10 One-Off Star Trek Characters Who Never Left
These are the folks who were meant to leave as quick as they came, there was no hurry.
When a character makes a splash in just the right way, a smart writer will do everything they can to keep bringing them back. Sometimes it takes a little bravery. Back in the Original Series, there are only two or three faces, outside of the Enterprise crew, who would ever face Captain Kirk more than once. From Picard onward, this tended to happen more and more. Budget played a part, but so too did clever use of talent.
Deep Space Nine does lend itself best to securing recurring characters, thanks to its stationary location. Frankly, when one plants their flag in the ground to make everyone come to them, they have the power to do whatever they really want. There is even one character on this list who, technically, wasn't the same character a week later.
There are some names here that may be a little surprising. This is due to the fact that they are now such a part of the franchise that it is hard to imagine that they were ever meant to be anything less than a tentpole player. Yet, it's all true.
Especially the lies.
10. Rom
Max Grodénchik was cast in Emissary under the slightly unassuming character name of 'Ferengi Pit Boss'. This unnamed grunt who worked for Quark would eventually rise to become the Grand Nagus of the Ferengi Alliance. Not bad for a day player.
Grodénchik had appeared in Star Trek before. He had even appeared as Ferengi before, playing Sovak in The Next Generation episode Captain's Holiday. While the Ferengi Pit Boss was a tiny role, affording him very little to do, the producers combined what they saw in him during the filming of Emissary with what they had seen from his previous performance.
In a way, it is thanks to the character of Nog that Grodénchik was spared from the day player pile. Nog was always envisaged as a Ferengi youth who would befriend Jake Sisko, while also being Quark's nephew. That left space for Nog's father. This role went to Grodénchik, was named Rom, and appeared in dozens of episodes after this. While never quite making main cast designation, Grodénchik was one of Deep Space Nine's many, many recurring guests over seven years.