The Star Trek Character We Need To Return
As a franchise, Star Trek just keeps bringing familiar faces back to the fold. Thanks to Picard, we have seen the return of that title character as well as the entire main ensemble cast of The Next Generation. That show even gave us the return of Seven of Nine, Hugh, Ro Laren, Tuvok, and more. Ever since fans have been speculating about which character the franchise should bring back next, but the answer is quite simple: by the Prophets, Benjamin Sisko needs to come back to Star Trek in a big way.
Sisko’s Character Had a Cliffhanger Ending
The biggest reason Captain Sisko needs to come back to Star Trek is that his character received an actual cliffhanger ending. Since Deep Space Nine was in no danger of getting spinoff movies, the writers gave many characters very definitive endings: Chief O’Brien becomes an instructor at Starfleet Academy, Odo returns to his people, and so on. Sisko was a special case, though. We saw him tackle a possessed Gul Dukat and plunge to what should have been his death in order to protect the planet of Bajor and its protectors, the Prophets.
However, Sisko was the Prophets’ emissary, and instead of letting him die, these strange Star Trek aliens transported him inside their wormhole. Inside that place, time isn’t linear, and when Sisko’s wife Kasidy Yates asks him when he will return to the real world, he tells her, “Maybe a year, maybe… yesterday,” concluding that “I will be back.” That never happened, and now that it has been nearly a quarter of a century, Captain Sisko needs to make good on his promise and return to Star Trek.
He Has More Of a Legacy Than Picard
One of the most common criticisms of Star Trek: Picard is that it didn’t really get good until the third season, and the return of the crew from The Next Generation played a big part in this. The show was nominally meant to help fans catch up with its title character, but the amusing irony is that Picard didn’t really have much of a legacy to explore: the show had to invent a secret son to give him a biological legacy and Picard didn’t have a wife or other surviving family members. That’s the reason why the first two seasons are misadventures with a forgettable crew of (mostly) newcomers.
That brings us to one of the more obvious reasons Captain Sisko needs to return to Star Trek: when the last episode of Deep Space Nine aired, Sisko left behind his son, Jake, his wife, Kasidy Yates, and an unborn child. A new series or movie focusing on Sisko could help fans learn more about what the Emissary has learned from his time in the wormhole and what his family has been up to after all this time.
Sisko has more of a legacy than Picard does, making him a better candidate for a solo show than Picard ever was.
Carrying On the Deep Space Nine Legacy
The last reason we want to see Captain Sisko come back to Star Trek is admittedly a bit selfish, but hear us out: this character is the face of Deep Space Nine, and that show is the best series the franchise has produced (yeah, we said it). Other lesser shows from the franchise are getting their spiritual sequels, like the TNG crew coming back for Picard and Voyager crew returning for both Picard and Prodigy. Sadly, we haven’t had many opportunities to catch up with the crew from Deep Space Nine outside of in animated form on Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Now, we love us some Lower Decks, and that show does a great job of giving credit to great characters (we always knew O’Brien was the most important person in Starfleet history, but it was nice for the show to make it official). However, if Avery Brooks were willing to return for his own solo Star Trek spinoff, it would give us a chance to learn more about our favorite Deep Space Nine characters outside of the occasional joke or cameo in a comedy cartoon.
In addition to making fans happy, such a spinoff is guaranteed to be more entertaining than the last season of Discovery (which is admittedly a low bar to clear). Speaking of NuTrek, ask yourself: wouldn’t you rather be watching a Deep Space Nine revival than pretending you actually care about a Section 31 movie? If you answered “no,” we’re afraid you’re going to have to report to Waste Extraction.
