Why a scripted intimate scene on DS9 was deleted

DS9 kept intimate scenes to a minimum

Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) had spent many years as a single father on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) before he found love again with freighter captain Kasidy Yates (Penny Johnson Jerald). It wasn’t an easy relationship. In fact, later on, Kasidy went to prison for helping with the Maquis, but when she returned, their chemistry was still just as palpable as it had been when it began. But much of the intimacy of their romance was kept off-screen which isn’t surprising considering Star Trek series generally don’t show much bedroom action. And producers are careful to keep any such scenes tame.

In one instance, a scene had been scripted in the second episode of season four, “Indiscretion” to take place with Sisko and Kasidy in bed together, and Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) accidentally walking in on them. Both Brooks and Yates, as well as the episode’s director, LeVar Burton, considered that “too disrespectful.” So the actors ended up doing the scene without Lofton’s involvement.

DS9 built the romance between Sisko and Kasidy incredibly well

In the end, the scene was edited out of the episode altogether because the episode was running too long. The deletion was disappointing to all as Penny Johnson Jerald told TV Zone that thought and consideration had gone into putting the scene together.

In spite of the disappointment, though, Jerald liked how the series showed her character with Avery Brooks’ character. She told Star Trek: Deep Space Nine-The Official Poster Magazine that she had a great chemistry with him, and that “we just fly when we’re together.”  She added that Brooks was charming, and it was like she’d known him forever.

And despite the lack of intimate scenes, both Jerald and Brooks had explosive chemistry onscreen. They played off each other incredibly well, the writers created a mature relationship that evolved over the course of the seasons naturally.

The deletion of the scene from “Indiscretion” didn’t take anything away from the episode and certainly didn’t take anything away from the couple.