This article contains spoilers for Episode 6 of Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4.
The Big Picture
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, Episode 6 brings Ferenginar’s application to join the Federation, featuring Rom and Leeta from Deep Space Nine. Series creator Mike McMahan expresses excitement about exploring Ferenginar’s path toward joining the Federation and nods to Nog’s experience. McMahan brings actor Chase Masterson, who treated him with kindness years ago, onto the show as a way to repay that kindness and honor her Deep Space Nine character.
The latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks titled “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” sees the money-driven planet Ferenginar officially applying to join the federation under the careful guidance of Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis). With such a momentous occasion, naturally Lower Decks brought in some beloved characters from Deep Space Nine for a special role in this episode. Grand Nagus Rom (Max Grodénchick) and his wife Leeta (Chase Masterson) go head to head with the captain in classic Ferengi fashion (though Leeta is Bajoran) making for a hilarious episode filled with all sorts of hijinks — and plenty of baseball references.
Ahead of the new episode, I sat down with series creator Mike McMahan to chat about the new season including this delightful guest appearance. When asked about what he’s most impressed with getting to do in Season 4, McMahan teased a big swing for the finale, but more immediately he was thrilled to be able to bring back Rom and Leeta and explore this path with Ferenginar. He said:
“I love that we got to go to Ferenginar and say that this was the beginning—this is what happens this week, now that you’ve seen it obviously—that we see the first steps into the Federation of Ferenginar applying to join the Federation. It feels like a nod to Nog’s experience, that Rom’s seeing what Nog experienced, and having had his time on Deep Space Nine that he would have as he went in to be the Grand Nagus—god, I’m hearing how nerdy I am as I’m saying this, but anyway—that he’s seen the value to other Ferengi being a part of the Federation. I think it’s really cool that we got to do that, even though it’s kind of a small piece of it.”
McMahan Repays a Personal Kindness on ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’
Image via Paramount
On a more personal note, McMahan shared a story from over a decade ago in which actors Chase Masterson and Wil Wheaton treated him as an equal before he’d really made a name for himself in the world of Star Trek. Bringing Masterson on for this episode was one small way that McMahan felt he could return that kindness from years ago. He said:
“I’ve also wanted to work with Chase Masterson forever. I met her when I was an assistant in, like, 2011 when I was writing the TNG Season 8 Twitter feed. I snuck into a party at Comic-Con, and security came to kick me out, and Wil Wheaton and Chase vouched for me and said that I was there with them even though they had literally met me like five minutes beforehand. But Will was a fan of the Twitter feed, and Chase, you know, I’m a huge fan of hers, and she treated me like an equal, and I was just an assistant that snuck in. Years later, I re-met her at Star Trek Day after Lower Decks had already started, and I went running up to her, and I was like, ‘Chase, I’m the showrunner of Lower Decks, and I need to have you in an episode. Please, will you be on the show?’ And she was so flattered, and I literally wrote this Ferenginar episode to have her be in the show. So I kind of can’t believe that, like, over a decade later, I finally got to repay that kindness in a way that honored the character that she made that I loved her for.”
You can catch Masterson in Episode 6 of Lower Decks Season 4 right now on Paramount+. Stay tuned at Collider for our full conversation with McMahan.
This post was modified on 2023-10-05 17:37:22