for centuries with their neighbors, the T'Lani, in a conflict that utilized the Harvesters, deadly biological weapons. After the two races made peace with each other, Starfleet sent in Deep Space Nine crew members Dr. Julian Bashir ( Alexander Siddig ) and Miles O'Brien ( Colm Meany ) to help dismantle the remaining Harvesters. However, the Kellerun and T'Lani insist that all knowledge pertaining to the Harvesters must be destroyed - which means killing Bashir and O'Brien, too. The two have to make a desperate race for survival as their friends try to save them from the two alien species.

Although the Kellerun did not appear on the series again, the episode established Bashir and O'Brien's friendship, which endured for the rest of the show's run. Canadian actor Callum Keith Rennie is a veteran of science fiction productions, having starred in Battlestar Galactica , Impulse , The X-Files , Jessica Jones , and The Umbrella Academy . Discovery will be his first Star Trek appearance.

Star Trek: Discovery 's fifth and final season will premiere April 4, 2024 on Paramount+ , wehere past seasons are also streaming. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates, and watch the trailer for Discovery 's fifth season below.

Star Trek: Discovery

Taking place almost a decade before Captain Kirk's Enterprise, the USS Discovery charts a course to uncover new worlds and life forms.

Release Date September 24, 2017

Cast Oyin Oladejo, Emily Coutts, Anthony Rapp, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman

Main Genre Sci-Fi

Genres Drama, Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure

Rating TV-14

Watch on Paramount+

This 'Star Trek Discovery' Character Is a Deep-Cut 'DS9' Reference

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series)

The homecoming (1993), full cast & crew.

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Full Cast & Crew

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Cast and Character Guide

Avery Brooks Is Captain Benjamin Sisko

Nana Visitor Is Kira Nerys

Terry Ferrell Is Jadzia Dax

Alexander Siddig Is Doctor Julian Bashir

Colm Meaney Is Chief Miles O'Brien

René Auberjonois Is Constable Odo

Armin Shimerman Is Quark

Cirroc Lofton Is Jake Sisko

Michael Dorn Is Lieutenant Commander Worf

Nicole de Boer Is Ezri Dax

Firsts and Lasts: The Cast of Deep Space Nine

Star Trek Deep Space Nine Cast: Where Are They Now?

19. Admiral Ross - Barry Jenner

What Happened To The Cast Of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine After The Show Ended

Avery Brooks dealt with industry hurdles after DS9

René Auberjonois left behind a body of great work

Cirroc Lofton shifted focus

Alexander Siddig found more great roles

Colm Meaney never took a break

Nana Visitor is still among the stars

Armin Shimerman became an author

Terry Farrell built a new life

Michael Dorn hasn't left Worf behind

Aron Eisenberg left behind a powerful Star Trek legacy

Andrew Robinson told us Garak's life story

Max Grodénchik moved across the pond

Marc Alaimo

Jeffrey Combs

Nicole de Boer is still entertaining in the Great White North

Chase Masterson found her voice

Louise Fletcher loved her time on DS9

Salome Jens continued her already impressive career after DS9

Penny Johnson Jerald found her way back to the stars

Casey Biggs is a lot more resilient than Damar

Rosalind Chao could have spent a lot more time on Star Trek

J.G. Hertzler still hasn't left Star Trek behind

Brock Peters left behind wonderful performances

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Cast – Where Are They Now?

Avery Brooks as ‘Captain Benjamin Sisko’

René Auberjonois as ‘Constable Odo’

Alexander Siddig as ‘Dr. Julian Bahir’

Colm Meaney as ‘Miles O’Brien’

Nana Visitor as ‘Kira Nerys’

Armin Shimerman as ‘Quark’

Andrew Robinson as ‘Elim Garak’

Terry Farrell as ‘Jadzia Dax’

Michael Dorn as ‘Worf’

Aron Eisenberg as ‘Nog’

Cirroc Lofton as ‘Jake Sisko’

Nicole de Boer as ‘Ezri Dax’

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