As the creator of “Star Trek,” Gene Roddenberry was innately tapped into the plotlines that made up the greater universe of the franchise — but sometimes, he didn’t exactly see the vision, like when he tried to kill a major storyline on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” over one character. Somehow, Roddenberry didn’t see Worf, key Klingon Starfleet officer and Federation ambassador to Qo’noS, as a major character on TNG, so he — and nearly he alone — was against centering the show’s Season 4 finale around the start of a Klingon civil war.
“In Gene’s mind, Worf was a character that he put on the bridge just to put into the background so that you could comment on the fact that the Klingons and the Federation were at peace now,” executive producer Rick Berman told the episode’s writer, Ronald D. Moore, during development, according to the book “The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years,” by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross.
The creatives surrounding Roddenberry were not on his side. “I know we all see it differently,” Berman added of Michael Dorn’s character. “But … Gene doesn’t want to do a whole cliffhanger about him.”
Worf and the Klingon civil war changed Star Trek forever
At the time, leaving the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” Season 4 finale on a cliffhanger in which Worf fled the Enterprise to fight in a Klingon civil war seemed like a well-rounded arc for a dedicated supporting character — one that the show’s writers seemingly thought deserved creator Gene Roddenberry’s blessing.
How strongly Roddenberry felt about keeping Worf out of the Season 4 finale spotlight is unclear, because ultimately, he didn’t get his way. Producer Rick Berman discussed the concept with Roddenberry following his pushback, and the creator ended up folding on the plot point.
The decision changed Klingon history forever in the canon of “Star Trek,” but the creative disagreement highlighted how out of touch Roddenberry had become — and how his influence over the canon had declined over the 30-plus years he had been shaping the franchise. Years later, the iconic character would prove his staying power and Worf would appear in “Star Trek: Picard” in 2023.