Star Trek’s Armin Shimerman would love to return as Quark, just not in the makeup.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine brought around many characters who would end up becoming legends in the Trek franchise. One of them was Quark, played by the wonderful Armin Shimerman. Quark is a Ferengi who owns the most popular, and only, bar on Deep Space Nine.
Quark is someone that fans love and would love to see a return to the franchise. In fact, fans would love to see a lot more of Deep Space Nine in the future. Yet, Shimerman isn’t as excited about returning to the role he made famous.
At least not on a full-time basis. Speaking at the Fanboy Expo, Shimerman said that he would only return to the franchise in a limited role, assuming he was doing live-action again. Saying;
"The answer is yes. I would happily do it. I would not do a series regular again. I would not undergo that makeup for another seven years. I can’t live that long. But for a guest star or to do what they’re going to do on Picard with some of the characters coming back… Yeah, I would do that. But! They’d have to pay me like they paid Michael Dorn."
The line about Dorn was intended to be tongue-in-cheek, as the two men are very close in real life.
Star Trek: Lower Decks or Prodigy are the perfect vehicles for Shimerman to return as Quark
People like Shimerman and Doug Jones deserve all the credit in the world for their devotion to their craft. They have to sit in a chair for hours upon hours while their castmates sleep soundly. Dorn had a similar situation but his prosthetics for Worf weren’t nearly as time-consuming as compared to that of Quark and Saru.
So having Shimerman sit down to do lines for something Prodigy or Lower Decks makes all the sense in the world. He wouldn’t have to worry about sitting there for hours, and he can concentrate on bringing Quark to life in the best way possible.