10 Star Trek Characters You Totally Forgot Existed
6. Lt George Primmin
Brought aboard Deep Space Nine early in season one, Primmin was set to be watching over Odo’s shoulder. Quickly established as Starfleet’s security chief on the space station, the series dug into the conflict straight away between the two characters, yet Primmin vanished within two episodes.
Off screen, the reason for Primmin's existence in DS9 was to cover for Colm Meaney who was off working on another project. Meaney had only accepted the gig on the show if he was able to take time out for other work meaning someone else was required to help out Odo. In this case it would be the fleetingly used Primmin. This was also James Lashly's second time in uniform after appearing in Engineering during TNG's fourth season classic, Brothers. Primmin's role here not only offers up a sidekick for the constable but also a potential fall guy since he was only guest starring and therefore potentially disposable.
In a later twist to DS9, the Starfleet watchdog would return at the beginning of season three with the introduction of Lt Cmdr Michael Eddington and at this point viewers were no doubt scratching their heads trying to remember where this idea might have originally come from.