Originally, Worf wasn’t supposed to be a regular character

When Star Trek: The Next Generation was in preparations to debut, a cast photo was released to promote the series. And one face missing was that of Michael Dorn who’d landed the part of Worf, the gruff Klingon who would later become Chief of Security aboard the Enterprise. The reason Dorn wasn’t in the original portrait? He wasn’t going to be a main character. Gene Roddenberry wanted to avoid “retreads of characters or races featured prominently in the original Star Trek series. In fact, Worf wasn’t even included in the series bible, which is a document that screenwriters use to keep track of information on characters, settings, and other elements of a television series.

Worf was the last character to be created and cast on The Next Generation, and when he was finally added to the show, he was going to be a minor character. So what changed? The way Michael Dorn portrayed the character made such an impression on the writers that he became an important part of the stories being told aboard the Enterprise. And when Denise Crosby left the role of Tasha Yar, Worf took over her duties and became a main character on the show.

It’s difficult to even imagine TNG without Worf. The muscled Klingon with the wry one-liners worked his way into the hearts of fans and has remained there since, with Michael Dorn racking up an incredible 282 episode appearances, including four seasons on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine after TNG ended and four movies, not to mention all of the side appearances he’s had in series like Family Guy and even Webster.  He has even gone on to voice Klingon audiobooks. For someone who wasn’t supposed to be a main character, Worf became such an integral part of Star Trek history that his name will always be remembered and forever associated with the first Klingon to serve in Starfleet.