Why Star Trek's Avery Brooks Returning To The Franchise After Deep Space Nine Seems Unlikely
Avery Brooks is one of Star Trek's greatest lead actors thanks to his impeccable performance as Benjamin Sisko in Deep Space Nine. Many fans have hoped to see Brooks return to the franchise in this new era to reprise his role, but so far, we haven't seen him appear. Unfortunately, there's a good chance we'll never see him with a Paramount+ subscription outside of DS9 repeats, and there's a reason for that.
How could an actor who appeared in all 176 episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine not factor into the future of any upcoming Trek show to date? There are a couple of reasons why his return seems unlikely, and while there is a future for Benjamin Sisko, there is a chance we won't see Avery Brooks play him ever again.
Avery Brooks Hasn't Acted In A Long Time
Those who take a look at Avery Brooks' official acting credits will notice he hasn't done much since leaving Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. His latest performance was voice work for Benjamin Sisko in the video game Star Trek: Legacy, which came out in 2006. Beyond that, aside of some stage productions, the 75-year-old actor has stayed out of acting and seemingly out of Hollywood for the most part.
While it wasn't an official acting role, Avery Brooks did participate in William Shatner's documentary The Captains in 2011 but politely declined to be in the documentary What We Left Behind: Looking Back At Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 2018. The documentary moved forward with old footage, and Brooks seemingly had no problem with that. To say he's a bit out of practice when it comes to on-camera acting roles would be an understatement, and it could take some time for him to get back into the swing of things if he returned.
Sisko's Current Situation In Star Trek's Universe Is Complicated
Part of the reason it may be difficult to bring back Avery Brooks as Benjamin Sisko is the current circumstances of the character. At the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sisko agreed to leave his life behind and ascend among The Prophets to aid them in their conflict with the Pah-Wraiths. In doing so, Sisko became a being that existed outside of time and space, and a god of sorts in the universe.
For years, there's been hope that Sisko would return to see his former crew, his wife and his children. While there still has yet to be a live-action return for the character, the captain found his way back to the universe via IDW's current flagship Star Trek comic book series. Sisko returned from the Bajoran wormhole to help aid the universe against some deadly species, but whether that means he's back for good is a different story.
Star Trek comics, unless specifically stated to be a tie-in to an ongoing series, are not considered to be canon (and even that kind of status can hange later on). Perhaps this is why Star Trek: Lower Decks avoided giving the character too much attention in the crossover, outside of Kira staring at the wormhole. In terms of the canon as it stands, he's still in there and with The Prophets.
This is interesting, because in the original scripted ending for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Benjamin Sisko was never meant to return. ScreenRant wrote that Avery Brooks asked for the script to be changed, as he was uncomfortable with the imagery of a Black man leaving his pregnant wife and family for a mission from which he never intended to return. As such, we're left with Sisko's promise to Kasidy Yates-Sisko that he will return to her someday. And yet, decades later, we're still waiting to see him reemerge.
Does Avery Brooks Want To Return To Star Trek?
The popular theory around the internet is that Avery Brooks retired from acting, but former Star Trek: Deep Space Nine co-star and actor Cirroc Lofton said that's not the case. He mentioned to ScreenRant he felt there was a chance Brooks would return to play Sisko, especially given the impact DS9 continues to have to this day.
Lofton and Brooks still have a close relationship to this day, thanks in part to playing father and son on the series. He seemingly knows the actor as well as anyone else and has an idea of whether he'd like to be involved. It would be cool to see the two reunite now that Lofton is much older so Sisko and Jake can have a tender moment as "father and son" once more for the fans.
Despite that, Benjamin Sisko did not appear when Star Trek: Lower Decks did a crossover episode with Deep Space Nine. Picard Season 3 also had a pretty lengthy arc dedicated to the Dominion Wars, which was a conflict heavily tied to Deep Space Nine. Again, there was no reference to Sisko, and Avery Brooks did not have a cameo despite the season including many TNG-era characters.
There's a rumor around the internet on Reddit and elsewhere that Avery Brooks is blacklisted in Hollywood. While that would be something that's definitively hard to prove for certain, it does not appear that there's anything stopping Star Trek from extending an invite to the actor in a future series.
Alex Kurtzman hinted that there are discussions about a Deep Space Nine revival happening, though we still don't know if and when anything like that could happen. The upcoming Trek schedule is laid out for at least the next couple of years, but with shows ending, the path opens up for more shows and movies to be added down the line. Whether or not a Deep Space Nine movie or show is in the cards is a complete mystery at this point, but given Benjamin Sisko is presumably an immortal being, he could pop up on just about any series.
While there's no clear path to Avery Brooks' return to Star Trek at the moment, those with a Paramount+ subscription can enjoy some of his best work on streaming. Those who may not have the cash right now can also tune into the Star Trek channel on Pluto TV, which is a great ad-supported way to keep the fandom alive and continue supporting the franchise.