The Surprise Origin Of Beloved Star Trek DS9 Character
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the greatest series in this long-running franchise, and that’s largely thanks to wildly original characters such as Garak, the Cardassian spy turned tailor. Many DS9 fans are familiar with the story that Garak actor Andrew Robinson later helped develop an extensive background for the character that was later released as a standalone book (A Stitch In Time).
However, what most fans don’t realize is that the character was originally created just to be a shady connection between even shadier characters, and the decision to make him a tailor was completely arbitrary.
Garak Was Unlike Every Previous Cardassian
Garak was introduced in “Past Prologue,” better known as the second episode of Deep Space Nine. At the time, what made the character notable was that he was unlike any other Cardassians that we had ever seen before. These aliens were always presented as brutal foes and conquering fascists, so seeing a Cardassian as a smiling tailor was quite a surprise for audiences.
Designed As An Excuse For Klingon Gues tStars
In these early days, Garak was mostly developed by Peter Allan Fields, the teleplay writer for “Past Prologue.” Later, he spoke very plainly about the narrative need to create someone like Garak for this particular script. “We needed a character whom Lursa and B’Etor would come to as a kind of go-between.”
Lursa and B’Etor, collectively known to Star Trek fans as The Duras Sisters, were included in “Past Prologue” to show an early connection between Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation.
Garak’s Humble Beginnings
DS9 was its own show with its own heroes and villains, but this early cameo from these two Klingons helped underscore to audiences that any number of familiar faces might eventually drop by the station. They didn’t have much to do in the episode, really…in it, they want to sell a Bajoran freedom fighter to the Cardassians, and they negotiate with Garak due to his supposed connections.
Homage To A Spy Show
In “Past Prologue,” Garak served a very plain and simple function indeed…he was meant to be the memorable middleman between two fan-favorite characters. Additionally, the producers had an interesting edict for Fields: they wanted Garak to be a former Cardassian spy who doesn’t act like a typical spy or a typical Cardassian.
Later, Fields chuckled over his method of creating a very unconventional Cardassian: “I finally put him in a tailor shop, and nobody hit me, so we kept him there.” In addition to making the character more unconventional, this was also an homage to the tailor shop being a secret entrance in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., a show Fields helped write.
Fans Loved Garak
Of course, the reason that Garak eventually became a main character on Deep Space Nine is that Star Trek fans loved the performance of Hellraiser veteran Andrew Robinson. “Past Prologue” director Winrich Kolbe said that producers agreed that “Andy could push the envelope, but he couldn’t leave the Cardassian platform.”
For the actor, this presented an early challenge to give Garak all of his now trademark flair and sassiness while, as Kolbe noted, “[retaining] that stiffness that you see in all Cardassians.”
Garak Would Become More Prominent As The Show Went On
Fortunately for fans everywhere, Robinson pulled it off: even though Garak was intended as a one-off character and only appeared once in the first season, he came back in Season 2 and only became more prominent as the show went on. The actor helped personally craft his character into one of the most complex protagonists in the entire franchise.
None of this would have happened, however, if Star Trek producers hadn’t needed an unconventional Cardassian character to bounce off two fan-favorite Klingon cameo characters.
