Star Trek: What Happened To Worf After The Next Generation?

One of the most beloved characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Klingon warrior Worf's story didn't end with that series. Debuting in TNG's series premiere "Encounter At Farpoint," Lieutenant Worf  — played by Michael Dorn — was the first ever Klingon to enter Starfleet. He was orphaned as a child and raised by human parents, forever a man torn between two vastly different worlds and cultures. Near the end of the first season, Worf was promoted to the Enterprise's chief of security, where he'd stay for the remainder of the series. Over the course of seven seasons, Worf would defend his family honor, prove himself a capable officer, and father a partially human child, Alexander.

Despite being a relatively minor cast member on TNG, Worf is unquestionably the most iconic Klingon character of all time. After TNG ended, Worf would star with the rest of the cast in 1994's feature film Star Trek: Generations. However, he'd take a slightly different path from his Enterprise crew mates after that. Following the destruction of the Enterprise in Generations, Worf was reassigned to the front lines of the Dominion War in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Joining DS9 in its fourth season, Worf immediately became one of the focus characters of the series.

Worf was promoted to Lieutenant Commander while aboard the Federation outpost, and became the first officer of the USS Reliant, Deep Space Nine's resident starship, under Captain Benjamin Sisko. He was seen commanding that vessel in 1996's Star Trek: First Contact, which reunited him with his TNG friends to take on the Borg on the big screen. Following the dissolution of his ancestral Klingon House, the House of Mogh, Worf was welcomed into the family House of Martok by General Martok, who would eventually become the new Klingon chancellor.

Worf would eventually fall in love with and marry Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax, a Trill science officer stationed on Deep Space Nine. Their wedded bliss was short-lived, however, as the Cardassian Gul Dukat — DS9's resident big bad — killed Jadzia in the season 6 finale. After the Federation won the war against the Dominion, Worf departed Deep Space Nine with an offer to serve as the Federation's ambassador to the Klingon Empire. Fate would see him end up on the Enterprise at least two more times, for Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis, the final two films to feature the TNG cast. By the end of his time with both series, Worf had made 282 onscreen appearances, the most by any single character in Star Trek history.

Despite his place in Star Trek lore, it's still unclear if Worf will be making an appearance in Star Trek: Picard. Unlike most of his TNG castmates, he hasn't been featured in any of the show's promotional material, and Michael Dorn has expressed reluctance at getting back into his Klingon makeup for a simple cameo. Whatever the future may hold for Worf, his place in Star Trek history as the definitive Klingon is already secure.

Source: screenrant.com