Star Trek executive producer Alex Kurtzman has spoken of the possibility of revisiting Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in future spinoff shows. The titular space station is due to feature in an upcoming episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks but so far, no further visits to the station have been announced. Speaking at Comic-Con, Kurtzman stated that discussions about DS9 have been had, but the Star Trek creatives "would all want to make sure that it was coming from that place of being able to tell a new story while honoring the old one."

Krutzman's statements make sense given that, more than any other Star Trek show, DS9 had a clearly defined ending to its story. Where previous Star Trek shows had either ended abruptly due to cancelation or by leaving the story more open-ended to lead into a movie franchise, Sisko's DS9 ending was far less ambiguous. DS9's finale resolved so many characters' story arcs that Star Trek would need to have a good narrative reason for bringing back the DS9 crew.

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2019's feature-length documentary What We Left Behind reassembled the DS9 writer's room to conceive a hypothetical season 8 premiere. Set 20 years after the events of the DS9 finale, it would revolve around tensions between Bajor and the Federation, and a conspiracy that would pit the former crewmates against each other. Looking back over the plot of the season 8 premiere, it feels like it would sit alongside modern Star Trek's long-form storytelling. While it's unlikely that this hypothetical season 8 premiere will become a reality, there are elements of it that could form four potential DS9 spinoff shows to continue the crew's stories.

A Quark Spinoff Could Continue His DS9 Story

Quark looking serious in Star Trek Deep Space Nine

DS9's Ferengi bar owner Quark (Armin Shimmerman) was more honorable than many of his fellow Ferengi. While focused primarily on profits and the Rules of Acquisition, Quark knew when to do the morally right thing. Quark was still running his bar at the end of DS9, so could well appear in Lower Decks. The hypothetical DS9 season 8 saw the station converted into a religious shrine to Benjamin Sisko, so it's easy to see Quark in his element, selling various souvenirs to visitors.

A Quark spinoff could provide a refreshing new perspective on the Star Trek universe. Modern Star Trek has featured some trips to the seedier side of Roddenberry's utopian future, such as in Star Trek: Picard season 1, episode 5, "Stardust City Rag". However, it's never been the primary focus of a Star Trek show.

Gene Roddenberry may have disliked a Star Trek show fronted by the morally dubious Quark, but the Ferengi's good heart would keep the show on track. Both Lower Decks and Picard have shown that Quark's business has stretched beyond DS9, so it would be the perfect time to focus on how he maintains these business interests in the Star Trek universe. It could be the perfect blend of the moral drama of classic Star Trek and the knowing comedy of Lower Decks. An episodic structure similar to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds would also allow the show to focus on Quark's various schemes and scams.

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A DS9 Anthology Show Could Explore The Wider Star Trek Universe

Benny Russell And Benjamin Sisko From Star Trek Deep Space Nine

In the early days of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the writers often struggled with the space station setting. Rather than exploring Star Trek's strange new worlds, the crew of DS9 often had to wait for representatives of these new civilizations to come to them. However, the setting of a Federation space station is a prime location for an anthology show focused on the stories of its many visitors. It's surprising that, beyond the Short Treks webisodes, there's never been an anthology show that explores the wider Star Trek universe.

DS9 provides several opportunities for an anthology-style spinoff. Firstly, if the station is to become a religious shrine, the show could focus on the stories of those pilgrims who make the journey to pay respects to Emissary Benjamin Sisko. Alternatively, a Star Trek spinoff could be focused around the science fiction stories of Benny Russell, recently referenced in Strange New Worlds. Sisko had a psychic link with the sci-fi writer in the classic DS9 episode "Far Beyond the Stars", and a Russell anthology could explore this further.

Another writer from DS9 whose stories could form the basis of an anthology series is Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) who was last seen awaiting the return of his father. During the Dominion War, Jake Sisko was a war reporter, so his writing could easily explore other corners of the Star Trek universe. Jake Sisko's writings from Deep Space Nine during Dominion occupation could be one way to explore DS9's past without compromising the show's perfect ending.

A Captain Kira Show Could Revisit Bajor Post-Dominion War

Kira in DS9 and Shaxs in Lower Decks

As a former Bajoran resistance fighter, Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) was one of Deep Space Nine's most compelling characters. Her history of battling Cardassian oppression often led to conflict between her and Captain Sisko and also informed some of DS9's best episodes. During DS9's Dominion War, Kira briefly became a Starfleet officer, and could become one again in a new spin-off. In What We Left Behind's hypothetical season 8, Starfleet's black-ops team Section 31 plots to destroy the wormhole and kill the Prophets in an attempt to end religion once and for all. This conspiracy would be a perfect storyline for a Kira Nerys spinoff show.

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KIra's Bajoran heritage, and history with the Prophets would make her the ideal candidate for Starfleet to employ to investigate such a plot. Like Seven in Picard, such a show could explore Kira's complicated relationship with Starfleet and the Federation. It would also allow Star Trek to bring together characters from other Trek shows. The upcoming Lower Decks' and Strange New Worlds crossover opens the possibility for the Cerritos' Bajoran security officer Shaxs to join Kira on her mission. Kurtzman's recent tease that two female-led Star Trek shows are in development does make a Kira show an exciting possibility.

A Julian Bashir Show Could Continue Star Trek's Khan Obsession

Star Trek Bashir Khan

Modern Star Trek shows have spent a lot of time revisiting Kirk's nemesis Khan Noonien-Singh. Strange New Worlds features one of Khan's descendants, La'an and season 1 ended with Una being arrested for lying about her Illyrian heritage. Genetic engineering has been forbidden by the Federation since the end of the second Eugenics war and still is by the time of DS9. Julian Bashir was revealed to be genetically modified in DS9 season 5, episode 16, and was nearly expelled from Starfleet.

The hypothetical DS9 season 8 would have explored how Julian Bashir had lost his way while working for Section 31. A Bashir show focused on genetic enhancements could allow the spectre of Khan to return to Star Trek. The starting point for the series could be a visit to the institute from DS9 season 6, episode 9, "Statistical Probabilities" where Bashir returned a group of genetically modified humans after they failed to live alongside the Federation. Bashir could be a frequent visitor to the institute, making strives for better rights for those with similar enhancements to his own, like Hugh was in Picard season 1.

It's likely that Kurtzman and the Star Trek creative team have had numerous similar discussions as to how to continue the story of the crew of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. While it's something that would have to be handled carefully given how neatly the show tied up its loose threads, it's something that's worth doing. The expansive list of characters and their backstories has plenty of creative potential for future spinoffs for the former crew of the titular space station.