Why Frank Langella Didn't Want To Be Credited For His Star Trek Role

There have been some pretty incredible guest stars in the "Star Trek" franchise over the years, but one particularly famous "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" guest star didn't want to be credited for his role in three episodes of the show's second season. It might seem strange to not want a credit for being part of the "Star Trek" universe, but it turns out that he had some pretty wholesome reasons for boarding the space station Deep Space Nine.

Frank Langella, the actor of stage and screen best known for playing Dracula in the 1977 Broadway production and 1979 film version of "Dracula" and as Skeletor in "Masters of the Universe," also appeared in the season 2 episodes "The Homecoming," "The Circle," and "The Siege," portraying villainous Bajoran politician Jaro Essa. He's a real danger to all of Bajor, with a scheme to take over the planet in a coup, and Langella is pitch perfect as the character. He didn't receive a credit for the role, but that was by choice.

Langella ran into some problems later in his career when he was fired from "Fall of the House of Usher" due to misconduct allegations. However, when he guest starred on "Deep Space Nine" back in 1993, he was at the peak of his fame.

In the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion" by Paula M Block and Terry J. Erdmann, director Winrich Kolbe, who collaborated with Langella on the episodes "The Homecoming" and "The Siege," explained that Langella wanted to be a part of the series for family reasons:

"He wanted to do the show. He did it for his children, because they loved the show. It was not done for money or exposure."

"Star Trek" has been a huge part of the pop culture conversation for decades, so even a tiny cameo role would have generated buzz, let alone a fairly major recurring role over three episodes. If he didn't really want the attention and was solely interested in impressing his kids, it makes sense that he would've avoided calling attention to or highlighting his appearance.

Langella was far from the only person to get a cameo or role on "Star Trek" purely because of their love (or their children's love) of the franchise, of course. Actor Christian Slater famously got a small role in "Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country" and stole his uniform, for starters. Meanwhile, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello made two different cameos just because he was such a big fan!

Langella was perfectly sinister as Jaro Essa, a Bajoran politician who wanted to buy enough weapons to arm Bajor and kick out the Federation, installing himself as the leader of the whole planet. He works with the power-hungry Bajoran religious figure Vedek Winn (Louise Fletcher), who later becomes Kai, a religious leader of the Bajoran people, and together they attempt to undo all of the good done by the Federation and the Bajoran provisional government. They even kidnap Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), the first officer on Deep Space Nine, when she gets too close to their plot. Thankfully, Kira and Lieutenant Dax (Terry Farrell) manage to save the day and stop the coup, but not without some serious effort.

Major Kira is one of the most complex and fascinating characters on not only "Deep Space Nine," but all of "Star Trek," and these episodes serve to develop her character and the complex Bajoran world even more. While many Trekkies have looked down on the series for not "boldly going" much of anywhere and dealing heavily in Bajoran politics, I would argue that's part of what makes "Deep Space Nine" the best "Star Trek" of them all.