History WhatCouldHaveBeen / StarTrekDeepSpaceNine

* Richard Dean Anderson was considered for the role of Benjamin Sisko, before it was finalized that they wanted a black lead. One wonders what would have happened to Stargate SG-1 if they had decided otherwise..

* Creator/MalcolmMcDowell, who had been played the BigBad in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', once said he'd like to appear in the series, but only if his nephew - Alexander Siddig - would direct the episode. He was offered the role of Hagath in "Business as Usual", but he was unavailable. The role went to Steven Berkoff, [=McDowell=]'s costar in ''Film/AClockworkOrange''.

* In the TNG crossover "Birthright", Dax was slated to film some scenes on the ''Enterprise-D'' set with Data, but a scheduling conflict dashed that idea. Bashir went over in her place. The episode she filmed instead? The execrable "Move Along Home". According to Terry Farrell (a lifelong Trekkie), she "cried."
** In an early version of what would become "Invasive Procedures", Dax's symbiont becomes ill and Bashir has to temporarily remove it. With Dax gone, all that's left is the original Jadzia who--irony--falls hard for Dr. Bashir. The episode would have ended with Bashir trading his chance at love to keep Dax joined.
** Originally, Jack, not Sarina, was the one who was going to be 'cured' in "Chrysalis". Behr decided that the story lacked bite, and sent a message that quirky or handicapped people need to be fixed. So Sarina underwent the treatment instead. She gains a normal life but loses the companionship of her friends, who are still 'in treatment' (imprisoned) at the Institute.
** The writers originally toyed with the idea of killing off Jadzia Dax in the Season 6 episode "Change of Heart" rather than in "Tears of the Prophets", the season finale. The idea was that Jadzia would manage to convince Worf to continue their mission without her and leave her behind, in which case she certainly would have died. Worf would then have had even ''more'' angst than he ended up with to work through in the final season, having lost his wife out of choosing his career over her. Terry Farrell (Jadzia) was on board with it, but they ended up not going through with the idea.
** Terry was contacted about reprising her role in "What You Leave Behind" (presumably in a scene with Ezri). The price her agent quoted was too prohibitive, and the scene was cut. The producers then meekly asked to use old footage of Jadzia for the montage at the end. No dice. But Terry did turn up for the [=DS9=] wrap party.

* Robert Hewitt Wolfe planned to end "Second Skin" on an AmbiguousCloneEnding, with Bashir unable to determine whether Kira [[YouAreWhatYouHate is actually a Cardassian]]. This left open the possibility that Kira was unknowingly a Cardassian agent all along, and that the Obsidian Order had been telling the truth.

* "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost" were planned originally as the season three finale and season four opening, respectively. The plot was somewhat different, with groups of Founders infiltrating the Federation and causing a near-civil war, with Vulcan seceding from the Federation, and "Homefront" ending with a Starfleet vessel firing on a Vulcan transport in Earth orbit.
* When the Dominion invaded Federation space, Vulcan was pitched as one of the occupied planets. Ron Moore commented that Vulcan "carried too much weight," so [[CListFodder Betazed got thrown overboard]] instead. Ironically, J.J. Abrams would happily blow Vulcan to smithereens in [[Film/StarTrek the 2009 movie]]. In an even more ironic decision, he blew Vulcan to smithereens for ''precisely'' the same reason that Ron Moore ''didn't'' have it occupied: it showed how serious things were, and that things were not going to be the same again.
* While "Trials and Tribble-ations" is regarded as one of the best episodes of the series and a fitting 30th Anniversary for the franchise, there were numerous other ideas which were tossed around. One was the return of EnfantTerrible Charles Evans from the TOS episode "Charlie X", most likely seeking revenge in a manner similar to Barry Waddle. Another was having the Deep Space Nine crew visit the mobster planet from "A Piece of the Action", where they find that the inhabitants have [[YouAreTheNewTrend gone on to emulate Starfleet]] as a commentary on ''Star Trek'' fandom.
* Remember how a crewmember of the ''USS Sutherland'' performed a fire-dance at Jadzia's bachelorette party in "You Are Cordially Invited"? Well, they initially had expanded plans for the ''Sutherland''- many of the other crewmembers would've carried on Hawaiian and/or Polynesian traditions, and they would've appear whenever plans called for "wacky party guys". But for whatever reason, that didn't pan out.

* The episode "Valiant" would have had Jake be paired with Kira, however this was changed as they released that had Kira had been there, she would have kicked ass, took names, and hauled the cadets and the ''Valiant'' back to Federation space.

* Creator/ClintHoward's part in "Past Tense" was originally going to be Iggy Pop, but he wasn't yet available.

* Martin Sheen was considered for the part of Luther Sloan. He would go on to lend his voice [[InkSuitActor and appearance]] to a similar character in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''.
* Ira Behr tried and failed to get a Vic Fontaine-like character onto the show for years. Frank Sinatra Jr. was approached first, but as he would be playing a Rat Packer jazz artist (essentially [[Music/FrankSinatra his father]]), he wasn't interested in that sort of role. Robert Goulet and Tom Jones also turned the part down.

* The cast hoped there would be a movie spinoff at some point (the [=TN=]G films still being successful at the time of [=DS=]9 ending) but the failure of ''Nemesis'' put paid to that idea (the planned sequel to Nemesis actually was to feature a crossover between Deep Space Nine, Voyager and The Next Generation in a grand finale to the TNG era in general, but of course it never happened). Any hopes of resurrecting the project would seem over - the actors have all seriously aged out of the roles (at the time of writing, it's been fourteen years since the show went off the air). The 2006 auction at Christies where a huge number of props (including the "hero" model of the station itself), costumes and other items from the series were sold off made it even less likely and the 2009 reboot of the entire ''Star Trek'' franchise would seem to be the final nail in the coffin. One person who doesn't seem to mind is Alexander Siddig, who believes [=DS9=] deserved to be '[[BritishBrevity put to bed]]' and can stand on its own merits. Nana Visitor, however, thought the show had a lot more mileage left. (Mostly, though, she wishes she could have had one year of [[http://www.startrek.com/article/ds9s-major-kira-nerys-nana-visitor-part-2 running the station!]])

* The Borg were originally considered for the main villains of the show, hence their appearance in the pilot. But their uber-power which prevented them from regularly appearing on TNG convinced the writers to can the idea. VOY didn't get that memo: The Borg appear in mid-Season 3 and would go on to become the over-arching villain of that series, with many considering it a major example of [[villain decay]].

* Paradoxically, Ronald D Moore (and the entire writing staff, according to him) was adamantly against reintroducing other iconic TOS races such as the Andorians, Tellarites, and Gorn, presumably as they were seen as irredeemably corny. They too would have to wait until Enterprise for their return. Robert Hewitt Wolfe on the other hand claims there was support among writers to bring back the Andorians, but they were not allowed to (presumably by Berman and Moore).

* Paradoxically, Ronald D Moore (and the entire writing staff, according to him) was adamantly against reintroducing other iconic TOS races such as the Andorians, Tellarites, and Gorn, presumably as they were seen as irredeemably corny. They too would have to wait until Enterprise for their return.

* Paradoxically, Ronald D Moore (and the entire writing staff, according to him) was adamantly against reintroducing other iconic TOS races such as the Andorians, Tellarites, and Gorn, presumably as they were seen as irredeemably cheesy.

* Paradoxically, Ronald D Moore was adamantly against reintroducing other races from The Original Series such as the Andorians, Tellarites, and Gorn (for example) and shot down attempts from other writers to bring them back. Similar efforts to bring back these iconic TOS races in TNG met similar resistance, and like the Tholians, would only finally appear in Enterprise.

* Paradoxically, Ronald D Moore was adamantly against reintroducing other races from The Original Series such as the Andorians, Tellarites, and Gorn (for example) and shot down attempts from other writers to bring them back. Similar efforts to bring back these iconic TOS races in TNG met similar resistance.

* The Borg were originally considered as the main villains of the show, hence their appearance in the pilot. But the uber-power which prevented them from regularly appearing on TNG convinced the writers to can the idea. VOY didn't get that memo: The Borg appear in mid-Season 3 and would go on to become the over-arching villain of that series.
* The Klingons and Romulans were also briefly considered for the main villain role. While the idea of Klingons being villains again was explored briefly in the middle of the series, the Romulans never ventured far beyond their WildCard role.

* Just like with Voyager's premise, ideas were pitched around on how to [[ResetButton soft reset]] [=DS9=] into a traditional ''Star Trek'' show if the fans didn't take to it.
** This might be why "Emissary" established that the station is capable of reducing its mass in order to move; according to Behr, it was suggested that the crew strap engines onto [=DS9=] and [[http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/05/exclusive-ron-moore-ira-steven-behr-interview-part-ii/ fly into the wormhole.]]
** Other spitballed ideas, according to Moore, were blowing up Bajor or removing the crew from [=DS9=] in some way. (The latter of which happened in season five.)
** Rick Berman hatched the idea of bringing back Worf to shut the executives up.

* Originally, Jack, not Sarina, was the one who was going to be 'cured' in "Chrysalis". Behr decided that the story lacked bite, and sent a message that quirky or handicapped people [[{{Glurge}} need to be fixed]]. So Sarina underwent the treatment instead. She gains a normal life but loses the companionship of her friends, who are still 'in treatment' (imprisoned) at the Institute.
* Vic Fontaine was supposed to get a physical girlfriend, but they never found the time for that plot.

* Just like with Voyager's premise, ideas were pitched around on how to [[ResetButton soft reset]] [=DS9=] into a traditional ''Star Trek'' show if the fans didn't take to it. This might be why "Emissary" established that the station is capable of reducing its mass in order to move; according to Behr, it was suggested that the crew strap engines onto [=DS9=] and [[http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/05/exclusive-ron-moore-ira-steven-behr-interview-part-ii/ fly into the wormhole.]]

* Other spitballed ideas, according to Moore, were blowing up Bajor or removing the crew from [=DS9=] in some way. (Berman hatched the idea of bringing back Worf to shut the executives up.)

** Originally, Jack, not Sarina, was the one who was going to be 'cured' in "Chrysalis". Behr decided that the story lacked bite, and sent a message that quirky or handicapped people need to be fixed. So Sarina underwent the treatment instead. She gains a normal life but loses the companionship of her friends, who are still 'in treatment' (imprisoned) at the Institute.

** Vic Fontaine was also supposed to get a physical girlfriend but they never found the time for that plot.

* The decision to ship Kira to Cardassia had a domino effect on the rest of the seventh season. Garak went along as backup, and Ira Behr didn't want to split Kira and Odo up, so Odo went, too. Originally, Odo was going to spearhead the search for a cure for the Changeling plague, culminating in a reunion with his "father" Dr. Mora [[ArchnemesisDad who was actually responsible for engineering the virus as a weapon]]. The writers knew they would never have time to do this storyline justice, so Bashir and O'Brien went looking for a cure instead.

** Hilary Shephard Turner (Lauren) also tried out for the role of Jadzia. This is referenced is "Chrysalis" when she turns up in a Starfleet sciences uniform. Alarmingly enough, she is a dead ringer for the dearly departed Trill!

* Ira Behr tried and failed to get a Vic Fontaine-like character onto the show for years. Frank Sinatra Jr. was approached first, but as he would be playing a Rat Packer jazz artist (essentially his [[Music/FrankSinatra his father]]), he wasn't interested in that sort of role. Robert Goulet and Tom Jones also turned the part down.

* Much like with Voyager's premise, ideas were pitched around on how to [[ResetButton soft reset]] [=DS9=] into a traditional ''Star Trek'' show if the fans didn't take to it. This might be why "Emissary" established that the station is capable of reducing its mass in order to move; according to Behr, it was suggested that the crew strap engines onto [=DS9=] and [[http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/05/exclusive-ron-moore-ira-steven-behr-interview-part-ii/ fly into the wormhole.]]
* The Borg were originally considered as the main villains of the show, but their uber-power that prevented them from regularly appearing on TNG convinced the writers to can the idea. Their appearance in the pilot originates from this idea.
* The Klingons and Romulans were also briefly considered for the main villain role. While the idea of Klingons being villains again was explored briefly in the middle of the series, the Romulans never got such treatment.

* Michelle Forbes, playing the part of Ensign Ro, was originally supposed to be ''Deep Space Nine'''s token Bajoran in the cast. Forbes didn't want to commit to a full television series, so the new character of Major Kira was created. Ro would end up serving as the station's chief of security in the [[Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch relaunch novels]], however.

* Ira Behr tried and failed to get a Vic Fontaine-like character onto the show for years. Frank Sinatra Jr. was approached first, but as he would be playing a Rat Packer jazz artist (and thus be misconstrued for [[Music/FrankSinatra his father]]), he wasn't interested in playing that type of character. Robert Goulet and Tom Jones also turned the part down.

** In an early version of what would become "Invasive Procedures", Dax's symbiont becomes ill and Bashir has to temporarily remove it. With Dax gone, all that's left is the original Jadzia who--irony of ironies--falls hard for Dr. Bashir. The episode would have ended with Bashir trading his chance at love to keep Dax joined.

* The Vorta were originally going to be space traders instead of diplomats; sort of rugged, "Brian Dennehy or Creator/BobHoskins" looking types. Robert Hewitt Wolfe elaborated that these Vorta were {{arms dealer}}s, the guys who supplied tanks, or guns, or genetically-engineered soldiers like the Tosk. This eventually led to the Vorta being bred from hatcheries themselves.

* "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost" were planned originally as the season three finale and season four opening, respectfully. The plot was somewhat different, with groups of Founders infiltrating the Federation and causing a near-civil war, with Vulcan seceding from the Federation, and "Homefront" ending with a Starfleet vessel firing on a Vulcan transport in Earth orbit.

* The cast hoped there would be a movie spinoff at some point (the [=TN=]G films still being successful at the time of [=DS=]9 ending) but the failure of ''Nemesis'' put paid to that idea (the planned sequel to Nemesis actually was to feature a crossover between Deep Space Nine, Voyager and The Next Generation in a grand finale). Any hopes of resurrecting the project would seem over - the actors have all seriously aged out of the roles (at the time of writing, it's been fourteen years since the show went off the air). The 2006 auction at Christies where a huge number of props (including the "hero" model of the station itself), costumes and other items from the series were sold off made it even less likely and the 2009 reboot of the entire ''Star Trek'' franchise would seem to be the final nail in the coffin. One person who doesn't seem to mind is Alexander Siddig, who believes [=DS9=] deserved to be '[[BritishBrevity put to bed]]' and can stand on its own merits. Nana Visitor, however, thought the show had a lot more mileage left. (Mostly, though, she wishes she could have had one year of [[http://www.startrek.com/article/ds9s-major-kira-nerys-nana-visitor-part-2 running the station!]])

* The Dominion were originally conceived as an "anti-Federation", an actual alliance of different, more or less equal species, who believed in conquest and expansion instead of exploration and understanding. Due to budget and other reasons, they eventually were radically morphed into the Founder led empire we eventually saw.

* The cast hoped there would be a movie spinoff at some point (the [=TN=]G films still being successful at the time of [=DS=]9 ending) but the failure of ''Nemesis'' put paid to that idea. Any hopes of resurrecting the project would seem over - the actors have all seriously aged out of the roles (at the time of writing, it's been fourteen years since the show went off the air). The 2006 auction at Christies where a huge number of props (including the "hero" model of the station itself), costumes and other items from the series were sold off made it even less likely and the 2009 reboot of the entire ''Star Trek'' franchise would seem to be the final nail in the coffin. One person who doesn't seem to mind is Alexander Siddig, who believes [=DS9=] deserved to be '[[BritishBrevity put to bed]]' and can stand on its own merits. Nana Visitor, however, thought the show had a lot more mileage left. (Mostly, though, she wishes she could have had one year of [[http://www.startrek.com/article/ds9s-major-kira-nerys-nana-visitor-part-2 running the station!]])

* According to rumor, the showrunners considered making Gul Dukat a member of the main cast. Alaimo was all for it, but it was shot down by Ira. ("I don't want him to become the [[VillainDecay friendly neighborhood Cardassian]].") Instead, Dukat remained an enemy commander who frequently cons the [=DS9=] gang into working with him.

* T'Rul (Martha Hackett), the Romulan woman mandated by her government to supervise the Defiant's cloaking device, was supposed to stay on for more episodes. The writers didn't know what to do with her or what role she could have beyond the cloaking device, so she vanished.

** Hilary Shepherd Turner (Lauren) also tried out for the role of Jadzia. This is referenced is "Chrysalis" when she turns up in a Starfleet sciences uniform. Alarmingly enough, she is a dead ringer for the dearly departed Trill!

* Bashir, the [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] in residence, was nearly axed from the show numerous times. Siddig didn't even know about this until well into the fourth year.
* In an early version of what would become "Invasive Procedures", Dax's symbiont becomes ill and Bashir has to temporarily remove it. With Dax gone, all that's left is the original Jadzia who--irony of ironies--falls hard for Dr. Bashir. The episode would have ended with Bashir trading his chance at love to keep Dax joined.
* Melora (from the eponymous season 2 episode) was meant to be the permanent science officer, but was replaced with Dax and reused as a one-off guest character, thus cheating poor Bashir out of a romantic interest yet again.
* According to rumor, the showrunners considered making Gul Dukat a member of the main cast. Alaimo was all for it, but it was shot down by Ira. ("I don't want him to become the [[VillainDecay friendly neighborhood Cardassian]].") Instead, Dukat remained an enemy commander who frequently cons the [=DS9=] gang into working with him.

* The writers originally toyed with the idea of killing off Jadzia Dax in the Season 6 episode "Change of Heart" rather than in "Tears of the Prophets", the season finale. The idea was that Jadzia would manage to convince Worf to continue their mission without her and leave her behind, in which case she certainly would have died. Worf would then have had even ''more'' angst than he ended up with to work through in the final season, having lost his wife out of choosing his career over her. Terry Farrell (Jadzia) was on board with it, but they ended up not going through with the idea.
** Terry was contacted about reprising her role in "What You Leave Behind" (presumably in a scene with Ezri). The price her agent quoted was too prohibitive, and the scene was cut. The producers then meekly asked to use old footage of Jadzia for the montage at the end. No dice. But Terry did turn up for the [=DS9=] wrap party.