Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Garak
3. Garak Received A Father...From An Uncredited Author
Author Judy Klass, whose credits include the TOS novel The City Of Onlies, pitched the idea of Garak being Tain's son to the producers of Deep Space Nine almost a full year before In Pugatory's Shadow went into production.
Even more specifically, she pitched the idea that Garak was an illegitimate son, which would compound a life of lies, twists, and hiding his true identity, for fear of being used as a pawn against his father. In the original teleplay, Tain was to have simply acknowledged that Garak was indeed his son, told him he loved him, and died. This didn't feel right.
The scene was changed to show Tain refusing to outright confirm anything, yet also tell Garak about a time he had been proud of him, as a boy. This ended a lifetime of pretending for both of them.
Though Klass did not receive on-screen credit for the idea, Robert Hewitt Wolfe rang her, letting her know that her idea was going to form the basis of the story, and bought the idea from her, for which she received $1,000.