10 Amazing Behind The Scenes Secrets Of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

If Garak's sexuality ambiguity was something that established itself through the subtly and craft of the performance, then Julian Bashir's equally as mysterious background was quite the opposite. In fact, the development of the character went through the incredibly rare process of a firm decluttering.

Despite originally auditioning for the role of Sisko (yep) Alexander Siddig was cast as the station's bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Medical Officer, Dr. Amoros. Written almost identically to the part that would end up becoming Julian Bashir, the only real difference initially was the name and the fact that he was clearly of "Hispanic descent". However as production began on the pilot episode, the producers took the unusual step of removing this feature from this character profile, and not replacing it with anything else.

According to Siddig, this decision was taken because they felt shoe-horning in a defined ethnicity for the character was ultimately quite restrictive on what they could do with the part. Instead, Bashir took inspiration from Arabian, Mediterranean, Indian, British, and Hispanic culture across the course of the show, representing that defined cultural characteristics were virtually non-existent in the 24th Century. Ultimately, human beings are just presented as human beings, and if you trace their family histories back far enough their ancestry likely spans the entire globe.