Crew Profile: Ro Laren

Michelle Forbes was the original Bajoran, and left a lasting impact

Throughout season four, the production crew on Star Trek: The Next Generation struggled with what to do with the big empty seat left behind by the departure of Wil Wheaton’s Wesley Crusher. As the WAMs make clear, there were a number of conn officers attempted and we’ve seen them all - McKnight, Allenby, Rager - and they all have one thing in common. They were all women. Since up until this point the majority of conn officers had been ‘mostly men’ (I use the word tenuously to describe Wesley), you can see why they’d want to cast someone to contrast. But the eventual casting really was a contrast.

As discussed in “Half a Life”, Michelle Forbes had come in for a bit part, and the production team had been so impressed they brought her back with a bigger part in the early season five episode “Ensign Ro”. Now allegedly, even at this point Forbes was not confirmed to be a part of the show. But I have good reasons to suspect that that is not strictly the case...