Star Trek: Deep Space Nine showrunner Ira Steven Behr shared his perfect ending for the story of Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). After 7 seasons of DS9, Sisko became one with the Prophets of Bajor and became a non-linear being. Ben left behind his son Jake (Cirroc Lofton), his wife Kasidy Yates (Penny Johnson Jerald), and their infant son. Captain Sisko promised he would return one day, but he has canonically not been part of the Star Trek franchise’s current golden age on Paramount+
Ira Steven Behr joined a special panel in honor of The Sisko Day, a holiday Cirroc Lofton and his Star Trek podcast, The 7th Rule, established to recognize Captain Sisko. Behr spoke about crafting Sisko’s story on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and shared personal anecdotes about working with Avery Brooks. Behr also described how he would end Sisko’s story if the Captain returned from his celestial walk with the Prophets. Read his quote below:
Ira Steven Behr: My belief is that when Sisko comes back… Forget about “Is there gonna be a Deep Space Nine?”… For me, the perfect ending for the story is Sisko moving down to Bajor with Kasidy and living on Bajor. Not a Starfleet Officer any more. He’s beyond that. And living a quiet… And maybe Jake. I’m not sure, but maybe Jake there too, at least part of the time. But a quiet life where he will be able to certainly still have – I mean, he’s still the frickin’ Emissary so they can still want him to be a part of society, but I think in a very, very, very special place.
Sisko has done the thing that he needed to do as the Emissary. Anything beyond that is really a gift that he can either give them or not. And to me, that would be the most beautiful end to the story.
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Ira Steven Behr’s ideal conclusion for Captain Benjamin Sisko’s story is poetic and perfectly in tune with the macro story arc he and DS9‘s writers crafted over 7 seasons. But Behr’s pitch also sounds like a definitive happy ending, which indicates the showrunner considers Sisko’s DS9 story over, but just lacking the perfect denouement of Ben coming back to live a quiet life on Bajor with his beloved family. In Behr’s mind, Sisko’s great tasks as the Emissary of the Prophets and as a Starfleet Officer who led the Federation to victory in the Dominion War are accomplished.
Meanwhile, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has largely been absent from the franchise’s revival on Paramount+, and the lack of Sisko (and Avery Brooks) is perhaps the biggest reason why. Fans and DS9‘s cast have been hoping for some form of revival, perhaps a made-for-streaming DS9 movie on Paramount+ if not a reunion series like Star Trek: Picard, but without Captain Sisko, such a project would be missing a vital piece of the DS9 puzzle. As Ira Steven Behr said, Sisko’s mission as Emissary is done, and anything more is “a gift,” but it is still a gift Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans hope to one day receive.
Source: The 7th Rule YouTube
