Worf Actor Michael Dorn Almost Made His Star Trek Return Years Before Picard

Worf, the prune juice drinking Klingon played by Michael Dorn, is a pretty major fixture of the "Star Trek" franchise. He's one of the most physically imposing characters in the property and is sort of the "John Wick" of the "Star Trek" universe, according to Dorn, having by now appeared in three different shows while making his mark across multiple "Star Trek" generations. Dorn first starred as Worf in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," then his character was transferred to the space station Deep Space Nine on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," and finally, he showed up in season 3 of "Star Trek: Picard," which followed up on the crew of "The Next Generation" decades later. (Dorn also starred as the character's grandfather, Colonel Worf, in the "Star Trek: The Original Series" film "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.")

It's great that fans got a chance to catch up with Worf on "Star Trek: Picard" and that he's still clearly one of the most compelling characters in the galaxy, but we almost got a whole lot more of the cranky Klingon years before "Picard" brought back the crew of the Enterprise. Dorn has really fought to protect the character and help ensure his legacy within "Star Trek," but he also worked on developing his own spin-off series and nearly became a part of "Star Trek: Discovery." Oh, what might have been. 

Though Dorn's plans for the unproduced Worf spin-off never happened, he was at least able to channel some of those ideas into what happened with the character on "Star Trek: Picard." That series saw Worf go from a hot-tempered grump to a Zen master, and it was a deeply satisfying arc for the character. But apparently Dorn was also almost tapped to be a part of "Star Trek: Discovery," a show about the crew of a starship that starts out in the 23rd century (a decade before the events of "Star Trek: The Original Series," to be exact) that travels to the far-flung 32nd century. On an episode of "Inside of You With Michael Rosenbaum," Dorn revealed that he was almost a part of the newest generation of "Star Trek," but things fell through because of staffing changes. He told Rosenbaum:

"I was asked several times to be part of that new universe, but because of just circumstances [...] just that sort of one thing that happens [...] nothing to do with me [...] but something happens like on 'Discovery,' they said hey, we want you to come back and do this character. It would be great. We'll show you [...] Scripts, everything [...] I was talking to the producer [...] The producer gets fired, and they bring in a whole 'nother crew. So it's those type of things. So that was going on for a long time. Then one time, I just went, 'Okay, that's it. I'm not going to think about this anymore.'"

It sounds like production headaches nearly gave poor Dorn a headache, and he decided to just fight for his own spinoff or wait for some sort of "Next Gen" reunion. Thankfully, he got to get some closure with the character on "Picard," but it would have been amazing to see more of Worf in the years between. Whether or not Dorn would have played Worf on "Discovery" is kind of murky, though it's likely he would have played someone else because the Klingon warrior hadn't been born yet when the starship Discovery travelled to the far future — and even-though Klingons live longer than humans, there's no way Worf could have lived that long unless he were cryogenically frozen or something.

Sadly, it's unlikely that we'll ever see Worf again in the "Star Trek" universe, outside of a possible surprise cameo in the final season of the animated series "Star Trek: Lower Decks." The only real chance for more Worf would have been through "Star Trek: Legacy," the "Star Trek: Picard" spin-off series proposed by season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas, but it's unlikely that show will ever happen. It's a real shame, too, because Worf is sort of the thread that unites the whole "Star Trek" franchise, appearing in quite a few of its greatest hits. He's also pretty important as the first Klingon protagonist, finally making the warrior race more than just (occasionally racist) depictions of barbarian outsiders.

For his part, Dorn has "always had a good time" with "Star Trek," and he has always been open about his true feelings about playing Worf. Hopefully, he'll get the chance to play the character one more time, if he wants, on his terms. Otherwise, may Worf battle and feast alongside his Par'Mach'kai Jadzia in Sto-Vo-Kor for all eternity!