Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Kai Winn
2. She Embodied The Banality Of Evil
Louise Fletcher received a tonne of praise from the production team during her time on Deep Space Nine. Robert Hewitt Wolfe, the creator of Winn as a character, enthusiastically said that Fletcher's performance delivered a character they all loved to hate. It was director Winrich Kolbe, however, who best described the performance.
This has nothing to do with her personality, but what she comes up with is the banality of evil. She doesn't go around gritting her teeth and chomping at the bit. The evil is underneath. She's a very normal evil person.
The description is perfect. Fletcher's performance was understated and calm, frequently accompanied by a smile and open hands, while the person in front of her knows that a shark's smile carries less danger. She is a character who takes her time, controlling every scene that she's in. Her first appearance, stepping into Keiko O'Brien's school, is a perfect example of this - smiling her way through a dogmatic declaration.
The frequent encounters with Sisko only serve to double down on this, as Fletcher played the character with a constant certainty of her own position. There are no grand statements or moustache-twirling moments with this character. These are just some of the reasons why Kai Winn is one of the most memorable villains in Star Trek.