See Star Trek Actors Thrilled About Their Franchise Return
In a new featurette, Armin Shimerman and Nana Visitor talk about their return to their Deep Space Nine roles in one of the most recent episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks.
This article is more than 2 years old
Armin Shimerman and Nana Visitor of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fame recently got the chance to reprise their signature roles and judging by the new featurette above, the pair couldn’t be happier about their return. They voiced their DS9 characters in “Hear All, Trust Nothing,” last week’s episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks. According to both actors, returning and watching the finished product was both emotional and lots of fun.
The Lower Decks episode plays the iconic Star Trek: Deep Space Nine theme when the Cerritos arrives; something that both actors commented on along with the animated realization of DS9. “The music’s always been emotional for me, and it was really emotional to see [Deep Space Nine] animated,” Visitor said.
Likewise, Shimerman recalled, “It was a joy to hear the music again and to see the station, because… the animation of the station was really quite impressive.”
The heroes of Star Trek: Lower Decks visit DS9 for trade negotiations with a Gamma Quadrant race, and both the station’s commander Colonel Kira Nerys (Visitor) and the Ferengi bartender Quark (Shimerman) still call DS9 their home. The fact that her character still remained on the station was important to Visitor. “I was really glad that Kira was still on Deep Space Nine,” Visitor said.
“That’s my story for her, and I’m glad Lower Decks stuck with that idea,” the actress added.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine concluded with “What You Leave Behind,” which ends with Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) essentially ascending to godhood and joining the Prophets living within the Bajoran Wormhole. With Sisko gone, Kira–Sisko’s first officer for most of the series–takes over.
According to the hardworking fans at Memory Alpha, the Deep Space Nine finale is set in 2375, while Season 3 of Star Trek: Lower Decks unfolds in 2382. Judging by the fact that in “Hear All, Trust Nothing” Kira still has Sisko’s baseball, we can trust that 7 years after his ascension Sisko has not returned but Kira is still holding his office for him.
Shimerman also seems thrilled for his character to still be an important part of the narrative. “To be part of the franchise, to be part of the mythology, to have my character show up in various different places–it’s like winning the lottery,” Shimerman said
The Star Trek actor also said he loved the premise behind Lower Decks, of taking the focus away from the folks in command, and said his own character qualified. That makes sense. After all, Quark was the first regular series character in the entire franchise who wasn’t a part of either the Federation or Starfleet.
We should also mention that we believe the title of the Star Trek: Lower Decks episode was at least in part a tribute to the late Aron Eisenberg who passed away in 2019. “Hear All, Trust Nothing” is the 190th rule in the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition and we only hear it in the franchise once–when Eisenberg says it as Nog, Starfleet’s first Ferengi cadet, in DS9‘s Season 5 finale.
