10 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episodes That Were Almost Completely Different

5. Second Skin (Season 3 Episode 5)

Prior to the onset of the genre defining Dominion War, the overarching narrative of DS9 was the fallout from Cardassia’s dictatorial 50 year occupation of the planet Bajor.

During this time, both the Cardassian occupiers and the Bajoran Resistance were involved in numerous schemes and efforts to see the other defeated once and for all. Alongside the obvious military skirmishes, intrigue and espionage were also key weapons in the arsenal of Cardassia’s Obsidian Order, and such efforts form the core of third season episode Second Skin.

Discovering evidence of an incarceration she does not remember, Kira travels to Bajor to unravel the mystery of her past, only to be kidnapped en route and wake up with the face of a Cardassian. In the home of Ghemor, a Cardassian claiming to be her father, Kira is told she is actually an undercover agent of the Order, who underwent reconstructive surgery and memory alteration so that she could infiltrate the Resistance. The situation is eventually revealed to be a ruse however, set up by the Order to ensnare Ghemor and expose his ties with the Cardassian Dissident Movement.

Although the concept remained the same, the original draft of the episode cast Chief O’Brien in the central role, continuing the series’ tradition of ‘O’Brien must suffer’ episodes. Whilst the move to Kira made more sense from a continuity point of view, O’Brien being the father of a human child for one thing, a line leaving Kira’s race ambiguous also didn’t make it to the final cut. Whilst no reason for this omission has been stated, it certainly would have put a massive spin on this already deeply conflicted character.