While Star Trek: Picard certainly wasn’t lacking in The Next Generation alums to share screen time with Patrick Stewart in its first two seasons, Season 3 was something special. With the exception of Will Wheaton, who cameoed Wesley Crusher in the Season 2 finale (and then recurred in Prodigy Season 2), all of the Next Generation main cast members reunited in the Paramount+ subscription-exclusive series during its final season last year. Michael Dorn has now revealed that while money obviously factored into everyone reprising their roles, there was something more important that needed to happen for him to reprise Worf.
Dorn discussed his time playing the Klingon Starfleet officer, who has appeared in more episodes than any other Star Trek character, while visiting Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. When Rosenbaum asked Dorn what it was that convinced him and his Next Generation cohorts to get back together for Picard, he answered:
They paid us so that we couldn’t say no. We could not say no. Now it’s not astronomical by no means… My thing was that’s fine and I’d like to do it, but it’s gotta be interesting and I can’t be background. I can’t be standing there stoic and mad, scowling. The guy has got to have an arc. It doesn’t have to take up the whole show, but whatever he’s doing, it has to be an interesting arc. And they did give it to me, it was lovely. And Michelle Hurd was amazing to work with, we had a great time time… It was fantastic.
Let’s be clear, money is always going to play into an actor’s decision whether or not to take/resume a role since they need to make a living just like the rest of us. So Michael Dorn was fine to be offered that unspecified amount of enticing money, but in order for him to be open to playing Worf onscreen for the first time since 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis, the paycheck alone wouldn’t cut it. He also needed Worf to have a compelling personal arc amidst the main Picard storyline following these protagonists clashing with the Changelings.
Clearly what they came up with was to Dorn’s liking. Although Worf’s Deep Space Nine-related history was barely touched on in Star Trek: Picard Season 3, he had mellowed out significantly in the decades since he was last seen, and he even enjoyed things like tea and meditation. At this stage of his life, Worf was acting as a Starfleet subcontractor with the rank of Captain, and he got to spend time with Michelle Hurd’s Raffi Musiker before he got to meet back up with Jean-Luc Picard, William Riker, Beverly Crusher, Data, Geordi LaForge and Deanna Troi. It was also teased that something happened to the Enterprise-E while under Worf’s command, although he insisted that whatever happened wasn’t his fault.
Star Trek: Picard is now over, and while there are still calls for the proposed Legacy spinoff to continue exploring that era of the franchise, there’s still no official word on if that will happen. That said, there are plenty of other upcoming Star Trek TV shows to look forward to, including the final season of Lower Decks, which premieres October 24 on the 2024 TV schedule.