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

4. Grander Nagus

Few could have predicted Rom's path from outwardly bumbling 'idiot' to leader of his people. In the end, as Quark put it, accurately, if somewhat passive aggressively, Rom was "the perfect Nagus for this new Ferenginar". He was precisely what Ferengi society needed to avoid social, cultural, and political stagnation as the 80s approached. After all, bribes were already tax deductible!

Becoming Nagus was, however, one of the few things Max Grodénchik "questioned" about Rom's journey over the years. As he recalled in an interview with TrekMovie in 2018,

I remember we walked down to the writers building to talk to [The Dogs of War writer] René Echevarria. [..] René sat with us for a half hour and explained why this needed to be this way.

Grodénchik went on to add that he was just happy "to play the hapless schmuck so everything else was icing on the cake".

Until very recently, Grodénchik's last outing as Grand Nagus had been in Star Trek Online. There, he joined a host of his Deep Space Nine castmates, including Chase Masterson, Armin Shimerman, and the late, great Aron Eisenberg for the 2018 expansion Victory is Life. In game, Rom is then still Nagus up to at least 2410.