Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Rom

7. "Oh, Rom!"

Don't worry! You can believe in love again, as we go from a bad marriage to a great one. The brother always deserved better, as did the dabo girl, more than just a showgirl. Goodbye Julian, in the garden, on Risa, in the Rite of Separation. Hello "cute" and "sexy" Rom!

As Chase Masterson revealed in an interview with EntertainmentNOW, Bashir's relationship status was, in fact, a good part of the reason behind everyone's favourite Ferengi/Bajoran pairing. One day, Ira Steven Behr apparently took Max Grodénchik for a walk down the Promenade to tell him that they needed to keep the Doctor single, so Rom was going to end up with Leeta.

According to Behr in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, however, writers and producers had planned to get the two together for some time. "We'd been thinking long and hard about pairing up Leeta and Rom ever since 'Bar Association'," he noted. Behr went on to add that, whilst the idea itself was "funny" enough, they needed "to get the audience to root for it".

To do that, they dangled the possibility of a relationship for Leeta with the 'less likeable' Doctor Lewis Zimmerman in Doctor Bashir, I Presume? That way, in Behr's words, Rom would "seem a much better alternative. Sweeter, nicer, kinder". Don't feel bad for Zimmerman, either. As Robert Picardo put it, "I decided to make [him] kind of a slob".