Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s big Deep Space Nine tribute has stirred up a lot of debate, but for co-writer Tawny Newsome, there was never any question about how seriously she was taking it. She’s been clear that this episode wasn’t just another nostalgia hour, it was her chance to plant a flag for the Siskos and for DS9’s place at the heart of Star Trek canon. And when faced with the question of the episode being "too much canon," Newsome said via TrekMovie.com:
"No one said those words to my face. Whether they said them about the episode, I think they knew better than to say it to me, because I was pretty adamant that for this episode, it was our job to make this an homage, a celebration, and really a bit of a correction for what I feel has been an oversight in a lot of modern Trek."
Newsome continued by saying:
"We haven’t talked nearly enough about the Siskos, about Benjamin Sisko, or about the show Deep Space Nine at all, despite it being a massive addition to our canon. So I was pretty adamant. I’ll say I was frothing at the mouth some days about how important this was. So if anyone thought it was too much canon, they shared those details among themselves."
The context for that quote in Newsome’s interview is fan concern that the Starfleet Academy episode might be overloaded with continuity, or that revisiting Sisko’s fate at all is a risk to DS9’s legacy.
Newsome’s response makes it clear that, inside the writers room, the mandate was the opposite: lean into the lore, bring back Jake Sisko, and treat DS9 as a cornerstone of the franchise rather than something to tiptoe around. That “correction” she talks about is aimed squarely at a decade of modern Trek that has often prioritized TNG‑era touchstones while largely leaving the station, the Prophets, and the Siskos in the margins.
This is exactly the kind of creative stance DS9 deserved, even if the episode’s choices won’t land for every fan. DS9 has always been the series that took big swings with faith, politics, and legacy, so a timid, continuity‑light check‑in would have felt more disrespectful than a bold, “mega lore heavy” tribute.
You can disagree with individual canon calls the episode makes, but Newsome’s “frothing at the mouth” energy is the kind of obsessive, protective passion you actually want steering an attempt to revisit Benjamin Sisko.
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