Earlier this week, TrekMovie’s All Access Star Trek podcast team spoke to Star Trek: Deep Nine Star Armin Shimerman along with his wife (and DS9) guest star Kitty Swink, TNG vet Jonathan Frakes, and television writer/producer Juan Carlos Coto, brother of late Enterprise writer/producer Manny Coto. They had all gathered together to talk about the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and their team Trek Against Pancreatic Cancer for the Purple Stride walk this Saturday, April 27th. During the wide-ranging chat, Shimerman told a funny story about a suggestion for him to appear in the final season of Picard.
Armin says no to Worf chopping off his head
The subject of how other actors have played Ferengi in some of the new Star Trek shows came up, including the character Sneed in the latest season of Star Trek: Picard. Armin Shimerman had nothing but “kudos” for actor Aaron Stanford, who played Sneed:
“I was in awe. It was just astounding.”
Kitty Swink then prompted her husband to tell the “Dorny story.” Armin obliged, retelling this conversation he had with his former DS9 co-star:
“Before they cast [Sneed], [Michael] Dorn me up and said ‘I’m doing an episode of Picard where I kill off a Ferengi? Wouldn’t it be great if it were you.’ [laughs] I said, ‘No, it would not be great.’ I told him to just forget about that idea, altogether.”
TrekMovie confirmed with Swink and Shimerman that Dorn was suggesting Armin play Sneed on Picard, not that he reprise his DS9 role as Quark. After others noted the scene was rather brutal—it involved Worf cutting Sneed’s head off, Swink jumped in again:
“I got to say, for all the times I have baked bread for Michael Dorn, that was really a shitty thing for him to say.” [laughs]
Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker and Michael Dorn as Worf in Picard‘s “The Bounty” (Paramount+)
Jonathan Frakes tried to be diplomatic, suggesting Dorn might have not known Worf was going to cut off Sneed’s head, but Armin said Michael was at least sure Worf was going to kill the character. Frakes (who appeared in every episode of Picard season 3 and directed 2 episodes) noted Sneed was still somewhat based on Quark, complimenting Shimerman on the layers he brought to a previously unsympathetic species:
“The tightrope you walked—all levity aside—to represent what [Gene] Roddenberry thought of as this despicable capitalist pig with huge ears. And yet the humorous, smart, charming, cleve—all the qualities that Quark had and still be an essentially a villain, and do it through rubber. It takes a special actor, which you are.”
Armin Shimerman as Quark in Deep Space Nine
High praise for return on Lower Decks
Shimerman has had a recent return to the franchise, voicing Quark for the season 3 episode “Hear All, Trust Nothing” of Star Trek: Lower Decks. During the podcast discussion, the actor talked up his experience:
“I did have fun, and I did get to ad lib. It was a great, great, great fun. And they couldn’t have been nicer. They were very sweet. And both Nana [Visitor] and I were very touched that they wanted to make it a tribute to Deep Space Nine. The opening sequence of shooting the station brought tears to both of our eyes because it was just so nostalgic. And we love working there. It was a it was a great, great experience. It couldn’t have been nicer.”
Lower Decks “Hear All, Trust Nothing”
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