Why Star Trek Didn’t Bring Sisko Back (& Broke His DS9 Promise) Officially Answered

by

The creators described their work as a tribute to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but some fans found the storyline confusing or even disappointing. Others believed it was a fitting conclusion to a flawed but compelling narrative – one that acknowledged the character’s complex history without fully closing the door on future possibilities.

The latest episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, titled “Series Acclimation Mil” and co-written by Kirsten Beyer (a Star Trek novelist and producer) and Tawny Newsome (the voice of Beckett Mariner on Star Trek: Lower Decks), revisited a character who made significant commitments before leaving the show—commitments he apparently couldn’t fully fulfill. Newsome explained to TrekMovie why they decided against bringing back Benjamin Sisko from his role as Emissary to the Prophets, even though he promised his fiancée, Kassidy, that he would return.

Where Exactly is Benjamin Sisko?

The situation remains confusing, and probably will stay that way. The latest episode of Starfleet Academy showed an adult version of Jake Sisko (played again by Cirroc Lofton) as a hologram, and introduced a new version of the Trill character Dax. Both characters hinted at what happened after the events of Deep Space Nine. These hints suggest that Benjamin Sisko never actually returned from the wormhole, effectively breaking the promise he made. When asked about this by TrekMovie, the show’s creator, Newsome, explained that it didn’t make sense for Sisko to have returned without anyone acknowledging it. Therefore, they explored a possibility that goes beyond what science or official records can explain. Newsome chose to have Jake state at the end that he can’t prove what happened, but assures viewers that Sisko experienced everything he should have.

As a long-time ‘Deep Space Nine’ fan, I’ve been following the debate around Sisko’s fate, and honestly, the reactions are all over the place! Some people think he did somehow return, but that his reunion with his family was a private moment we didn’t see. Others, though, just can’t accept it. They argue that no matter how they brought him back, the story essentially showed him abandoning his family, and that just doesn’t fit with Avery Brooks’ understanding of the character. One viewer put it really well: Sisko’s ending always felt shaky, and whether it was explicit or not, it came across as leaving his family. Even if he did come back, the show never explained where he’d been or why he’d left them in the first place.

Building on Avery’s idea that Sisko would never leave his family, writer Newsome explained that the writing team really wanted to respect that core character trait. However, they faced a challenge: the Star Trek universe had expanded significantly since then, and Sisko hadn’t appeared in any of the new stories. This created a difficult situation for them as they tried to figure out how to write his story.

Ultimately, the writers found a touching way to honor Sisko and his commitments, despite the actor who played him, René Avery, being unable to reprise the role. Avery retired in 2013 and has faced health challenges that have prevented any returns. In a truly special moment at the end of the episodes, fans heard Avery’s voice – absent from Star Trek for almost 25 years – reciting a piece from his 2007 spoken word album. He said, “Divine laws are simpler than human ones, which is why it takes a lifetime to be able to understand them. Only love can understand them. Only love can interpret these words as they were meant to be interpreted.”

https://comicbook.com/movies/feature/how-to-watch-every-star-trek-movie-show-in-timeline-order/embed/#

Read More

2026-02-07 21:10