Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Thy'lek Shran

10. Nobody Else Could Play The Part

When casting the role of a recurring character, Star Trek's casting directors often have entire phonebooks of reliable names they can call upon, who sit for hours on end in make-up to portray myriad characters across Star Trek's multiple series.

Of all these names, few have such regard in the fan community as Jeffrey Combs. Reoccurring to the point of being meme-worthy, Combs' Trek acting CV includes Penk in Voyager's Tsunkatse, the Ferengi Krem in earlier Enterprise episode Acquisition, and the megalomaniacal supercomputer AGIMUS in multiple episodes of Lower Decks. It's in Deep Space Nine, however, where Combs truly makes his mark, appearing as Tiron in the episode Meridian, as well as the recurring roles of Brunt (FCA) and five different versions of Weyoun.

It's unsurprising then that, when the time came to cast Shran, the team behind the camera knew exactly who to call. Combs was offered the part without even auditioning, and impressed the crew with his ability to act past the slightly silly antennae to create a character who could portray both threat and pathos with the kind of depth the role demanded.