Jake Sisko was one of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s most important characters during the entirety of its run, but ironically, one of the character’s most important episodes didn’t feature a lot of actor Cirroc Lofton playing the role as per usual. Instead, Candyman’s Tony Todd chiefly starred as the older Jake Sisko in Season 4’s second episode, “The Visitor,” making this his second Star Trek role after previously playing Worf’s brother Kurn on The Next Generation. With nearly 30 years having passed since “The Visitor” originally aired, Lofton reflected with CinemaBlend on how Todd did playing Jake as an adult, as well as how Avery Brooks, a.k.a. Deep Space Nine’s Benjamin Sisko, enhanced the performance.
With Cirroc Lofton’s Star Trek-centric podcast The 7th Rule, which he co-hosts with Ryan Hush, wrapping up its time recapping Deep Space Nine and soon jumping into The Next Generation (where they’ll be joined by Denise Crosby for all of the episodes starring Tasha Yar in Season 1), I had the pleasure of speaking with the actor about this next stage of the podcast and other Trek-related topics, such as his thoughts on Lower Decks’ DS9 tribute episode. When “The Visitor” came up, I was curious how Lofton reacted when he learned Tony Todd was cast as the older Jake Sisko, and if there was any collaboration process between the two actors:
When they said Tony Todd, I was like, ‘Candyman?’ That was the biggest thing I was thinking, Candyman, and that’s what I knew him from. And there was a level of intimidation or fear, I guess, just to even meet him because of the image I had of him as that persona. He’s also a tall guy, really tall, like 6 foot 6, 6 foot 7, so I wasn’t that big yet. I hadn’t reached my full growth spurt potential. So seeing how big they thought I was gonna turn out was another, ‘Oh you think I’m gonna be that big?’ But collaboratively, the only thing he did, he said, ‘Look, I’m Tony Todd, I’m gonna be playing the older version of you, and I’m just gonna be hanging around the set watching you, just observing, so I don’t want you to think anything other than I’m just trying to study you and how you go.’ And that was pretty much the end of the conversation, the bulk of the collaboration, if you want to say. We had conversations, makeup trailer, hair and all those kinds of things, but nothing to the extent of, ‘Tell me, how do you think about Jake’s character?’ It was none of that. It was just, he watched me, saw my mannerisms, he saw how I talked.
For those who haven’t seen “The Visitor” or need a refresher on it, the episode sees Benjamin Sisko being struck by a bolt of energy from a malfunctioning warp drive. He’s initially believed to have died, but it turns out that he actually became frozen in time, as Jake reunites with Benjamin a handful of times as the decades pass. I won’t spoil how the episode ends, but it culminates in what’s arguably one of the Star Trek franchise’s most emotionally powerful moments.
As Cirroc Lofton laid out, when he initially learned Tony Todd, who by then was already a horror heavyweight, was playing Jake Sisko as an adult, he was intimidated due to the older actor’s stature. But when it came to Todd figuring out how to play Jake in his older years, no in-depth conversations were had between him and Lofton. It simply boiled down to Todd observing Lofton on set, and clearly that was enough to get the job done. That said, while Lofton was pleased with how Todd played his character in a more mature form, he also noted to me that Avery Brooks was a critical element in making that performance stand out. In his words:
One of the big things that goes un-talked about as far as credit for that performance even by Tony Todd himself was Avery Brooks being the bridge between myself and him, right? So he’s going to play me how he normally plays me, as his son, and then he’s also going to play Tony Todd with that same energy, which he did and which is why it sells as well. It’s also not just what Tony Todd does on his end, but also how Avery’s performance as Sisko, welcoming, embracing and treating Tony Todd as Jake. So there’s a duality there as far as credit is deserved for why that is sold to the audience, why it’s so easily believable.
“The Visitor” was the only time that Tony Todd played the older Jake Sisko, but along with later reprising Kurn for Deep Space Nine’s “Sons of Mogh,” he played the Alpha Hirogen in the Voyager episode “Prey” (fun fact, Voyager ended up helping Deep Space Nine in a big way) Todd’s more recent credits include 2021’s Candyman (which earned his seal of approval), Hellblazers, Bitch Ass and Masters of the Universe: Revelation, and he’s also voicing Venom in the 2023 video game Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Should you wish to watch “The Visitor” or all of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, make sure your Paramount+ subscription is in order. The streaming service has multiple upcoming Star Trek TV shows primed for the year ahead, but for now, you can browse through our 2022 TV schedule to learn what programming is left to debut this year.
