Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: Aaron Stanford, Armin Shimerman, Jonathan Frakes, Kitty Swink, Michael Dorn, paramount, Quark, Star Trek Picard, star trek: deep space nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Worf

Star Trek: Picard: Armin Shimerman Turned Down Role of Ferengi Sneed

Armin Shimerman on how he scoffed at DS9 co-star Michael Dorn's suggestion that he play Sneed, the Ferengi Worf kills on Star Trek: Picard.

It turns out Star Trek: Picard could have had a Deep Space Nine reunion had star Michael Dorn had his way…but not in the way you think. Armin Shimerman, who played the franchise's most famous Ferengi, Quark, could have returned to Star Trek for the Paramount+ series, but sadly, it wouldn't have been that character. Instead, it would have been for the Ferengi gangster Sneed, played by Aaron Stanford, who met an unfortunate end, decapitated at the hands of Dorn's Worf. While promoting his work at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and his team Trek Against Pancreatic Cancer, Shimerman, his wife and DS9 guest star Kitty Swink, actor-director Jonathan Frakes, and television writer/producer Juan Carlos Coto spoke to TrekMovie.com about Dorn's proposal and Shimerman's immediate response.

"Forget the Idea Altogether" on Worf Killing a Shimerman-played Ferengi on Star Trek: Picard

Prior to Shimerman's casting as Quark on DS9, the actor played two different Ferengi characters on The Next Generation; the first was Letek in the season one episode "The Last Outpost," the second was as DaiMon Bractor in the season two episode "Peak Performance." He also had a non-Ferengi role in an uncredited season-one appearance in "Haven." Shimerman's third Ferengi-related appearance on TNG was a DS9 crossover appearance in season seven's "Firstborn," his only one as Quark during TNG's syndicated run. He made one more TNG-related appearance in 1998's Insurrection, but his scenes were cut.

"Before they cast [Sneed], [Michael] Dorn me up and said, 'I'm doing an episode of Picard where I kill off a Ferengi? Wouldn't it be great if it were you?' [laughs] I said, 'No, it would not be great.' I told him to just forget about that idea altogether," Shimerman recalled. The actor praised Stanford's performance in the Picard season three episode, "Disengage." "I was in awe. It was just astounding," he said. Sneed was the lead Raffi (Michelle Hurd) was trying to chase to try to unravel the Changeling conspiracy. To try to divert his suspicions, she took the drugs he offered despite her battles with abuse and addiction. Trapped in a haze and barely lucid, Sneed was about to deliver the coup de gras before her handler, revealed to be Worf, saved her by slicing and dicing through his guards and divorcing the gangster's head from his body.

Shimerman and Swink confirmed Dorn wanted Shimerman to play Sneed, not reprise Quark. "I got to say, for all the times I have baked bread for Michael Dorn, that was really a shitty thing for him to say [laughs]," Swink said. Frakes jumped in, saying Dorn might not been aware that Worf was going to cut Sneed's head off, but complemented Shimerman on helping to mold the Ferengi, a TNG-creation, to what it is today. "The tightrope you walked—all levity aside—to represent what [Gene] Roddenberry thought of as this despicable capitalist pig with huge ears. And yet the humorous, smart, charming, clever – all the qualities that Quark had and still be essentially a villain, and do it through rubber. It takes a special actor, which you are." For more, including what Shimerman had to say about his return as Quark in the animated series Lower Decks, you can check out the interview here.

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