One of the most popular characters in “Star Trek” is the Klingon commander Worf, who first appeared in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Played by Michael Dorn (who looks very different in real life), Worf has appeared in more episodes and movies than any other “Trek” character. But Dorn was the last regular cast member hired for the series, and creator Gene Roddenberry didn’t even want the character in the show because of his aversion to including “classic” aliens from the original “Star Trek.” Nevertheless, when Dorn took the part, Roddenberry had sage wisdom for the budding “Trek” star.
“I wasn’t told who the character was or any backstory. They got me into makeup, and I was on the set the next week,” Dorn recalled to StarTrek.com. “Only later did I have a small meeting with Gene and I asked him what he wanted from the character.” But rather than tell Dorn exactly how he should portray the Klingon officer, Roddenberry’s advice was much more straightforward. “‘Make it your own,'” Dorn said, recounting Roddenberry’s words. “‘Don’t listen to or go by anything you’ve heard in the past.’ Which was smart on his part. When an actor has the freedom to create his own character’s backstory and personality, he has an ‘investment’ in the character, and so he is more committed to making it great.”
Ultimately, that advice paid off: Worf wasn’t like previous Klingons, and carved out his own identity as a man torn between two cultures: The Klingons’ warrior-like ethos, and Starfleet’s noble ideals. Since then, he’s appeared in over 270 episodes in the franchise, and Dorn might owe it all to Roddenberry’s simple instructions.
Gene Roddenberry wasn’t a fan of Worf
As mentioned, Worf was a late addition to the cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Gene Roddenberry wanted the new show to separate itself from the classic 1960s series and preferred to shy away from alien races that were synonymous with the adventures of the original Enterprise. Although he eventually reconsidered, he still wasn’t fond of the character, and even once tried to nix one of Worf’s greatest storylines.
In “The Fifty-Year Mission,” author Mark A. Altman claims that Roddenberry felt Worf worked best as a minor background character whose presence helped demonstrate that humans and Klingons were now at peace. But when writer Ron Moore crafted the Season 4 cliffhanger “Redemption,” which caught Worf in the middle of a three-way confrontation between the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans, Roddenberry tried to shut it down. “I was with [producer] Rick [Berman], and he said Gene wanted to throw the script out,” Moore said. “I couldn’t believe it, and Rick said, ‘Well, Gene doesn’t think that Worf is a major character on the show … Gene doesn’t want to do a whole cliffhanger about him.’ I was like ‘that’s crazy!'”
Moore was beside himself because, by this point in the series, Worf was very clearly more than just a minor character: He’d already been the center of several big episodes and fan favorites, like “Sins of the Father” and “Heart of Glory.” Thankfully, Berman stepped in and got the script approved, and the rest is “Trek” history.