Star Trek fans can look forward to the upcoming third entry in the current film series next year. However, there is a segment of more traditionally minded Trekdom that would prefer to see the franchise back on the small screen, set in its original timeline. One of those folks is Mr. Worf himself, Michael Dorn, who is heading a campaign to get Trek back to TV with a series focusing on his Klingon ass-kicker.
Calling the campaign #WeWantWorf, the goal of the May 1 – June 30 effort is, quite simply, to get the attention of Star Trek franchise owners, CBS, in the hopes of greenlighting a project tentatively titled Star Trek: Captain Worf. Besides expanding its social media presence, one of the campaign’s strategies involves having fans purchase packs of mini-muffins that will be sent to network executives, in an effort to prospectively appeal to their sweet tooth.
The project would depict the further adventures of Michael Dorn’s Worf as the captain of a Klingon vessel, looking to find his own identity after his experiences in Starfleet, all while attempting to keep the Klingon empire stable with his efforts. The prospective series would reportedly be set after Worf’s time on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which ended its television run in 1999, but before the events of the 2002 Next Generation cast film, Star Trek: Nemesis. Thus, the project would not so much be updating us on what’s happening with Worf “now,” so much as it would serve as an introspective companion, filling his backstory, as we get to know the man further beneath the ridges.
While Worf is clearly best known for his time on the Enterprise D in Star Trek: The Next Generation, this project clearly takes place at a time well after Worf left that crew (sporadically rejoining them by convenient coincidences in the films), and after his run on Deep Space Nine, which saw Worf ascend to an ambassadorial position to the Klingon homeworld after the devastating war with The Dominion. However, through circumstances which would no doubt be explained, he would take the captain’s chair of a Klingon vessel and still be living in the then-recent aftermath of the death of his wife, Jadzia Dax, whose symbiont found a second life in a new host, creating an awkward relationship in the final season of DS9. However, the Captain Worf project would apparently have him finding a new love interest.
Should this project ever get off the ground, either by way of network greenlighting or crowdfunding, it'd be interesting to see how it walks the line between fan service and wide accessibility. Clearly, we’re looking at a character study that would require quite a lot of previous Star Trek episodes as a prerequisite to understanding the character. Undoubtedly, though, the project sounds like an exciting throwback. In fact, Michael Dorn has said that he’s trying to change the title to Star Trek: The Next Generation: Captain Worf to imply its storytelling focus and distinguish it from the other stylized Star Trek franchise on the big screen. Check out Michael Dorn discussing the project in the video below:
For Trekkie purists who recently had the rug pulled out from under them when rumors of a new TV project were debunked, Captain Worf could be a beacon of hope. However, it’s difficult to imagine how a show would build on a character who has already spent a total of 11 years on television...16 years ago, and one who was also featured in four films. However, Worf is undoubtedly one of the most popular characters in the Trek franchise and, armed with compelling characters and maybe a more serviceable point of entry for new viewers, it’s possible we could see this project on television.
