Captain Worf.
Michael Dorn has confirmed he is working on a Star Trek tv series spin-off. Dorn is taking steps to reprise his signature Trek role on a spinoff, tentatively titled Star Trek: Captain Worf.
Worf, Son of Mogh, of course, is the first Klingon main character on a Star Trek TV series. He appeared on The Next Generation throughout its seven-season run, then became a Deep Space Nine regular for its last four seasons. Dorn portrayed Worf in all four Next Generation films; in addition, he played Worf’s grandfather, Colonel Worf, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Rumors and reports about a prospective Worf spinoff began circulating earlier last year – which, perhaps not-so-coincidentally, marked the 25th anniversary of The Next Generation. Trek News caught up with Dorn, who gave them the following exclusive “scoop” on the project:
Deep Space Nine concluded with Worf being made Federation ambassador to the Klingon homeworld, Qo’noS. An official prequel comic book to Abrams’ Trek reboot featured Worf as a Klingon Empire General, who battles the Romulan Captain Nero (Eric Bana, in Abrams’ film). Worf sustained life-threatening injuries during the encounter, but it was indicated he was still alive by the story’s conclusion.
However, the overlap between events on DS9 and the Star Trek film continuity has always been kind of fuzzy; hence, it stands to reason that could also hold true for a Worf spinoff and the post-reboot movies. Dorn’s in the same boat of uncertainty as Fuller and Singer, when it comes to how his plans are affected by Abrams’ films – as he put it, “there’s all the political stuff going on with the new movies with J.J. Abrams and Paramount and all that stuff, which I have no clue about and what it all entails, but that’s where it is right now.”
The in-progress subtitle Captain Worf is open to interpretation, as far as indications for when, exactly, the TV series could take place. Such a Star Trek spinoff would, for certain, retain the ensemble format of its predecessors to some degree – with a focus on the adventures of Worf and a new group of space explorers. Morever, Dorn says the show isn’t so much a pipe dream as one might think (at first):
Worf’s Klingon manner and instincts often put him at odds with his fellow officers on The Next Generation, as hilariously highlighted in a 15-minute compilation video on you-tube; still, there were a few episodes on DS9 that explored Worf’s personal sense of duty and honor beyond the surface level. Nonetheless, there does remain room for further development of the character – even given the substantial amount of backstory already in place for Worf.
“Interestingly enough it has gotten traction. I was very surprised, I was on a movie not too long ago, where one of the producers was basically lobbying to be part of it. He was like “Michael, I’d love to write it, if you haven’t.” So at this point, my agents and my manager are looking at all the avenues and trying to figure out which is the best one. My agent and manager have been in the business for awhile, so they’re very savvy about where to start and how to get it going. Like I said, in this business you never know and I’ve been through pitching things and I never want to do that again [laughs]. It’s pretty brutal, but definitely I think once again, if Paramount or CBS or anybody thinks this is a viable thing, they’ll jump on it" Michael Dorn, 2013.
However, as Dorn mentions, the Star Trek: Captain Worf television series is far from getting an official greenlight. However its worth monitoring as more information is released.
SyFy Roundup
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News & Gossip of all things sy-fy
Welcome to the Gossip and Info pages, the roundup of interesting things happening in the world of Fantasy & Sy-FY. And what better way to start, than with a Star Trek Item.
SyFy Roundup
News & Gossip of all things sy-fy
Worf told No Compilation:
All Hail Worf !!