star trek next generation ro laren

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Ro Laren was a female Bajoran national who served as a commander in Starfleet , working for Starfleet Intelligence during the early 25th century .

A survivor of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor , Ro had a tumultuous career within Starfleet. Following a court martial and demotion due to a catastrophic away mission, she was assigned to the Federation starship USS Enterprise -D in 2368 and mentored by Captain Jean-Luc Picard . In 2370 , Ro defected to the Maquis , after she started sympathizing with the group's goals during an undercover mission. ( TNG : " Ensign Ro ", " Preemptive Strike ")

Later in life, Ro served time in prison and was recruited and rehabilitated by Starfleet Intelligence. In her new position, she had to rise through the ranks again, eventually becoming a Commander and handler of other operatives. In 2401 , Ro uncovered a Changeling infiltration of Starfleet and shared extensive knowledge about the threat with her former mentor Picard, shortly before her death. ( PIC : " Imposters ")

• 1 Childhood
• 2.1 Academy and early career
• 2.2.1 First mission
• 2.2.2 Later missions
• 3 Joining the Maquis
• 4 Return to Starfleet
• 5.1 Jean-Luc Picard
• 5.2 William T. Riker
• 5.3 Geordi La Forge
• 5.4 Deanna Troi
• 6.1 Appearances
• 6.2.1 Star Trek: The Next Generation
• 6.2.2 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• 6.2.3 Star Trek: Picard
• 6.3 Apocrypha
• 6.4 External links

Childhood [ ]

Ro was born on January 17 , 2340 on Bajor to Ro Talia and Ro Gale . ( TNG : " Conundrum ", " The Next Phase " personnel file )

Recalling her childhood as " a long, depressing period of [her] life, [she] was grateful when it was finally over. " ( TNG : " Rascals ") Ro had grown up in the Bajoran diaspora , as one of the thousands displaced into refugee camps by the Cardassian occupation of her homeworld . During her youth, she spent some time in the camps on Valo II . ( TNG : " Ensign Ro ") In all, she spent ten years in the camps. ( TNG : " Preemptive Strike ")

Although most of the time she didn't even have a bed while living in the camps, there were times she did, when she was very young, and she would be afraid of the imaginary monsters that were under her bed. ( TNG : " Rascals ", " Preemptive Strike ") To help ease her fears, Ro's father would play the belaklavion for her, which he told her had "special powers" and that "monsters were afraid of it, and they'd disappear whenever they heard it." She recalled that when she heard her father's music, she was never afraid to go to sleep. ( TNG : " Preemptive Strike ")

Ro Laren as she appeared at age twelve

In 2347 , Ro was shown the true nature of the occupation when she was given a piece of sugar candy by a Cardassian , who led her to a room where she found her father sitting inside. For the next two hours she was forced to sit and watch as a Cardassian questioned and tortured her father until he died.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Ro felt ashamed of being a Bajoran. She was ashamed of her father for being so weak, as she watched him beg for mercy. Laren eventually found that she could not live in an environment where her people were unable to feed and clothe themselves. Because of this, she ran away. Her father's death led her to have a life long hatred of Cardassians. ( TNG : " Ensign Ro ") After his death, she finally realized that even her father could not make all the monsters in her life go away. ( TNG : " Preemptive Strike ")

Over time, Ro began to understand how misguided her feelings of shame were, and eventually she chose to no longer be ashamed of her heritage. Ro decided to keep her name in traditional form: family name first, given name second. She did this despite the fact that most Bajorans accepted the distortion of their names in order to assimilate. She also strongly favored wearing the traditional Bajoran earring , albeit on the left ear as opposed to the traditional right ear. ( TNG : " Ensign Ro ")

Later in her life, she revealed that she never really drew a picture of her mother. It was also revealed that the young Ro Laren was a repressed jumper . ( TNG : " Rascals ")

Starfleet career [ ]

Academy and early career [ ].

Ro Laren entered Starfleet Academy in 2358 and graduated with the class of 2362 . Her Starfleet service serial number was HL-2133-8947 (APL). ( TNG : " Conundrum ", " The Next Phase ")

One of Ro's early assignments was aboard the USS Wellington . During that assignment in the mid- 2360s , Ro was a member of the disastrous away team mission to Garon II . During the mission, Ro disobeyed direct orders, causing the eight other members of the away team to die. Ro was court martialed for her actions and refused to speak in her own defense. With little alternative, the court found Ro guilty and sentenced her to imprisonment in the stockade on Jaros II . ( TNG : " Ensign Ro ") Jean-Luc Picard felt that, had Ro not lost her rank following her court martial, she could have been a lieutenant commander by late 2368 . ( TNG : " The Next Phase ")

USS Enterprise -D [ ]

First mission [ ].

In 2368 , Ro was released by Admiral Kennelly and reinstated into Starfleet in exchange for helping locate a Bajoran terrorist. While secretly conducting her mission, Ro was assigned to assist the USS Enterprise -D on stardate 45076.3 . Due to her familiarity with the Valo system , she was initially assigned as flight control officer . Upon reaching Valo II, she suggested the best route for them to take would be to go to the camp on the southern continent to find a man named Keeve Falor .

Ro sat alone in Ten Forward , sipping her beverage and turning people away when they offered to sit with her. As Geordi La Forge at the bar nearby expressed his displeasure at Ro's presence to Guinan , she decided to get to know Ro. During their conversation, Ro revealed that she was court-martialed for disobeying a direct order, resulting in the death of eight fellow officers. Guinan persisted despite Ro's efforts to push her away. In her quarters, Ro received a transmission from Kennelly and told him that all was going according to plan. When it came time to beam to the surface, Picard found Ro gone and the terrorists never showed up at the designated meeting location. He beamed down anyway with an away team, where they found themselves surrounded by armed Bajorans, with Ro among them. Orta emerged, his face mutilated and vocal cords cut by the Cardassians. He told them that the Bajorans did not attack Solarion IV and lets them go.

The surface of Valo II

Back on the Enterprise 's bridge, Ro discussed the issue of who attacked Solarion IV with the other officers until Picard asked her into his ready room. There he angrily asked her to explain her actions. While her intentions appeared to have been good – she hoped to avoid bloodshed by talking to Orta before the meeting – Picard confined her to her quarters for the rest of the mission. That night, Guinan visited Ro to talk about what happened. She observed that Ro seems to trust no one, least of all herself. After a brief conversation, Guinan recalled a time in her life when she got herself into a bad situation and that she would probably still be there if she had not put her trust in one man. Despite Ro being confined to her quarters, Guinan took her to Picard's ready room. Guinan left the two of them to talk, and Ro revealed a secret about her purpose aboard the Enterprise : Admiral Kennelly wanted her to make a secret deal with Orta, in direct violation of the Prime Directive . So long as Orta stopped attacking the Federation, Kennelly would supply him and his fellows with weapons and ships. However, when she learned Orta was not responsible, she did not know what to do. Ro shared a story about how her father was tortured to death in front of her at the hands of the Cardassians, explaining that she felt ashamed to be Bajoran. She and Picard decided to find a way for Orta to help them expose the ones who really attacked the Federation colony. Picard, reluctant to let go of an officer with Ro's potential, requested that Ro remain on board for the Enterprise 's next scheduled mission to survey Sector 21305 . ( TNG : " Ensign Ro ")

Later missions [ ]

Not long after Ro's transfer to the Enterprise , a quantum filament caused major damage to the ship. Unable to communicate with the rest of the crew, Ro, Lt. Cmdr. Troi , Chief O'Brien and Ensign Mandel were trapped on the bridge . The quantum resonance of the filament caused a polarity shift in the ship's antimatter containment fields, leading to a progressive degeneration in the fields, threatening the ship. Before Commander Riker and Lt. Cmdr. Data were able to restore control over the containment field, Ro suggested a saucer separation to save the saucer section , while sacrificing the stardrive section , stating that she was not sure whether anyone was still alive there. After Troi rejected Ro's proposal, the Enterprise 's main computer was brought back online, and the antimatter containment was fully restored. ( TNG : " Disaster ")

Ro defends the Enterprise bridge from the Ux-Mal

On stardate 45571.2 , Ro was at the helm of the Enterprise when one of the vessel's shuttlecraft crashed on the surface of a moon orbiting Mab-Bu VI . There, a number of the crew became possessed by anionic energy lifeforms superimposing neural patterns. During their attempted takeover of the bridge Ro shot at the possessed Miles O'Brien, but missed. She was in turn stunned by O'Brien.

After the lifeform-possessed crew members took over Ten Forward , Ro suggested giving them a plasma shock as a means of causing pain to the beings without causing any physical harm. If the plan worked and they were able to hit all three with a single discharge, they would cause the beings to evacuate the crew members.

Geordi La Forge and Ro Laren later attempted a rescue in the small access area between Decks 9 and 10, above Ten Forward. When they finally made their attempt, they were unable to get all three crew members in the beam, which eventually led to the abortion of their rescue attempt. ( TNG : " Power Play ")

On stardate 45652.1, Ro served on the bridge during an encounter with a temporal causality loop . She interrupted a staff meeting to report that sensors were getting unusual readings twenty thousand kilometers off the port bow. She noted that sensors did not detect the phenomenon until the ship was almost on top of it. As she attempted to back the Enterprise off from the phenomenon, she reported that the maneuvering thrusters were not responding, and as a ship emerged and she attempted to back the ship off, she reported that the helm was not responding.

In an alternate version of events , when the Enterprise collided with the USS Bozeman , which had emerged from the phenomenon, Ro Laren reported that the Enterprise 's inertial dampers were failing and that the ship was losing attitude control , moments before it was destroyed, and Ro died. ( TNG : " Cause And Effect ")

Ro and La Forge realizing that they can touch only each other

While investigating a damaged Romulan ship, Ro and Geordi La Forge were presumed dead in a transporter accident . Finding themselves freely walking around the ship but passing through other objects, Ro suspected that they were dead and simply remaining behind to say their goodbyes to their former lives, but La Forge refused to accept that. Eventually, La Forge figured out that they had actually been sent out of phase with the rest of the ship due to a flawed Romulan attempt to create a new kind of cloaking device, a theory that was proved when they confronted a Romulan in the same position as they. Learning of a Romulan plot to sabotage the Enterprise , Ro and La Forge managed to work out a means of canceling out the phase and restoring themselves to normal, thus allowing them to warn their shipmates of the danger. ( TNG : " The Next Phase ")

During a survey mission on stardate 46235.7, Ro, Picard, Guinan and Keiko O'Brien were briefly transformed into twelve-year-olds due to a transporter accident. Although Ro initially found the experience frustrating, when the ship was captured by a crew of rogue Ferengi , she took full advantage of her childish appearance to deal with the problem, such as slapping com badges onto the Ferengi to allow them to be transported, while declaring, " Tag – you're it! " After a process was discovered to return everyone to their proper ages, Ro actually spent a few hours longer in her childhood body, drawing pictures of her mother – something she'd never done during her actual childhood. ( TNG : " Rascals ")

Lt. Ro Laren following her Advanced Tactical Training.

On the recommendation of Captain Picard, Ro attended Starfleet's Advanced Tactical Training , where she graduated in late 2370 . Following her graduation she was reassigned to the Enterprise with the rank of lieutenant and given quarters on deck four, section eight. ( TNG : " Preemptive Strike ")

Joining the Maquis [ ]

Posing as a member of the Maquis in 2370

In 2370 , Ro was assigned to infiltrate the Maquis . Although somewhat reluctant, she agreed, partially to validate Captain Jean-Luc Picard 's belief in her. By having Lt. Commander Data and Lt. Worf faking pursuit on the pretext she had killed a Cardassian soldier, she gained the attention of the Maquis Santos in a DMZ settlement bar.

She was kidnapped by Santos and was briefly questioned by him, Kalita and Macias . Macias immediately took a liking to Ro and trusted her even before her alibi was verified by Santos. He eventually became a father-like figure.

She later gained the trust of the rest of the Maquis by "stealing" medical supplies from the Enterprise . After gaining the Maquis' trust, she had them plan to invest significant resources to attack a Yridian convoy, which in actuality was a Federation trap.

Soon after, three Cardassians attacked the area near the Maquis cell and killed Macias, who with his dying breath told Ro, " When an old fighter like me dies, someone always steps forward to take his place ." She started questioning her loyalties, and tried to have the fake convoy trap canceled by claiming the Maquis would not invest resources to attack. However, Picard saw through her lies and questioned her resolve. She claimed she would carry out her duties, but Picard had Commander Riker accompany her to the attack.

Ro aiming a phaser at Riker before being beamed away by the Maquis

During the attack, she drew a phaser on Riker and fired a low-intensity particle beam from the shuttlecraft that revealed a Starfleet attack force hiding in a nebula near the bogus convoy. When the Maquis retreated, she had her ship move towards the Enterprise so Riker could leave. When asked why she was going with the Maquis, she replied, " It's been a long time since I really felt like I belonged somewhere. " Just before she beamed to another Maquis ship, she asked Riker to tell Picard she was sorry for betraying his trust. ( TNG : " Preemptive Strike ").

After some time with the Maquis, Ro turned herself in to Starfleet authorities and was imprisoned . ( PIC : " Imposters ")

Return to Starfleet [ ]

Due to her experience with terrorist activities, Ro was recruited by Starfleet Intelligence , who subjected her to an intensive rehabilitation program . By 2401 , she had advanced to the rank of commander .

Commander Ro Laren in 2401

That year, she boarded the USS Titan -A to interrogate Picard and Riker for hijacking the ship but, after a heated exchange with Picard over her betrayal and emotional reconnection, revealed that she was investigating the Changeling threat and told Picard that she believed Starfleet had been compromised at the highest levels. Ro gave Picard a head start to get away but was betrayed by her security team, who were actually Changelings in disguise, and gave the Titan -A the opportunity to escape by navigating the doomed shuttle towards the Intrepid 's port nacelle in an effort to cripple the vessel. Before boarding the shuttle, Ro gave Picard her Bajoran earring, which Riker discovered was a datachip containing files on her entire investigation. An incoming transmission revealed that she was Worf's handler . Picard was greatly affected by the loss. ( PIC : " Imposters ")

Relationships [ ]

Jean-luc picard [ ].

Although initially opposing Ro's assignment aboard the Enterprise , Captain Picard was impressed with the way she handled the situation. Following the mission, he told her she was free to leave the ship, but as a personal request, he wanted her to consider remaining in Starfleet.

During their first mission together, he observed her potential and noticed a certain quality about her that could possibly be harnessed and molded. Although Ro was flattered, she didn't feel she belonged in the uniform. Picard believed that she had a lot to learn from Starfleet, and she retorted that she felt Starfleet had a lot to learn from her. Picard felt that attitude was common among the best officers he had served with, and that although she was not one of those officers, someday she could be if she decided to work at it.

Ro accepted Picard's "interesting challenge," something she rarely refused, and in return, at Ro's request, Picard allowed her to bend the Starfleet uniform code and wear her traditional Bajoran earring . ( TNG : " Ensign Ro ")

Picard later sponsored Ro's entrance into Starfleet's Advanced Tactical Training program. Although the program was exceptionally difficult, Ro graduated and was re-posted to the Enterprise as a full lieutenant . When she betrayed Starfleet and permanently joined the Maquis, Picard felt responsible for Ro's betrayal and believed he pushed her in doing so, but he also felt angry that she ultimately did. ( TNG : " Preemptive Strike ")

William T. Riker [ ]

Ro and Riker in 2368

Commander Riker was not thrilled with the assignment of Ro to the Enterprise , and demanded nothing but the highest standards of performance from her.

Upon her initial beam-in, Riker immediately reprimanded her for wearing her traditional Bajoran earring, which was not allowed according to the Starfleet uniform code. Riker later shared his concerns with Picard, stating that there would be members of the crew who would not want to serve with Ro.

Riker was infuriated by Ro's acceptance of her assignment aboard the Enterprise when she stated that " It was better than prison. " ( TNG : " Ensign Ro ", " Conundrum ", " Preemptive Strike ")

Ro, with Riker and Troi after their memories were wiped by the Satarrans

Later, during a period in which the Enterprise crew lost their memories, Riker and Ro had a brief sexual tryst. Set against their prior antagonistic relationship, this created an awkward situation when the crew's memories were restored, but Counselor Deanna Troi indicated that people in such a situation might likely act on what they would subconsciously wish to do. ( TNG : " Conundrum ")

Riker was set to deliver a eulogy for Ro at a memorial service for her and Geordi La Forge when they were believed to have been killed in a transporter accident. However, he never had an opportunity to deliver it as both Ro and La Forge were revealed to be alive. The mystery of what Riker would have said baffled Ro. ( TNG : " The Next Phase ")

Riker was the last Enterprise crewmember to see Ro when he joined her in an undercover effort to stave off a Maquis strike. Ro turned a phaser on him, however, explaining her defection to the Maquis, and asked him to relay her apologies to Captain Picard. Riker wished her well before she escaped. ( TNG : " Preemptive Strike ")

Geordi La Forge [ ]

Geordi La Forge believed that the only reason she was on her initial mission was because of orders, as he believed that she didn't belong aboard the Enterprise or even in a Starfleet uniform. TNG : " Ensign Ro ") The two later bonded, however, when they were cloaked and phased by a Romulan interphase generator and forced to find a way to return to normal. ( TNG : " The Next Phase ")

Deanna Troi [ ]

While the Enterprise was damaged due to an encounter with a quantum filament , Ro was in conflict with Deanna Troi , who was the senior officer on the bridge, about whether to detach the saucer section, thereby saving the lives they could. Troi was opposed to the idea, even though Ro argued vehemently in favor of separating the ship.

After Commanders Riker and Data stabilized the ship, Ro admitted to Troi that she was wrong. Troi responded that she might as easily have been right.

Ro does not appear to be guided by sentimentality when in a crisis situation, as indicated by her harsh comment to Troi during this incident. ( TNG : " Disaster ")

Later the same year, Ro and Troi shared a drink in Ten Forward following the retrieval of their lost memories. ( TNG : " Conundrum ")

Guinan befriends Laren, against her wishes

Guinan became interested in Ro after learning a bit about her past from La Forge. Guinan defended Ro in front of Picard and encouraged her to reveal the truth to him about the nature of her mission. Picard was willing to listen, as he knew Guinan did not call someone a friend easily.

Ro and Guinan remained friends. When they were both transformed into children, Guinan helped Ro take the opportunity to experience the childhood she was denied as a Bajoran refugee. ( TNG : " Ensign Ro ", " Rascals ")

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• " Ensign Ro " (Season 5)
• " Disaster "
• " Conundrum "
• " Power Play "
• " Cause And Effect "
• " The Next Phase "
• " Rascals " (Season 6)
• " Preemptive Strike " (Season 7)
• PIC : " Imposters "

Background information [ ]

Star trek: the next generation [ ].

Michelle Forbes establishing the role with Director Les Landau during production on "Ensign Ro"

Ensign Ro was played by Michelle Forbes and first appeared in the fifth season TNG episode named for her, " Ensign Ro ". Forbes was chosen for the role because the production staff were impressed with her performance as Dara in the fourth season episode " Half a Life ". ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 177))

According to Rick Berman , Ro was introduced as a sharp-edged character to contrast with the TNG main cast. He explained, " The other characters in the cast are relatively homogeneous; some might even say bland. So we wanted a character with the strength and dignity of a Starfleet officer but with a troubled past, an edge. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 177))

Michael Piller was pleased with how Ro Laren turned out. " I created the Ensign Ro character, and I certainly loved writing for her, " he enthused. " She was so fresh because she was one of those people that didn't get along with anybody easily, so she always had a lot to learn as a character. " ( Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection , issue 101, p. 14)

Indirectly, Michelle Forbes was Michael Westmore 's inspiration for the Bajoran design and makeup. After her being hired for the part of Ro Laren in TNG, Rick Berman told Westmore, " We've hired a pretty girl and I want to keep her that way. Think of something that we can take and make her look a little alien, and still get the idea she's from another planet, but she's still gorgeous. " ( Michael Westmore's Aliens: Season One , DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)

Shortly before Ro made her on-screen debut in "Ensign Ro", Rick Berman regarded her as "a character who very well might recur." He went on to remark, " She plays very nicely with our characters and […] she's a very interesting character. " ( Star Trek: The Official Fan Club Magazine  issue 82 , p. 6)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [ ]

During the production of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , it was intended that Ro Laren be the first officer of Deep Space 9 under Benjamin Sisko 's command. Michelle Forbes turned down the offer and the character was modified and became the basis for Kira Nerys . ( The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine )

In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine bible of April 1992, Ro Laren's entry stated, " Established on ST:TNG. She is properly addressed as Lieutenant Ro since Bajorans put their family names first. (Note: She will receive a promotion from Ensign to Lieutenant on an episode of ST:TNG before this series begins.) As a Bajoran, Ro cares passionately about her people's independence. That's why she volunteered for duty on the space station. Sisko originally refused to accept her transfer…He didn't want anything to do with someone with her undistinguished service record and reputation. But during the first episode, she proves her value to him and becomes his first officer. " In Jadzia Dax 's entry in the bible, a friendship between Ro and Jadzia was suggested: " Ro, who forms a very close relationship with Dax, often tells her to loosen up. Dax admires Ro for her youthful energy, her purpose and her drive and becomes something of a mentor to her. " In Odo 's entry, Ro " finds Odo's negative attitude to authority delightful and they have a Bajoran fellowship. " The bible entry for Quark posited that he and Ro would become adversaries. ( The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine )

An unproduced Star Trek: Voyager script was to have featured a flashback to Tom Paris ' time at Starfleet Academy, showing that he and Ro were classmates. ( citation needed • edit )

Star Trek: Picard [ ]

Terry Matalas stated in an interview that in early drafts for season 3 of Star Trek: Picard , Ro was planned to survive the destruction of her shuttle in " Imposters ", having been beamed off of it by the Changelings for information; however, this was never filmed. Matalas described the season as already having "too ambitious of a schedule", and that "There were things that we just simply didn’t have the time and money to shoot." [2]

Apocrypha [ ]

Ro Laren, as depicted in the uniform of the Bajoran Militia on the cover of Lesser Evil .

In the 1990s, Ro Laren appeared in several unconnected novels and comics, since then retconned as part of the First Splinter Timeline. One of these was the Deep Space Nine novel Wrath of the Prophets , where she teamed up with Kira Nerys to track down a black market dealer on Bajor . She also appeared in the Next Generation novels The Devil's Heart , The Romulan Prize , War Drums , Requiem , The Romulan Stratagem , Sins of Commission , The Last Stand , Here There Be Dragons and The Death of Princes . Ro also appeared in the Deep Space Nine comic " Friend and Foe Alike ". In the Star Trek: The Dominion War novels Behind Enemy Lines and Tunnel Through the Stars by John Vornholt , Ro Laren and Captain Picard lead a team to destroy an artificial wormhole being constructed by the Dominion in Cardassian space .

Ro Laren is one of the main characters in a number of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novels that have also since been retconned as part of the First Splinter Timeline. The novels show that Ro survived the Dominion's extermination of the Maquis and joined with a few other Maquis survivors to fight their own war effort against the Dominion. After the Dominion War , Ro returned to Bajor and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Bajoran militia, replacing Odo as Chief of Security on DS9 and eventually starting a relationship with Quark . Initially, Starfleet wanted her arrested, but behind the scenes, Captain Picard quietly urged Starfleet to reconsider their decision. When Bajor joined the Federation, Ro considered leaving the station with Quark, but her old uniform was sent to her by Picard as encouragement to remain on the station. Ro remained with the militia as it was absorbed into Starfleet and was given a Starfleet commission at the rank of Lieutenant. As of the novel Zero Sum Game (set in 2382 ), Ro was the commanding officer of Deep Space 9 and a Starfleet Captain. After the destruction of the original station in the Star Trek: Typhon Pact novels Plagues of Night and Raise the Dawn , Captain Ro takes command of the new station built in its place, starting in Revelation and Dust .

Ro wears her Bajoran earring on her left ear rather than her right like every other Bajoran seen on screen, with the exception of those who worshiped the Pah-wraiths . In the aforementioned novels, it is explained that Ro does this because she does not believe in the Prophets, but still wants to acknowledge her heritage. It has the advantage of discouraging vedeks from pinching her left ear to read her pagh .

Star Trek Online 's backstory differs somewhat, stating that Ro surrendered to Starfleet in 2379 , pleaded guilty to desertion , and served two years in a penal colony on Earth . Upon her release she was granted a commission in the Bajoran militia and became chief of security for Deep Space 9.

In the new timeline of the IDW comics, it is revealed that, by 2378 , Ro was no longer a member of the Maquis and was secretly recruited by Worf to help him hunt down Kahless . ( Star Trek: Defiant )

The Star Trek: Terok Nor novel Night of the Wolves depicts Ro's life during the Occupation.

External links [ ]

• Ro Laren at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Ro Laren at Wikipedia
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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Star Trek: Picard 's latest Next Generation cameo was all about 'doing a paranoia thriller'

"I so desperately wanted to see the conclusion to that relationship," says showrunner Terry Matalas of Jean-Luc Picard and the latest surprise guest.

Warning: This article contains spoilers from Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 5.

Patrick Stewart 's Jean-Luc is touring his greatest hits in the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard by bringing back a bevy of familiar faces from The Next Generation . The reunions keep coming in episode 5, titled "Imposters," which sees a character showrunner Terry Matalas says he really wanted for his story arc.

Actress Michelle Forbes returns as Ro Laren, a Bajoran member of Starfleet who served on the U.S.S Enterprise-D. Trekkies last saw her in season 7 of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1994. The character now arrives on Picard to question Jean-Luc and Riker ( Jonathan Frakes ) about the Titan's activities, but similar to her past story arcs, there's a secret, more pressing reason why she's really there.

"There was nothing I wanted to do more than bring Ro Laren back," Matalas tells EW. "It felt like such a hanging chad from Next Generation . That episode to me is very special. It's the idea of doing a paranoia thriller."

Ro made her first appearance on The Next Generation in 1991 in the episode "Ensign Ro," and her colorful background includes a conviction for disobeying orders and getting eight crewmen killed. She was first stationed on the U.S.S. Enterprise on a secret mission to make a deal with a suspected Bajoran terrorist, but her principles in the matter are what gained her respect from Picard.

The last time Picard saw her — at least on screen — was in season 7 when she was sent to infiltrate a resistance group known as the Maquis and ended up defecting. A lot has seemingly happened to Ro off screen since that time. To use Picard's own words, "How the hell is Ro Laren back in Starfleet?!" It turns out she was once again rehabilitated and brought up through Starfleet Intelligence.

She beams aboard the U.S.S Titan in Picard season 3 with two armed security guards from the U.S.S Intrepid as Jean-Luc and Riker face potential treason charges. Once both Picard and Ro break the ice and confirm neither of them are Changelings, she reveals her true purpose for being there is because Starfleet has been infiltrated at the highest level by Changelings.

"The only way to be sure that the person that you're talking to is actually the person you hope they are is by getting through a catharsis of trauma of the past of this relationship, [which] to me felt like it could be really good television," Matalas says. "That was Ro and Picard, and I so desperately wanted to see the conclusion to that relationship."

Closure comes just in time. The episode concludes with the death of Ro, who realizes too late that her own detail has been infiltrated by Changelings who plant a bomb on her shuttle. She's at least able to leave behind her Bajoran earring containing all her files on the Changelings before crashing her shuttle into the Intrepid.

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The Sprawling History Of Star Trek's Ro Laren Gets A Little Complicated

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In the fifth season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation, " the showrunners introduced a new regular character named Ensign Ro Laren. Ro (an excellent Michelle Forbes) was a Bajoran, a species whose planet has been militarily occupied by the wicked Cardassians for generations. Bajorans had long since turned to rebellious terrorism to fight back. Since neither world was a member of the Federation, no Starfleet vessels interfered. When the Enterprise was assigned to find a Bajoran terrorist named Orta (Jeffrey Hayegna), Ensign Ro was assigned to assist. 

Immediately, Ro was a fascinating character. She belonged to Starfleet but hated authority, often defying Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and expressing open annoyance with his orders. She possessed a great deal of agency, upsetting the traditional Starfleet chain of command. She also was, it is eventually revealed, on a secret mission from an admiral above Picard's head. In a mannered, propriety-driven world like "Star Trek," a willful free agent stands as a challenge to everyone's most basic ideals. Ro Laren points out that Starfleet isn't always a rosy, functional organization, and that immoral war acts can still happen with Starfleet in the world. The relationship between Ro and Picard is one of the more fascinating in the series. 

At the end of her debut episode — called, fittingly enough, "Ensign Ro" (October 7, 1991) — she was able to provide aid to Orta and his team of terrorists, knowing that Starfleet was being used as a pawn in a larger game. The Cardassians, it seems, needed help in tracking down someone they defined as a war criminal and kind of hoodwinked Starfleet into helping. Ro went out of bounds on several occasions but ultimately learned to trust Picard. That didn't mean, however, that they liked each other. 

The best characters on "Star Trek" are those with clearly delineated principles. If they have a definite moral stance, then they will always have something to be passionate about, something to fight for. It doesn't matter if the character's principles match the audience's — Quark on "Deep Space Nine," for instance, is soulfully devoted to money and wealth — it merely matters that we understand what they want in any given scene. 

Ro Laren is devoted to justice. She is unafraid to speak her mind and lets everyone know when she's pissed off (which is often). When she grants someone else her trust, you know it was well-earned. Picard learns to trust her and she begrudgingly accepts Picard as her commanding officer. In return, she is allowed to wear her earring while on duty. Chained earrings are a religious symbol in Bajoran society. Michael Piller, the character's creator, claimed in a magazine interview to have loved writing for Ro, stating that he liked someone who doesn't get along with others well. 

In the episode "Disaster" (October 21, 1991), Ro found herself trapped on the bridge with only Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) as her commanding officer. Troi was unable to rein in Ro's anger, and the situation gave both characters a chance to test the limits of command. Most of Ro's episodes were crisis episodes, and she was often depicted in dangerous, unusual situations. In "Conundrum," her memory was erased along with the rest of the crew, and she and Riker ( Jonathan Frakes ) had a brief affair. In "Rascals," she was transformed into a child. Ro and Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) developed a strangely warm relationship. 

But Ro would never find comfort with Starfleet.

The perfection of Starfleet

Ro's final episode of "Next Generation" was "Preemptive Strike" (May 16, 1994). In that episode, the newly promoted Lieutenant Ro returns to the Enterprise after going through Starfleet tactical training back on Earth. Ro is assigned a dangerous mission: She must infiltrate a group of Federation separatists called the Maquis . The Cardassians, in exchange for ending their violent occupation of multiple worlds (including Bajor), were given a number of Federation colonies. The Federation colonists were ordered to move, but many of them resented the exchange and the fact that the Federation gave concessions to a wicked species like the Cardassians. The Maquis were formed as a rebellion force, fighting to keep their homes, despite Federation orders. They were enemies to the Federation and to Cardassia. 

In infiltrating the Maquis, Ro found that they really had been given a raw deal. She steals medical supplies from the Enterprise and gives them to the Maquis leader, Macias (John Franklyn-Robbins). Picard has been ordered to flush out the Maquis and bring them to heel. The Maquis, meanwhile, have intel on a Cardassian weapon they aim to stop. Because of the diplomatic fineries of the Federation, none of these three sides are communicating. Ro feels she has no choice: She has to betray Picard and help the Maquis. Her last act on the series is to reveal the Enterprise's plans to the Maquis, allowing them to escape. She holds a phaser on Riker and asks that he convey an apology back to Picard. Picard, upon hearing about Ro's betrayal, is heartbroken.

Picard had felt he was "reaching" Ro, turning her into a good Starfleet officer. Ro, meanwhile, hated being "tamed." She was going to follow her principles.

Ro's return

Many Trekkies love Ro Laren, and it's easy to see why. She is the clearest sign that even the most stringently composed utopias will still have malcontents. The Federation is not perfect, as it is ill-equipped to deal with citizens who refuse to toe the company line. Starfleet stands for a pretty noble ethic, but it also is so beholden to formalism and the chain of command that it becomes stymied. Ro is a woman of action who would rather seek solutions than permission, and ethics rather than meaningless notions of loyalty. Picard felt betrayed, but the audience understands everything Ro did. 

The character returned in an episode of "Star Trek: Picard" called "Imposters" (March 16, 2023). The last Picard had seen of Ro was when she betrayed him and ran off with the Maquis. He was startled, then, to see her back in a Starfleet uniform 40 years later, bearing the rank of Commander, and in charge of a Federation security force. The first conversation Picard had with Ro upon being reunited was bitter, angry, hurt. Picard saw Ro as one of his great failures, as he was unable to "snap her into shape." Ro, true to her character, shoots back that Picard didn't bother really understanding her. She no longer has to explain herself to him. "Picard" was best when it pointed out Picard's character flaws, and his inability to "reach" all of his officers was one of them. 

In "Imposters," Ro ended up sacrificing her life so that Picard could flee a Byzantine Changeling conspiracy and save the day. Ro, however principled, wouldn't necessarily do that, though. In my headcanon, she somehow escaped destruction and continued to fight the good fight on whatever front was most deserving. 

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Published Jan 8, 2024

Everything You Need to Know About Ro Laren

The Bajoran Starfleet officer made several key relationships before defecting to the Maquis.

StarTrek.com / Rob DeHart

Despite a loner’s mentality, a bad reputation, and a tense transfer to the U.S.S. Enterprise- D, Ensign Ro Laren eventually found friendships among the starship’s complement, and it all started with…

"Ensign Ro"

StarTrek.com

Always the listener, the El Aurian bartender made the effort to break through Ro Laren’s icy facade and offered the Bajoran officer her friendship at a time when the Enterprise -D’s crew would not. After Captain Picard confined Ro to her quarters, Guinan paid her a visit and encouraged Ro to talk about her troubles. Guinan vouched for Ro in front of Picard, convincing the captain to put aside his preconceptions so that the ensign could tell him about an illegal plot that a Starfleet admiral had initiated.

Ro and Guinan’s bond continued to grow, particularly during the brief time they were transformed into children by a transporter accident. Guinan recognized that Ro’s frustration about becoming a child again reflected the Bajoran’s rough childhood, so the El Aurian rallied Ro’s spirits, ultimately getting the ensign to express herself by jumping on her bed and drawing a portrait of her mother with crayons.

William T. Riker

"Conundrum"

As the Enterprise-D ’s first officer, Commander Riker was one of the staunchest opponents to Ro Laren's transfer onto the starship. The two regularly clashed over Starfleet regulations and shipboard procedures. A Satarran operative’s plan to infiltrate the flagship and wipe the crew’s memories had an intriguing side effect, as it permitted Riker and Ro to socialize without the baggage associated with their past conflicts. The pair found common ground, and they were even romantically involved before their memories were restored.

Upon Ro’s promotion to lieutenant, the Bajoran undertook a mission to infiltrate the Maquis. When Picard suspected Ro’s loyalties were wavering, he assigned Riker to pose as her relative and accompany her on the journey to spring a trap on the Maquis. Ro finally made her choice, siding with the Maquis and pointing a phaser at Riker before expressing her regrets and fleeing with her new comrades. Despite their tumultuous history, Riker genuinely appeared sad over Ro’s departure, though he did wish her well.

Geordi La Forge

"The Next Phase"

Another officer who resisted Ro Laren’s presence on the Enterprise -D, Geordi La Forge gradually found respect for his colleague, particularly during the incident which saw the disembodied presences of alien prisoners assert control over Counselor Troi, Data, and Chief O’Brien’s bodies. La Forge and Ro collaborated on what turned out to be a failed project to remove the entities by initiating a plasma shock on the affected crew members.

On a mission where a Romulan experiment caused Ro and La Forge to become cloaked, the two worked closely to figure out precisely what had happened to them. Ro believed they had actually died, at least until the chief engineer uncovered the Romulans had been trying to develop a phased cloaking device. The duo successfully alerted Captain Picard to their presence, foiled a Romulan scheme to sabotage the Enterprise -D, and learned they had more in common than they had originally thought.

Jean-Luc Picard

"Preemptive Strike"

Following Guinan’s declaration that Ro was her friend, Captain Picard chose to trust in the Bajoran, ultimately recognizing her potential and offering her a permanent place on the Federation flagship. This act of confidence meant a lot to Ro, who expressed her gratitude to the captain when she was cloaked and out of phase, even though Picard could not actually hear her say the words. Picard’s faith in Ro flourished, as he was the one who recommended her entry into Starfleet’s advanced tactical training program.

After returning to the Enterprise -D, Ro honored Picard’s support by accepting Starfleet’s request that she infiltrate the Maquis. As Ro’s sympathies toward the Maquis intensified, Picard worried about the path the Bajoran was taking. The captain’s concerns proved accurate, and he was discouraged by Ro’s decision to expose Starfleet’s trap and leave with the Maquis. Ro asked Riker to convey how sorry she was for betraying Picard, and the incident clearly caused the captain much sorrow.

A leader in the Maquis group that Ro infiltrated, Macias quickly endeared himself to the Bajoran with his kind demeanor, a resilience against Cardassian tyranny, and their shared love for hasperat. Macias reminded Ro of her father, but the friendship was short-lived. Tragically, a Cardassian team attacked the Maquis camp, killing Macias in the process. With his dying breath, Macias told Ro that someone would step forward to take his place. Macias’ death turned out to be the catalyst which propelled Ro to take a stand and join the Maquis, thus ending her Starfleet career and causing the rift between Ro and Picard.

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This article was originally published on March 16, 2023.

Jay Stobie (he/him) is a freelance writer, author, and consultant who has contributed articles to StarTrek.com, Star Trek Explorer, and Star Trek Magazine, as well as to Star Wars Insider and StarWars.com. Learn more about Jay by visiting JayStobie.com or finding him on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms at @StobiesGalaxy.

How Star Trek Just Fixed The One Thing The Next Generation Movies Overlooked

Picard showrunner Terry Matalas explains why one specific character had to return.

Star Trek has just brought back a 1990s fan favorite, and in doing so, created one of the most emotionally affecting moments in the franchise's history. If you’re still reeling from the events of Picard Season 3, Episode 5, “Imposters,” know this: It was planned from the start that this character had to return, and as showrunner Terry Matalas tells Inverse , no other character was ever considered for this moment.

Spoilers for the latest episode of Star Trek: Picard ahead!

During the last few seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation , one recurring crew member was not like any Trek character who had come before. Starting in 1991, with the episode “Ensign Ro,” Michelle Forbes created a foil for the rest of the squeaky-clean Enterprise-D. In contrast to the Starfleet crewmembers we’d met so far, Ro was an argumentative ruler-breaker, who had no reverence for Jean-Luc, Will, or the rest of the crew. And of course, fans fell in love with her, as did the crew of the Enterprise . Now after 29 years, Ro Laren has returned, to confront Jean-Luc Picard, but also, to save the galaxy.

Michelle Forbes returns as Ro Laren in Star Trek: Picard Season 3.

In “Imposters,” Ro’s shocking return raises suspicions from Riker and Picard right away: Didn’t Ro join the rebel group the Maquis and betray Starfleet? How could this be Ro Laren? Could this be a Changeling imposter?

But, the brilliance of “Imposters” is how the arc of the episode plays with our feelings for Ro, as well as Picard’s mistrust of her. And once the script flips, and we realize Ro is fighting against a massive conspiracy, everything changes. Of all the moments in Picard Season 3, this is easily the most pivotal. It’s here we learn the Changeling takeover of Starfleet is much bigger than we thought, and the stakes are way higher than a personal mission for Jean-Luc and Beverly.

So, when Season 3 was crafted, did showrunner Terry Matalas and the episode’s other writers — like Cindy Appel and Chris Derrick — ever consider another character for this moment?

“No,” Matalas tells Inverse . “It had to be Ro Laren. It was shocking to me she was never in the feature films.”

Shocking is right. Like Guinan, or Miles and Keiko O'Brien, Ro was hugely central to the TNG mythos, so much so, that her final episode, “Preemptive Strike,” was the penultimate episode of the entire series, airing on May 14th, 1994, just one week before the last episode ever, “All Good Things...”

Ro was even part of the initial pitch for Deep Space Nine , but Michelle Forbes declined to reprise the role, which led to the creation of Nana Visitor’s Major Kira , instead. But, Matalas has a point about the TNG feature films. Side characters from the series like Lt. Barclay appeared in First Contact , and Wil Wheaton even had a cameo in Nemesis . Not including Ro in any of the TNG feature films is an oversight, that now has been corrected. As Matalas puts it, if you see Picard Season 3 as a protracted, TNG movie, “She had to be part of the final TNG cinematic narrative.”

Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren in Star Trek: The Next Generation .

But more than just fan service, the return of Ro Laren also comes with a shocking death scene, perhaps one of the biggest deaths in Star Trek history. When Ro realizes her shuttle has a bomb on it, she decides to ram the USS Intrepid — which is crewed by shapeshifters — and buy the Titan enough time to escape.

Killing off a beloved character after bringing her back after so long was “certainly something none of us took lightly,” Matalas explains. “Her sacrifice needed to have tremendous meaning. Ro needed to set our heroes on a course that could potentially save the galaxy. And as Worf says in the next episode [Episode 6], it will be up to them to ensure that Ro Laren did not die in vain.”

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 airs new episodes on Thursdays on Paramount+.

This article was originally published on March 17, 2023

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Michelle Forbes Opens Up About Returning As Ro Laren For ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 3

| March 22, 2023 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 45 comments so far

The big surprise in last week’s episode of Star Trek: Picard was the return of Michelle Forbes. The actress and showrunner are talking about the return of Ro Laren to Star Trek and why it was essential for the season.

Forbes talks Ro’s return

Michelle Forbes appeared in seven episodes spanning the last three seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation  as the Bajoran ensign Ro Laren. Producers wanted Forbes to continue the role as a series regular for the spinoff series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , but she declined. Three decades later, she did return for a single episode of Star Trek: Picard (last week’s “Imposters”). The actress offered her thoughts on Ro and her return with a photo slide show on Instagram, saying in part, “Ro taught me a lot. I’ve held those lessons close.” Forbes also talked about how she was happy to reunite with Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes “and eat breakfast and laugh together again!” She also offered up her thanks to Gene Roddenberry for creating the Star Trek universe and for TNG producers Rick Berman and Jeri Taylor for creating the character of Ro, adding “It’s been sweet to carry and hold her for decades. She’s such a deep part of my heart and I love that we share that.”

You can scroll through some of her pictures from the set in her Instagram post below…

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by MISHKA (@iammichelleforbes)

Bringing Ro back was essential

The episode “Imposters” focused on exploring the Changeling conspiracy within Starfleet when security was sent to investigate the events on the Titan. Speaking to Collider , showrunner Terry Matalas explained how putting Ro in charge of that investigation made it all come together.

This story was always—the pitch that I had for it was, “How great would it be to do a paranoia thriller with someone that you have all this baggage with?” The only way to be sure you’re sitting across from the person that you hope you’re sitting across from is to get through your trauma with them. I thought that if we could pull that off, we’d have a really interesting episode of television. But that required us getting Michelle Forbes and convincing the studio and the network it was the right idea, and educating a lot of people on who Ro Laren [was].

Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren in “Imposters”

Matalas talked to Entertainment Weekly about how bringing back Ro was an opportunity to provide closure to the character’s arc (and her relationship with Jean-Luc Picard) following her final appearance in the season 7 episode “Preemptive Strike.”

There was nothing I wanted to do more than bring Ro Laren back. It felt like such a hanging chad from Next Generation . That episode to me is very special. It’s the idea of doing a paranoia thriller… The only way to be sure that the person that you’re talking to is actually the person you hope they are is by getting through a catharsis of trauma of the past of this relationship, [which] to me felt like it could be really good television. That was Ro and Picard, and I so desperately wanted to see the conclusion to that relationship.”

Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren and Patrick Stewart as Picard in “Imposters”

On Tuesday, Paramount+ released a clip on social media showing the tension between Picard and Ro.

Ro Laren came to take names and eat hasperat, and she's all out of hasperat. What was your reaction to seeing her confront Picard again after all this time? #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/nszs0Ukt1Y — Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) March 21, 2023

You can buy Ro’s Bajoran earring

One of the plot points in “Imposters” regarded Ro’s Bajoran earring, which she gave to Jean-Luc Picard before departing the USS Titan. Ro wearing a Bajoran earring was part of their history together, plus this particular earring contained all of her files so Picard and the team on the Titan could continue her investigation.

Ro gives Picard her Bajoran earring in “Imposters”

Star Trek licensee Rock Love Jewelry has announced the release of a replica of this earring. Thanks to collaboration from Picard  prop master Jeffrey Lombardi, the replica uses the exact same sculpts as those made for the show. The Rock Love version is sculpted in solid sterling silver, plated in polished genuine rose gold, with three glittering cubic zirconia crystals. The Picard Bajoran Cuff Earring replica is available to buy from Rock Love for $95 .

Rock Love Picard earring

Ro’s pre- Picard story told in new comics

You can find out more about Ro Laren in the just-launched Star Trek: Defiant comic series from IDW. Set before the events of Star Trek Nemesis , it’s a spinoff of IDW’s ongoing Star Trek series launched in 2022. In Defiant , Worf leads a new team with his own mission on the USS Defiant and his crew includes Ro Laren.

Ro and B’Elanna Torres on the B cover for Defiant #3

The third and final season of  Picard  premiered on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, exclusively on  Paramount+  in the U.S., and Latin America, and on February 17 Paramount+ in Europe and elsewhere, with new episodes of the 10-episode-long season available to stream weekly. It also debuted on Friday, Feb. 17 internationally on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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One of the best moments of this season was Picard and Ro’s moment of realisation through their own trauma that they each were who they said they were! “You broke my heart” the first time since Tasha Ya’s death I have shed a tear watching Star Trek. Granted I was a very young child when I first saw that.

Exactly. This is how you do emotion without turning it into a weepy melodrama like Discovery feels like every season. It was emotional but not overdone or drawn out. I loved how they both genuinely had grievances with each other but the situation they were under made it feel more tense. They were both angry at each other but at the same time wasn’t even sure they were even talking to the real person until they realized they were. Just so well done.

I love Disco but they was a masterclass in emotional Trek. Such a satisfying scene.

This was such an earned return of Ro. Executed perfectly and loved every minute of it,

Am I mistaken or does her nose – in the last of her Insta pics – look different from how it looked on the Picard episode?

It seems the low, ambient lighting may have lost the detail that we see in a brightly lit makeup trailer.

It really looks like less ridges, spaced further apart and more pronounced, than what I saw on screen. Could’ve been form a make-up test.

Yeah, that’s what I thought… 👃🔍🫤 It looks a lot more pronounced with larger ridges, and in the episode itself, much more subdued.

If it’s still a small prosthetic, I wonder why they changed it so drastically from how she looked on TNG, especially the stern “V” at the top between the eyebrows, that’s now completely disappeared. Curious. 🤔

I was hoping she’d be featured on The Ready Room in a behind-the-scenes interview, but all they made time for was a trivia question about the character.

The stern V as you call it was gone a long time ago, since that part of the prosthetic kept peeling off on actors, due to sweating. None of the later Bajorans have them any more. But I do wish they would’ve gone with the more pronounced nose in that pic for her final look.

I do remember them doing away with the “V” for Bajorans, but always thought that Ro Laren retained hers until her final appearance. I just checked… and nope, it’s just the zig-zag on top. But it looks like she didn’t even keep that exact shape for her final performance, did they? 🫤

Thankfully, it’s not as severe as what they did to the Trill; but I would’ve still preferred a bit more consistency, so that we don’t have to head-canon the issue… 👃🤛 …she lived quite dangerously, after all! 😅

The whole topic reminds me of what they did with the various Romulan looks in PIC season 1, depending on what area/region they’re from — I thought that was a clever, respectful way to honor everything that came before.

I was genuinely happy to see her again. Michelle Forbes is great.

I was, too, and yes, she is! 🤩

Very talented and attractive actress, imo. She’s had a lot of great roles over the years. Post Trek, I especially enjoyed her turn as a villain in True Blood. It was great to see her again in PIC.

I rewatched “Pre-emptive strike” this week for the first time in many years. What a disappointment. the actors playing Maquis were awful. No conviction, no real emotion. The scene in the ship with the woman Maqui was silly. And the soap opera with the old guy. Last weekend’s Picard’s show was orders of magnitude better in terms of script, performance, emotion, dramatic acting, character development, well … everything. But killng off Ro was a disappointment and, frankly, superfluous. I think we already understood the seriousness of the conspiracy without that.

The way you describe Preemptive Strike is pretty much ’90s Trek in a nutshell. I liked the death of Ro myself. It gave nice closure to the relationship, and capped off some powerful scenes, while also raising the emotional stakes (you’re focused on plot, I’m focused on character).

Well said, it was a very clever and emotional plot to the episode and how it it brought Worf and Raffi into the story line was great

The magnitude of the conspiracy is one thing, but now Picard can’t let Ro’s death be in vain, especially after the two of them just had their emotional breakthrough. Without that, Picard is really only emotionally motivated to protect Jack, which by itself probably wouldn’t be enough to stop the Changeling/Mystery Villain Big Threat.

Also, it follows the themes of the season: family, loss, and legacy.

at the heart of most of ST

Well…..maybe she’s stuck in the transporter buffer.

If she does reappear, we can’t be sure if it’s her. I don’t think they have time to go over that again.

I was very happy to see Ro Laren again. However, the story about the Changelings is closely linked to DS9, so I’m hoping for surprises here as well. A visit to DS9 would be wonderful.

Great! Now do Tom Riker

I’m still not certain Will isn’t actually Tom.

It looked like they were setting that up in the beginning, but too many character beats for Will have happed that just wouldn’t work for Tom at this point.

On paper, this should have worked. . . yet Ro’s reappearance after all these years just didn’t feel believable to me. Perhaps another episode to allow the personalities to play out might have helped, but her abrupt appearance and departure within one episode mainly felt like fan service to me.

I was thinking the same thing here she is one minute and at the end..gone. Actually, I was thinking she was going to be a Changeling until her ties to Worf was confirmed. Also, being unable to escape the shuttle seemed a little unconvincing. She could have donned a space suit and jettisoned out.

The other ship didn’t put up its shield to protect it from the shuttle explosion/impact? Come on. You’d think there’s a 24th century equivalent of various collision avoidance features on a Starship like we do with the newest cars today.

As Admiral Cain on the new Battlestar Galactica she was INCREDIBLE.

Her return here is VERY welcome and while sad in-universe, brings much needed closure and the discussion she ALWAYS had to have with Picard. GREAT acting in the 10 forward scene and so powerful.

I’m very happy she agreed to return. Not at all fan-service but very organic story-telling.

LOVING this season!

I also have to wonder if they asked her if she’d ever be interested in being a recurring/regular character again, and once she said no, they made the decision to kill her off.

Yes she was terrific as Cain. So much the strength of Ro and yet so much unlike her in every way.

Yeah it was great to see Forbes back as Ro. Of course I assumed she could come back and I thought it was a possibility but I never really thought it would happen.

And I actually rewatched both Preemptive Strike and Imposters together over the weekend. Those episodes really line up in terms of the stakes and emotions. I forgot how much of a hardass Picard was to her when she was having doubts over her mission and it really tied in great with how she felt Picard treated her and he was always too far up Starfleet’s butt lol, then and now. I also liked how you can tell Riker had a lot more sympathy for what she did then and still defended her in the episode.

I can tell some people are bothered by her death but I think they handled it well by showing how much she did ultimately care for Starfleet and her friends. They probably could’ve drawn it out to another episode, but that’s the problem when you only have ten episodes and you have to keep things moving…in this case literally.

Overall though all the legacy characters have been handled so well on this show IMO. It’s just great to see them all back and can’t wait for the next surprise appearance.

I agree, Ro was handled incredibly well, given the time restraints of the season.

Sooo excited for the next one! ✊️💫 It’s just a few more hours away… 😁

I thought the next episode was even BETTER than this one!!! We are living in good times my friend! :)

I actually always felt Episode 6 was the weakest, but still really good. Glad to heat you liked it. Curious what the broader sentiment is.

I probably need to rewatch it a few more times to make up my mind, but weaker than all others in the season it was not, IMO.

And I usually don’t mind fan service all too much, but this was the mother lode… ALMOST too much with all the ships, Genesis, Kirk, and Attack Tribbles, even with a TNG-pilot-clip flashback, and the DataLalLoreB4Soong revival. 😵‍💫💫

But then again, I feel like celebrating it, instead of needlessly lamenting… 😄🎉

From a narrative/writing perspective it was the weakest. It was definitely the most fan-squealing, even for me. Aside the ships, seeing Geordi meet Data gain, seeing Picard with Geordi, etc. Heck, even the final revelation was kind of cool.

But overall, it wasn’t as strong as past episodes. The lack of Shaw was a big reason :)

I liked it too, I think. Maybe even loved it? Still digesting it all from last night… they really laid it on thick, that’s for sure! 😅

I’m VERY curious to hear your thoughts. Not so good with names, but if I recall, you’ve been hard on the show (or was that someone else?). That you liked this, is interesting!

I really expected a big backlash from it. But it seems Terry really gets what fans want.

I’ve been hard on the dumpster fire that’s DSC. PIC, I’ve mostly liked from the start. Not entirely the first season, but it had its moments. The second season, I probably liked better than most commenters on here. The third, though, is fantastic so far.

Sure, there are minor logic flaws here and there, but you can tell that the writers’ room took the story through the wringer, while making sure that the entertainment value stays high, pretty much consistently, which is why I can appreciate this last episode’s LD-level of nods and Easter eggs (after all, the holiday takes place early this year)! 😉🐰🥚

Yeah, I think keeping your audience entertained with well written characters that have wits and/or heart (and aren’t just virtue signaling on steroids), and a compelling story that continuously sheds its revelatory layers like an onion being peeled (instead of the hasty plot dump near the very end), are key to this season’s success.

Ro or Michelle’s performance was just fantastic and reminiscent of one of Discovery’s best characters, Admiral Cornwall

One of the best moments on the show was seeing ro again. One of the worst moments in television history was writing this character to be stupid as their exit. She was a marquis! Somehow she forgot to think? She could have simply ejected into space and beamed over the titan. Did no one else think that as an almost reflex reaction to that situation?

Where was Troi when you needed someone “EJECTED INTO SPACE!!!!”

I… don’t even know how to respond to this. Eject into space? Are you serious? When have we ever even heard of that as a viable option?

Besides…her sacrifice made perfect sense precisely BECAUSE she was a Maquis. She doesn’t want to save herself, she wants to achieve the mission, and if that means sacrificing her life to give Picard and his team a chance to get away and finish that mission, that’s exactly what she’s going to do.

People can survive a few seconds in space and it will only take one or two to beam her aboard. Her “sacrifice” meant nothing because it could have been done without dying. “keep a lock on me, I’ll be blowing the hatch.” she sets shuttle course, blow the hatch, titan beams her over. There are instances of people surviving in vacuum of space. One instance is from season 5 of tng called “disaster” where crusher and LaForge ejected the contents of shuttle bay and were exposed to the vacuum of space until the bay shields were reactivated. If that’s a viable option to remove something from the bay, why is it unimaginable to eject yourself to get yourself away from something?

I’m not ashamed to say that I teared up a lot when Ro died. The tragedy of lost opportunities in relationships, how the actors brought that home in those last moments, was just absolutely brilliant. The realization of what they really meant to each other, and that they wouldn’t get to act on that.. heartbreaking.

Screen Rant

Star trek: why ensign ro laren left tng (& how it set up ds9).

Ensign Ro was a popular TNG recurring character intended to spinoff into DS9. Here's why Michelle Forbes quit Star Trek and what happened afterward.

Michelle Forbes' Star Trek: The Next Generation character, Ensign Ro Laren, was intended to spin off as a lead character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , but here's why the actress rejected the part and left the franchise. The surprising move necessitated the creation of a new Bajoran character, Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), which ended up serving DS9 even better in the long run. Ro Laren was introduced in the TNG season 5 episode "Ensign Ro" and she quickly became one of the show's most popular recurring characters.

Ensign Ro appeared in eight  TNG episodes, six in season 5 and one in season 6, which was the popular episode "Rascals" where Captain Picard , Ro, and other members of the  Enterprise-D' s crew were de-aged into children. She also appeared in season 7 episode "Preemptive Strike", which wrote Ro's character off TNG . Additionally, Ro Laren was the basis of the entire Bajoran race and its conflict with the Cardassians that played a pivotal role in Deep Space Nine . This included the innovations of the Bajorans' famous nose ridges, which were designed as a way to make Forbes appear appropriately alien but not hide her attractive features, and the fact Bajorans' surnames come before their first names. Amusingly, Patrick Stewart pronounced "Bajor" as "The Bah-JOR" in "Ensign Ro" before the proper pronunciation of "BAY-Jor" (no "The") was firmly established for the planet and the Bajorans.

Related: Star Trek: How TNG's First Contact And DS9 Mocked Each Other (& Why)

Despite the plan to move Ro to become second-in-command of  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Forbes flatly turned down the role. As TNG 's executive producer and DS9 's creator/original showrunner Michael Piller said of Forbes' exit in oral history The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years : "It had been assumed that she would be one of the people spun off and moved over to DS9, but she wanted to be a feature actress." Indeed, soon after she left TNG , Forbes starred opposite Brad Pitt in thriller  Kalifornia and had several other movie roles. Forbes then returned to television and was featured in many hit series like Battlestar Galactica  and True Blood .

Forbes' turning down DS9  left her on bad terms with Star Trek and the actress originally wasn't planning on returning for the TNG season 7 episode, "Preemptive Strike", which wrote her out of the series. When Forbes turned down DS9 , her final appearance was meant to be "Rascals." However, in the final season of TNG , the series was rushing towards its finale and the producers had no workable story ideas for the show's penultimate episode besides "Preemptive Strike," which required Forbes to reprise Ro. Showrunner Jeri Taylor spoke to Forbes and was able to convince the actress to play Ro one final time so that she would betray Picard and Starfleet and join the Maquis . Not having Ro Laren as the main Bajoran on DS9 ultimately worked out better for the spinoff. As Michael Piller explained:

I found there was a great deal more conflict in having the Bajoran not be Starfleet... [The priorities and agendas] between Sisko and Ro would have been a much different one [than Sisko and Kira] because ultimately, [Ro is] Starfleet and has to do what the boss says. Kira Nerys could do things that are not appropriate Starfleet behavior.

Meanwhile, the foundation built around Ro Laren on TNG also became a major part of the Starfleet/Maquis conflict that kicked off Star Trek: Voyager .  While Ro was a rebel within Starfleet, Major Kira being a member of the Bajoran Militia did open up intriguing new storytelling possibilities - including her later romance with Odo (Rene Auberjonois) - that wouldn't have been possible with Ro. Still, it's a testament to Michelle Forbes' charismatic work on Star Trek: The Next Generation that her character is still so fondly remembered by Trekkers even though Ensign Ro never appeared again.

Next: Star Trek: Every Starfleet Officer Who Was Court-Martialed

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The History of STAR TREK: PICARD’s Ro Laren

In the fifth episode of Star Trek: Picard’s final season , we were reintroduced, and then said goodbye to, a character from The Next Generation ( TNG ) that many fans thought we’d never see again. The episode saw the return of Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren, the Bajoran officer last seen in the seventh season TNG episode “Preemptive Strike. ” The relationship between Ro and Captain Picard ended on a sour note in that episode. For nearly 30 years, fans didn’t think we’d get any closure to that relationship. But we finally have, and we also said goodbye to the character for good. Here’s the history of Ro Laren, perhaps the Enterprise -D’s most controversial crew member.

Ro Laren: Star Trek’s First Bajoran

The Next Generation introduced Ro Laren in the fifth season episode titled “Ensign Ro.” After the death of Denise Crosby’s character of Tasha Yar at the end of season one, the only female leads on the show, Dr. Crusher, Counselor Troi, and Guinan, were in caregiver positions. All were empathetic shoulders for the crew to cry on. The show lacked a woman who was more action prone, and who was maybe a little rougher around the edges. The producers created Ro to fulfill that purpose. She appeared as a recurring character throughout TNG seasons five and six and made one final appearance in the show’s seventh season.

Ro was important for several reasons. She was the first Bajoran introduced in the franchise, establishing that race. From her, we learned that Bajorans were a spiritual people, who wore one earring as a religious symbol. We also learned that the Bajoran family name came first, and the individual name came second. Which is why she was properly addressed as “Ensign Ro,” not “Ensign Laren.” We also learned of the long history of persecution of the Bajoran people by the Cardassians. All of these things would later form the core backstory for the Bajoran people in Deep Space Nine . In fact, they intended Ro Laren to be a main character in that series, but Michelle Forbes turned down the offer. Instead, the Bajoran character of Major Kira Nerys was created to replace her.

Ensign Ro’s Tragic Backstory

Ro Laren was born on the planet Bajor, which at the time was under occupation by the Cardassian Union . The Cardassians had strip-mined the planet, forcing the inhabitants into slave labor. Ro Laren’s parents moved the family from one refugee camp to another. When she was seven years old, Cardassians forced her to watch as they tortured her father to death. She felt shame in being Bajoran, and ran away from her home and her heritage. She eventually went to Starfleet Academy—but her career in Starfleet was fraught with problems from the start.

While serving on the U.S.S. Wellington , a willful Ro Laren disobeyed a direct order on an away mission. Eight crew members died as a result. Starfleet court-martialed Ro for this act, and sent her to the stockade. A Starfleet admiral released her from prison and reinstated her, now reduced to the rank of ensign. He assigned her, much to Captain Picard’s protest, to the Enterprise -D . Supposedly, they reinstated her to help track down a Bajoran terrorist, something they needed the Enterprise to do.

An Unlikely Bond with Captain Picard

However, the truth was that the Admiral wanted her to broker a secret deal with the Bajoran terrorists, against the Prime Directive. She informed Captain Picard of the plans of this corrupt Admiral , gaining his trust. He requested she stay on board the Enterprise , and he would help her make up for past mistakes, and get her Starfleet career back on track. After many missions together, she began to view Picard as a mentor and father figure. She also developed bonds with fellow crew members like Geordi La Forge, and the ship’s bartender, Guinan. Ro and Guinan grew even closer when a transporter mishap turned them both into kids. She eventually made the rank of lieutenant again.

Sadly, the bond between Ro and Picard shattered when Picard gave her a special assignment. They ordered her to go undercover as a member of the Maquis, a rebel group made of different alien species. They fought against the Cardassians, who they felt were occupying their homeworlds. But Ro Laren, mostly due to her childhood trauma, sympathized with the Maquis. Instead of infiltrating them to take them down, she wound up joining them. Picard saw this as a deep betrayal, and the two never saw each other again. Many believed she died when the Dominion wiped out the Maquis ‘ infrastructure during their war on the Alpha Quadrant.

What Happened to Ro After The Next Generation ?

As we learned in episode five of Star Trek: Picard , however, not only did Ro Laren not die, she actually rejoined Starfleet. This shocked Picard. Although we’re not sure how a former admiral of his stature didn’t know this fact already. After years with the Maquis, Ro turned herself in to Starfleet. They court-martialed her and she went to prison again. Given her history with terrorist groups, upon release from jail, they recruited her into Starfleet Intelligence. After an intense rehabilitation program, she worked her way up the Starfleet ladder again. She was the one who recognized a conspiracy growing within Starfleet, and subcontracted Worf and Raffi into a larger investigation.

Ro shared her feelings about the compromised Federation with Picard. However, before that, the two finally had a confrontation aboard the Titan , where they aired out their feelings of betrayal and disappointment with each other in an emotional scene—one 29 years in the making. But before Ro was killed by Changeling terrorists in an effort to frame Picard and Riker, she and Jean-Luc came to an understanding, and admitted their mutual respect for one another. She also gave Picard her Bajoran earring, which contained all her investigation into the infiltration of Starfleet.

When Ro Laren died, she left to join the Prophets, knowing that Picard had regained his respect for her after so many years. It was a sad, yet poignant ending for one of Star Trek’s most unforgettable recurring characters.

Featured Image: Paramount+

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Star Trek: Picard Boss Explains the Surprise Return of a Next Generation Favorite: ‘It Felt Like We Had to Do It’

Dave nemetz, west coast bureau chief.

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for Thursday’s Star Trek: Picard .

We knew this season of Star Trek: Picard would see Jean-Luc cross paths with a lot of his former Enterprise crewmates — but we didn’t see this one coming.

In Thursday’s episode, Starfleet sent a team of investigators to question Jean-Luc and Riker about their insubordination aboard the Titan , and the team was led by… Ro Laren, the Bajoran lieutenant played by Michelle Forbes on Star Trek: The Next Generation . (Jean-Luc was left deeply disappointed by her on TNG when she left the Enterprise to join a band of resistance fighters.) Forbes reprised her role as Ro Laren this week, and it was clear the wounds between her and Jean-Luc hadn’t exactly healed over the years.

Jean-Luc still felt betrayed by Ro Laren’s abrupt departure all those years ago, labeling her a “traitor,” and he also suspected she could be one of the changelings that have infiltrated Starfleet. That led to a riveting scene where Jean-Luc and Ro held phasers on each other while arguing about their old rift on the holodeck — “You broke my heart,” he told her, and she replied: “And you broke mine” — and that intense conversation convinced Jean-Luc that she was the real Ro Laren.

For Matalas and the Picard writers, “the opportunity to tell a story that’s essentially a paranoia thriller, where both of them are looking at each other, not entirely certain if each other are who they say they are, and the only way to verify their identity is to work through this kind of catharsis about how they feel, [felt] like it could be good television.” He admits “it was a tough one to crack, but it was brilliantly written by our writers, and I think it’s satisfying. But it felt like we had to do it.”

By episode’s end, Ro Laren exposed the changelings within Starfleet and nobly sacrificed herself, piloting a shuttle carrying a bomb into another ship to allow Jean-Luc and the Titan time to escape. “She sets them on the path, hopefully, that could save the galaxy,” Matalas notes.

Got thoughts on Ro Laren’s surprise return and this season of Picard so far? Beam down to the comments and make your voice heard.

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Brilliant !!

I enjoyed the first two seasons, but these episodes feel like a real continuation of TNG. Very well done.

This third season of Picard has been some of the best Star Trek ever put out. It’s been incredible.

Loved her character and she was like a surrogate daughter for Picard. I haven’t watched yet….

Crazy effing good ep. right there! Never saw that coming. No way. No how.

Outstanding that Michelle Forbes came back to conclude Ro’s story. A brilliant performer whose presence 30 years ago made TNG better and whose appearance in ST:P continues the high quality of this season. And a well-deserved special guest star notation in the credits, as she was one of the recurring stars in TNG as relevant to the series as the regular cast.

yea bring her in then make her stupid. she was in the maquis for pete’s sake. even i could figure out how to get out of that situation. blow the hatch, then while you’re outside you get beamed over. i’m sure she has many more ideas, but writers chose to write her stupid.

Yeah, sure. Blow up the hatch in the small shuttle without a) blowing up herself, b) jump into space and hope that the Titan is faster than the Intrepid and c) that the transporter block on the shuttle is limited to the dimensions of the shuttle.

She did the best she could with the times she had left and did what she said: she gave them a fighting chance to escape.

The communication link was cut off several seconds before the explosion, so its possible she did some maquis trick in that time to survive. Just a theory but strange it didn’t stay connected until the explosion.

It was a very welcome surprise that Michelle Forbes came back, not only that but a character (Ro) we did not know as this surprise was kept, and not released on all the spoiler sites. Not sure how I feel yet about them killing her off, well not true, I would have preferred her to have survived. This season has been a lot better than i thought it would be.

Fantastic episode. I never expected a conclusion to this TNG storyline, just wonderfukl.

Also another 12 Monkeys alumn joined as a guest star, Kirk Acevedo as a Vulcan crime Lord. Who would have thought?

During DS9 the Cardassians joined the Dominion and together waged war on the Maquee. During Voyager we learned that the entire Maquee resistance was wiped out. Ro Larin should have died sometime around 2373 give or a take a few years. Moreover, had she turned herself in before then, Picard would have absolutely been made aware. This was a retcon. An illogical and frankly pointless one at that. She might have been recruited by a section 31 like organization, but never starfleet security. This show is making a mockery of starfleet and star trek canon. Did these writers even watch the DS9 two parter “Home front/Paradise Lost?”

How is this a retcon when it is realistic? The entire Marquis is wiped out? Well, some of them were in the Delta Quadrant. Obviously it wasn’t the entire Marquis. What makes you think that others didn’t also survive? It’s not like Q snipped his fingers and actually wiped them out. You also don’t know when she turned herself in. She only said after years with the Marquis. That could have been well before that all happened. Also you assume that Picard would have been informed. Maybe, or maybe not. Missing information happens all the time. Non of this is a retcon, just nitpicking.

1. Ro Laren joined the Marquis sometime in 2370. It would have been later in the year based on the events and episodes that take place between her return to the enterprise and her defection. The Marquis were wiped out approximately 3-4 years later.

2: Picard was her mentor and commanding officer. She wouldn’t be thrown in jail without a court martial, and they would definitely inform him and seek his testimony in such a proceeding.

3. Torres makes it pretty clear that every base was destroyed and the vast majority died. If she was a lucky survivor then they should have said so in the episode. This was clearly an error by the writers who were probably not very familiar with the events of DS9 and Voyager.

4. A spy who defects is not a good spy. Using her in intelligence is a huge risk. Section 31 would recruit her in a heartbeat. She should have been section 31. This would be even more significant as 31 is the group that created and disseminated (through Odo,) the original Changeling virus/bio weapon. I assume the new found powers/abilities of the Changelings are tied directly to surviving it.

5. That a random Commander would put the pieces together and be allowed to live, and interact freely with JLP is silly writing. Why not replace her instead of her underlings. Especially if she is making noise trying to get to Janeway and other trusted admirals and raise the alarm about the infiltration.

Not only is it a retcon, it is bad writing.

Yes, definitely nitpicking. Nothing Ro said is contradicting established canon. You are just making a lot of assumptions what people would have done or should have done when there are multiple possible scenarios. Just because she didn’t detail every single second of what happened after she left the Enterprise means it’s bad writing or a retcon.

You are over complicating stuff when what happened can also be a lot simpler and still work. It might just not work for you and that is fine. I just don’t agree with it.

Or, they wanted to use an actress who had history with TNG, a character who would be a fun callback, and a character fans would believe Picard would trust. To accomplish this, the ignored the fact that the Marquis only lasted another few years after Roe joined. The better choice would be someone like Miles O’Brien. That said I am not sure they could get the actor to reprise that role.

It’s nice that you are such a devoted fan, but I also think you are nitpicking. They wouldn’t have known if every single Maquis member died. This is not the stretch you are making it out to be.

Crazy good episode! Fantastic way to tie up that loose end!

The season has been a lot better but its weird they way everyone treats Picard. He’s a dinosaur that doesn’t know what happening around him. Everyone seems to lecture/scold him for every idea he has. The show is very antagonistic toward its main character.

On a scale of 1-10 this episode was a 12!!

This season has been incredible. It makes me feel like this third season should have just been a limited series because the first two seasons were not good overall.

If Michelle Forbes isn’t Performer of the Week, I’m going to riot.

(Okay, one person can’t riot but you get what I mean.)

Better and better! . The first few episodes were a little mixed, for me — wonderful performances, but some of the occasion for them seemed shoehorned in, such as the issue between Ryker and Troi. There was the danger of making this into a series of set pieces rather than a story. The business in the nebula had its function, establishing the new bad guy and giving some time for character interactions, and giving a moment of beauty and wonder, but ultimately it got resolved by pulling a rabbit out of a hat, or, rather, stuffing a couple into the port nacelles. . But now things are cooking. As someone who saw TNG when it first aired and subsequently forgot all about it, I had no idea who Ro Laren was, but I still found the scenes with her moving, particularly at the end. Michelle Forbes was just very good, and Patrick Stewart as well, of course. . One standout that no one seems to mention is Michelle Hurd, who’s really brought it, and apart from her solo performances, her chemistry with Michael Dorn has been amazing. Put on top of that their impressive stunt work. . If there actually was another season of this, it would not be a bad thing.

Wil Wheaton had both Dorn and Hurd on The Ready Room, and they discussed the chemistry that developed and prep for the fight scenes quite a bit.

Big plug here for Ready Room. It’s been stellar this season with lots of insights into the characters from the primary players.

I absolutely loved the DS9 tie in here – it was so appropriate. And it gave Michelle Forbes a final reprise, a meaty, heroic, buzzyworthy one.

I have hated every nuTrek series, including Star Trek Picard. It was all garbage. But I can honestly say that season 3 is good Trek. Not perfect. There is some retconning and some misunderstanding of the changelings (the bucket), but it has some great character work, and a pretty cool arc. And there is a son of Beverly Crushers whom I don’t hate! Now I want to see more Trek like this, and it is the last season!

We now need a standalone tv movie to explore the story of Ro. Like RAZOR did for her Admiral Cain.

I liked the return a lot but it really saddened and surprised me that they killed her off.

It didn’t surprise me that they killed her off. They had an interesting character, so of course they killed her off. Shock value. I seriously doubt she’ll be the last.

The biggest shame of killing off Ro was that, with no chance of Yeoh doing it, Ro would have been amazing leading a Section 31 series. I can’t imagine that Forbes would have any interest in playing Ro for that commitment any more than she did back in the 90’s, but one can dream.

Could she have survived the shuttle explosion? I only got 3 words….advanced tactical training!

What a great idea and ep.

Cried so hard.

The confrontation is one of the best scenes in all of ST. Masterfully written and masterfully played by the actors.

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Michelle Forbes (I)

IMDbPro Starmeter Top 5,000 168

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• 4 wins & 12 nominations total

• Carrie Laughlin

• Maryann Forrester
• Woman in the Road
• 2008–2009 • 15 eps

• Lieutenant Jackson

• Commander Ro Laren

• Dr. Veronica Fuentes
• 13 episodes

• Margaret Kleinsasser

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• Trivia After appearing in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) as Ro Laren, she was approached to play the same character in a starring role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) . When she turned down the part, because she didn't want to commit to a regular television role at that point in her career, a new Bajoran character, Kira Nerys, was created and Nana Visitor was cast in that part.
• Quotes On turning down Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) : There were all sorts of rumors about why I didn't take [the DS9 role] and that I was quite arrogant about the whole thing. It wasn't that at all. It was, again, about wanting variety in my career. If I'd gone on to do DS9, I might not have had the variety I've been lucky to have in my career. That's not to say I wasn't grateful for the opportunity; I genuinely was. However, I had to make a choice that felt right for me, which was a difficult one, especially as a young actor being offered a steady job. (TV Zone Magazine, January 2005)
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Let’s Talk About That ‘Next Generation’ Cameo in ‘Star Trek: Picard’ No One Saw Coming

Picard and Riker are shocked when this blast from the past returns in Episode 5 of the Paramount+ series

The third and final season of Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Picard” reunites the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise D for one final journey.

So far, audiences have seen Picard (Patrick Stewart) reunite with his former Enterprise first officer Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and former ship’s doctor and surprise baby mama Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden). Riker’s wife and former ship’s counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) also made a brief holographic appearance. Separately, ex-security chief Worf (Michael Dorn) has been working on a clandestine mission for Starfleet intelligence.

While we’ve yet to see Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Data (Brent Spiner) in the new series, they’ve appeared in promotional materials.

Thursday’s episode of “Picard” features an appearance by another popular “Next Generation” character who hasn’t been included in any promos. Who is it?

Read on to find out, but warning — major spoilers ahead.

Which “Next Generation” Character Makes An Unexpected Guest Appearance?

In the fifth episode of “Star Trek: Picard,” Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick) tells Starfleet is on its way to question Picard and Riker for stealing a shuttle to rescue Crusher.

Turns out the officer sent to question Picard and Riker is Commander Ro Laren. The last time viewers saw Ro Laren was in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” Season 7 episode “Preemptive Strike,” which aired in 1994. She is played by actress Michelle Forbes.

Headstrong and rebellious, Ro Laren was a marked departure from other Starfleet officers who blindly followed orders.

Who is Ro Laren?

Ro Laren is a Bajoran Starfleet officer. Her first appearance was in the “Next Generation” Season 4 episode “Ensign Ro.”

Ro’s past precedes her. When she was aboard the U.S.S. Wellington, she disobeyed orders, resulting in the deaths of eight crewmen. She was court-martialed and jailed. She was later reinstated and brought to the Enterprise upon Admiral Kennelly’s request, despite concerns from his crew.

Riker meets her when she comes aboard the Enterprise, and tells her to remove her Bajoran earring — a symbol of faith — as it violates the Starfleet uniform code.

When they first meet, Picard calls her “Ensign Laren” but she reminds him that Bajoran surnames come first. From henceforth she is called “Ensign Ro.” It’s revealed that Kennelly brought Ro on the mission to make a secret deal with a suspected Bajoran terrorist Orta. But when she discovers Orta is innocent, Ro reveals the deal to Picard.

Picard is impressed by Ro’s principles. Despite her rebelliousness, he feels she possesses the qualities to be a fine Starfleet officer, and invites her to stay aboard. He also allows her to wear her Bajoran earring.

What ‘Next Generation’ Episodes Does Ro Laren Appear in?

Ro became a recurring character on “The Next Generation” appearing in the following episodes:

• “Ensign Ro”
• “Power Play”
• “Cause and Effect”
• “The Next Phase”

Despite her recurring status, she held a major role in many of the episodes, notably “Ensign Ro,” “Power Play” and “The Next Phase.” She was also featured as a member of the bridge crew, usually sitting at the conn.

She returns as a lieutenant in the Season 7 episode “Preemptive Strike,” where she is sent to infiltrate the Maquis, a resistance group that fought the Cardassians — the alien species that annexed her homeworld of Bajor. She ends up sympathizing with the Maquis and defect. Before she leaves, she tells Riker to tell Picard she is sorry for betraying his trust.

What Is Ro Laren Doing on “Picard”?

Sometime after her defection, Ro turned herself in, was court-marshaled, jailed again, rehabilitated and reinstated with the rank of commander in Starfleet Intelligence. She arrives on the Titan via shuttlecraft with two armed security guards.

Riker and Picard are shocked to discover she was back in Starfleet after her betrayal.

Ro coldly interrogates Picard. He notes she no longer wears her Bajoran earring. She only cares to know about the Changeling who has infiltrated the Titan.

They eventually enter the holodeck, where they each profess how badly they hurt each other. Realizing that neither could possibly be a Changeling, Ro reveals her true mission. She tells Picard that Changelings have compromised Starfleet and reveals she has two trusted operatives working on gathering more intelligence. Her investigation points to something happening on Frontier Day, but she has yet to connect the dots.

Ro and Picard leave the holodeck and she is rejoined by her security detail. They board the shuttle to return to the Intrepid, but her guards plant a bomb and beam off. Ro, realizing the Intrepid has been compromised by Changelings, only has seconds to act. She sets a collision course for the Intrepid and crashes her shuttle into it, disabling it and giving the Titan a chance to escape. Before she dies, Picard tells her he finally sees her and asks for her forgiveness.

After they flee, Riker and Picard examine Ro’s parting gift — her Bajoran earring. It contains all of her files on the Changelings and connects them with her trusted operatives, who turn out to be Worf and Raffi.

What Is Ro Laren’s Legacy?

Ro was like a daughter to Picard. Now that she’s gone, he may be extra protective of his newly discovered son, Jack Crusher.

Ro also serves to reconnect Picard with Worf and Raffi, as well as merge the plotlines of the stolen weapons tech from Daystrom and the Changelings.

“Star Trek: Picard” streams every Thursday on Paramount+

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Ensign Ro Laren by EXO-6

By Joe Moore on March 20, 2024 at 7:35 am under Star Trek Toy News

The Star Trek figure line from EXO-6 continues with a new figure from the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV Series . Pe-orders have opened for the Ensign Ro Laren 1/6 Scale Figure . The 11″ tall figure has 30 points of articulation, and features a fabric outfit. Ro Laren includes multiple interchangeable hands, a Type-II Phaser, a TR-580 Tricorder VII, and a display stand. The Phaser features a magnet that allows it to attach to the figure without a holster.

The Ensign Ro Laren figure is priced at $195 plus shipping. It’s scheduled for release in the Third Quarter of the year. See pre-order links, images, and details below.

Pre-Order Links: Big Bad Toy Store • Entertainment Earth

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Ensign Ro Laren 1:6 Scale Articulated Figure … during the next two hours – as I was forced to watch – my father was tortured until he died. And I remember feeling… so ashamed of him as he begged for mercy. I was ashamed of him for being weak. I was ashamed of being Bajoran. I don’t want to be ashamed of my heritage any longer, Captain.” Introducing the Ensign Ro Laren 1/6 Scale Museum Quality Figure by EXO-6 – a stunning tribute to one of Star Trek’s most enduring characters. Ro Laren, a Bajoran Starfleet officer, brought a unique perspective to the USS Enterprise-D crew in the acclaimed series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Expertly played with steely reserve by Michelle Forbes, at first Ro was not well-liked by crew or fans, but ultimately her courage and resolve made her admirable. With Ro returned to Star Trek in Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard as a Commander with Star Fleet intelligence and made her ultimate scrifice for Starfleet, completed the character of Ro Laren. This 1:6-scale figure re-creates this iconic character in exquisite 1:6 detail. Standing approximately 11.25 inches tall, every element, from her 24th century jumpsuit to her custom black boots, is authentically reproduced. The original portrait sculpt of Michelle Forbes as Ensign Ro has an authentic, hand-painted likeness. The EXO-6 Ensign Ro Laren 1:6 Scale Articulated Figure includes: Fully Articulated Body: More than 30 points of articulation allow the figure to be displayed in multiple dynamic poses, approximately 28 cm tall. Realistic Portrait: Sculpted by top artists, this is a faithful likeness of Michelle Forbes in Bajoran makeup wearing her Bajoran earring. The earring is not removeable. Starfleet Duty Uniform: Meticulously researched, this duty uniform matches the pattern and color of the original costume recreated in 1:6 scale. Magnets are sewn into the uniform so the holsters for the tricorder and phaser can be attached. An authentically scaled communicator badge is permanently affixed to the tunic. Boots: Soft plastic boots sculpted to match the cut and style of the original movie footwear. Display Base: A hexagonal display base featuring the transporter pad will provide additional support for the figure. Two different inserts for the floor of the base can represent the transporter pad or the center of the transporter array. Multiple hands for holding accessories and various poses: . Left and right relaxed hands. Left hand for the phaser. Right hand for the tricorder. Fist hands. Accessories Ensign Ro is outfitted with everything needed for a Star Fleet officer. She comes equipped with: Type II hand phaser. The phaser can be worn in a black holster that magnetically attaches to the pants. TR-580 Tricorder VII: This standard tricorder can be opened or worn in a holster. EXO-6’s commitment to the variety and number of characters in Star Trek is unparalleled. Never before and never again will fans be able to own such high-end collectible figures covering such a wide expanse of the Star Trek universe. Act now to ensure you have the ultimate Star Trek collectibles before they disappear, never to return.

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Companies EXO-6 Characters Ro Laren Scale 1/6

Star Trek Confirms Dark Link Between Federation & the Cardassians

• The Federation and the Cardassians share a dark link, challenging Star Trek's portrayal of peace and freedom.
• Ro Laren indicts the Federation, equating them with the Cardassians, showing a darker side of Star Trek.
• The federation's high moral stance is questioned by Section 31, the Maquis storyline, portraying a more complex picture.

Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek: Defiant #14!

Although the Federation and the Cardassians are bitter enemies in the Star Trek universe, a dark link between the two exists. Star Trek: Defiant has not shied away from exploring the darker corners of the franchise. The Federation, the “good guys” of Star Trek , portray themselves as peaceful and freedom-loving. However, in Star Trek: Defiant #14, Ro Laren makes a less than kind connection between the Federation and the Cardassians.

Star Trek: Defiant #14 is written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Angel Unzueta. B’Elanna Torres, a former Maquis and a member of Worf’s crew, has been infected with a parasite. The infected Torres fights Ro Laren, another former Maquis. Under the influence, Torres tells Ro “you will submit or perish.”

The Bajoran, Ro Laren, tells her the Cardassians said the same thing when they came to colonize their world.

Finally, Ro indicts the Federation as well, equating them with the Cardassians, saying they hate having their supremacy questioned.

Star Trek's Federation Only Glitters on the Surface

Agencies like section 31 shows how low the federation can go.

Such a statement may seem to fly in the face of accepted Star Trek wisdom. The United Federation of Planets and Starfleet are often portrayed as noble and morally upright. In an early episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation , Wesley Crusher declared, in a moment of naïveté, that Starfleet did not lie. Beginning with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , however, the veneer started to come off the Federation. The Maquis storyline was one of the first to call the Federation’s high moral stance into question. Later developments in the show, such as Section 31, continued this trend.

Ro Laren’s viewpoints in relation to the Federation are jaded, informed by growing up on colonized Bajor and later by bad experiences in Starfleet. This may seem to take credibility from what she said about a connection between the Cardassians and the Federation. However, numerous episodes of Deep Space Nine, as well as subsequent “nu-Trek” shows have demonstrated the Federation is not above playing dirty to get what it wants. This puts them in league with the brutal and colonizing Cardassians. However, according to critics, the Federation puts on a much more positive and happy spin on what they do.

Star Trek Names The One Society More Brutal Than Cardassians

The federation does not seem to learn from its mistakes, the federation is more benign in their imperialism.

In Defiant’s sister title: Star Trek, the Cardassians are poised for a new beginning, one that could take them down a better path. The Federation, on the other hand, is destined to continue its trend of morally questionable decisions. In season one of Star Trek : Picard , the Federation was in danger of losing its values thanks to an unfair ban on synthetic life. Although they seemingly learned from this mistake, the fact it nearly got to that point is alarming. The Cardassians and the Federation have both made horrible decisions, but somehow the Federation comes out looking respectable every time.

Star Trek: Defiant #14 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!