Remember the talk a couple years ago of a new Captain Worf Star Trek TV series from Michael Dorn? Well he has now given us an exclusive update on the show including casting ideas and a timeline on when he could have the go-ahead to move forward.

Michael Dorn Gives "Capt Worf" TV Series Pitch Update

No actor has more Star Trek screen time than Michael Dorn, appearing in seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, four season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, four TNG feature films and even one of the TOS feature films. But it is his hope that there will be even more Worf in our future. Back in May 2012 TrekMovie first broke the news that Michael Dorn was writing a pilot for what he hoped to become a new Star Trek TV series centering on Captain Worf, played by himself. That spawned a lot of news coverage in the media, but there were no reports of the show getting any traction with CBS. As of last October Dorn was saying that he was ready to "send it out" and gauge interest, noting it was "never dead." And in August of this year Dorn said that the idea had been proposed, but nothing was happening, yet. Over the weekend at Destination Star Trek 3, Mr. Dorn talked to TrekMovie again to give us an update on the project.



Michael Dorn captaining the USS Defiant in "Star Trek: First Contact" – actor is pitching new TV series with himself in the captain’s chair

TrekMovie: Regarding the proposed ‘Captain Worf’ TV series, is there any update on that? Has there been any progress?

Michael Dorn: We have a script. We have idea. We have all the framework. But we are waiting for Paramount to say yes or no. Not in terms of doing it, but in terms of having to shoot something. Because if they say "no, you can’t do it" there is no need to keep going…So we are asking them, can we do this? Can we make money? Can we sell it as a pilot? And if they say "no, forget it," then it’s over.

TrekMovie: In terms of cast, any ideas who you would like in it?

Michael Dorn: There are a couple of ideas but they are all just talk right now. We don’t want to do too much casting right now. We want to bring some of the Next Generation people back. Definitely Marina [Sirtis], LeVar [Burton]. We have an idea for Patrick [Stewart] in the pilot episode. But it kind of depends. Because the thing is that the show can stand on its own without trying to bring everybody back and so I only want to do it if it means something to the story. For the new characters we are going to go with people that are kind of known in the science fiction world. Not for Star Trek, but kind of known.



Dorn hopes to bring TNG co-stars Patrick Stewart, LeVar Burton and Marina Sirtis into the series (photo cropped from LeVar Burton’s TNG reunion selfie)

TrekMovie: You mean for a crossover kind of thing?

Michael Dorn: No, not in a crossover thing, just actors who are known. A lot of a lot of really good actors. There are some favorites I want to use. I definitely want to use Armin Shimerman. Probably not as Quark, but as someone else, maybe.

TrekMovie: Is that it?

Michael Dorn: That is kind of where it is right now. Basically, if you have enough money and enough wherewithal you can film whatever you want to film. But you can’t make money. If you sell it, or try to make money, Paramount will be very angry. But if you just do it for yourself, who cares? So we are basically asking them, can we do this? Can we make money? Can we sell it as a pilot? If they say "no," then forget it, it’s over.

TrekMovie: Do you have a timeframe?

Michael Dorn: Two weeks, where we’ll know…we’ll know.



Michael Dorn at Destination Star Trek 3 – says he will know if his new Worf TV series is a go within two weeks (Photo: Daniel Lewis)

POLL: Want Your Worf TV?

Are you ready for Worf TV or would you prefer something else? Vote in the new poll and sound off in the comments below.

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More DST 3 Interviews to come

We have more interviews to come. If you missed it, check out our interview with Bruce Greenwood.

…and our other coverage from DST 3

Top photo by Idil Sukan, taken at DST 3.

Ronan O’Flaherty is an Irish based, life-long Star Trek fan, software engineer and radio presenter. His site is currently under revamp at www.ronanoflaherty.ie.