Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3, Episode 2 - "The Least Dangerous Game"Thankfully, Martok's (J.G. Hertzler) appearance in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3 doesn't mean he's no longer where Star Trek: Deep Space Nine left him: Chancellor of the Klingon Empire. After the acquittal of Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) for the destruction of Pakled planet, which was revealed to be a Pakled conspiracy, life is back to normal on the USS Cerritos. The California-class starship has resumed its mission to make Second Contact on strange new worlds already explored by Starfleet. This leaves the Lower Deckers plenty of time to play Klingon desktop role-playing games starring Martok.
After Worf (Michael Dorn), General Martok is perhaps the second most beloved Klingon character in Star Trek, and it's amazing that the one-eyed warrior didn't even debut until DS9 season 5. Later on, the real Martok was revealed to be a prisoner of the Dominion, along with Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), with a Changeling imposter posing as the General. After the real Martok regained command of his ship, the IKS Rotarran, he welcomed Worf into the House of Martok and became as brothers with DS9's Strategic Operations Officer. The House of Martok also welcomed Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) when she married Worf before her tragic death at the end of DS9 season 6. Martok played a major role in winning the Dominion War. After Worf killed Chancellor Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) and briefly became the Klingons' leader, he named Martok as the new Chancellor of the Klingon Empire.
In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3, episode 2, "The Least Dangerous Game," Ensigns Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) play an ongoing Klingon role-playing desktop board game hosted by Martok. However, the real Martok is still Chancellor of the Klingon Empire. The game is a Ferengi knockoff replicating the one-eyed Chancellor, and it's all a ploy to make players buy the expansion packs. Worf named Martok Chancellor at the end of the Dominion War in 2375, and Lower Decks confirms that Martok is still in control of the Klingon Empire about 6 years later in the animated series' timeframe, circa 2381.
How Lower Decks Season 3 Is Setting Up Its DS9 Episode
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3 is visiting Deep Space Nine, and the show has already been building towards the much-anticipated episode. Lower Decks previously showed DS9 in a flashback of Mariner at the station prior to her posting on the Cerritos, and Beckett claims she once broke Worf's mek'leth and had it repaired before the Klingon noticed. Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3's premiere ramped up the DS9 homages and anticipation by showing the Lower Deckers dining at Sisko's Creole Kitchen in New Orleans. The restaurant is owned by Joseph Sisko (Brock Peters), the father of Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and grandfather of Jake (Cirroc Lofton). Sisko's restaurant also now stocks Ketacel-White hot sauce, an in-joke about the Dominion's soldiers, the Jem'Hadar. Further, the Pakleds' plan to frame Captain Freeman bears an uncanny resemblance to how Captain Sisko and Garak (Andrew Robinson) tricked the Romulans into joining the Dominion War.
Martok, and J.G, Hertzler reprising his role, is a big coup for Star Trek: Lower Decks, and it's good to know that he remains Chancellor Martok. The Klingons' leader joins fellow DS9 alum Jeffrey Combs, who appeared in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2 as the evil sentient computer, Agimus. However, the biggest names from DS9 Trekkers hope to see (and hear) on Lower Decks are still to come. Hopefully, Colonel Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), Dr. Bashir, Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer), Quark (Armin Shimerman), Jake Sisko, and other Star Trek: Deep Space Nine favorites will appear in Star Trek: Lower Decks' DS9 episode.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.