Michael Dorn is looking to retire his Star Trek character Worf – and to retire from acting altogether. The 71-year-old has appeared in Star Trek more than any other single actor, and he has performed his fair share of finales and farewells. In a new interview with Star Trek Explorer, he said that he thinks he’s done now, but he added: “The one thing I tell everybody is that you never say never in Star Trek. You just never say never.”
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When asked directly if he would play Worf again, Dorn said: “Again, I would never say never, I would never say, ‘Oh, this is it’ at all. But, many things have to happen for Worf to come back. It takes twenty things falling into place, and ,in this business, you just don’t have that sort of a system anymore, where there’s that one creative guy who goes, ‘You know what? We need this. Make it happen,’ or ‘Oh, that’s not a bad idea. Let me hear it.’ It’s a different world, and I don’t know what it means anymore.”
“And I actually am slowly but surely retiring,” Dorn added, though he said that he is still open to offers. He said that instead, “I’m not on the treadmill anymore, noting that things like remote auditions are “not worth the pain and anguish.” He hopes to stay open to work that may come his way as well as work he can write and develop himself.
Worf’s Happy Ending
Dorn dutifully avoided spoilers in his answers there, but the “complications” he referenced in playing Worf again also have to do with in-universe considerations for Star Trek. Dorn first played Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987, followed immediately by a four-seasons stint on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also appeared in four Star Trek feature films before most recently reprising his role in Star Trek: Picard Season 3.
Picard seems to give Worf and his crewmates a happy ending. The series finale shows them playing poker together – much like their original ending back in 1994. Dorn told Explorer: “When we did the first one on The Next Generation, that card game, you knew that we were saying goodbye to these guys in this genre. We went straight from shooting The Next Generation finale to shooting the first movie. We got that. I never thought that this was going to be a goodbye. I didn’t think so, but the thing was, they just let the camera roll. We were out of character a lot and being ourselves. The one thing I tell everybody is that you never say never in Star Trek. You just never say never. It’s one of those things where it’s going to be around at some point.”
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While there are no plans for Worf in Star Trek‘s future that we know of, fans will be pleased to hear that Dorn is open-minded about any projects that may come his way. In the meantime, all of his previous appearances in the franchise are streaming now on Paramount+.