Worf Ancestor In 'Star Trek: Discovery'? It Almost Happened

Worf and Jadzia Dax in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.'
Worf and Jadzia Dax in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.' CBS Television Studios

Between Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Michael Dorn has appeared in more episodes of Star Trek than any other actor. We can’t seem to get enough of his character Worf, born a Klingon on Qo’noS but raised by humans on Earth. And while Star Trek: Discovery is set nearly one hundred years before Worf’s birth, Dorn very nearly returned as a Klingon in the new Star Trek, this time as an ancestor of Worf.

Appearing for an “Evening with Michael Dorn” at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater (where he’s currently playing Antony in Shakespeare’s tragedy Antony and Cleopatra), SciFi Pulse reported Dorn as announcing a guest starring role in Discovery. But on Monday, TrekMovie learned from Dorn’s publicist that while there were “a couple of conversations with producers,” there are “no plans for him to appear at this time” in the new Star Trek series.

SciFi Pulse also writes that Dorn made a joke about receiving only “.065 percent” of the pay he made toward the end of his record Star Trek streak, so there’s something a little weird going on here. SciFi Pulse could have misquoted Dorn, as Dorn’s publicist says. But what a catastrophic misquoting that’d have to be. For now, we’ll go along with it, though don’t be too surprised if a very Worf-like character pops up in Discovery.

Had Star Trek: Discovery decided to cast Dorn as a Worf ancestor, the character would be joined by several other series callback characters. Both Spock’s father Sarek and Star Trek: The Original Series galactic conman Harry Mudd are expected to appear in Discovery.

READ: Spock’s Father, Sarek, Has Been Cast For New Series

There’s a clear balancing act at work here. Discovery’s time period (approximately 10 years before the five-year mission that formed the backbone of TOS ) allows for some crossovers, whether for story reasons or simply for fan service, but too many and Star Trek starts to feel like Star Wars, narrowing its field of vision to the same handful of characters. Well-argued estimates (there is no official count) put the population of the United Federation of Planets at over a trillion. So galactic-scale coincidences like, say, Cornelius Evazan and Ponda Baba butting heads with both Jyn Erso and Luke Skywalker within a few days of each other, don’t fit too well with Trek’s more realistic, hard sci-fi vibe. Maybe we’ll be OK without another Worf in the center of another historical galactic moment.

But there’s certainly precedent.

In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , a major influence on the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery, Dorn played his own grandfather, a diplomat who proved instrumental in the signing of the Khitomer Accords that made the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire unlikely allies. He laid the groundwork for his grandson’s remarkable life. His name was also Worf.

Star Trek: Discovery still doesn’t have a release date.

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