DS9 Bosses Tried To Trip One Star Up During Their Audition

“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” is unique in the “Star Trek” franchise for several reasons, not the least of which is the size of its set. In 1966, only three of the original show’s actors were credited as heroes (William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelly). In 1987, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” featured an ensemble cast of seven healthy people, all of whom shared top billing. While “Deep Space Nine” only featured eight of the actors listed above the line, the show was so ambitious and broad that it ended up with more than two dozen main characters.

An example of this is Nog (the late Aaron Eisenberg). Nog, a Ferengi, was introduced in the “Deep Space Nine” pilot as the hot-tempered, trouble-making nephew of Quark (Armin Shimerman), a bar owner and legitimate criminal. Nog eventually becomes close friends with Jake (Ciroc Lofton), the son of the space station’s commander, Ben Sisko (Avery Brooks). Over the course of the series, Nog grows up, becomes the first Ferengi to become a Starfleet officer, loses a limb in combat (!), and learns important lessons about trauma from a 1960s holographic lounge singer.

In a 2018 oral history for Syfy, Eisenberg talked about the first time he auditioned to play Nog, and how Ron Surma, the show’s casting director, unexpectedly jumped at him. You see, Eisenberg knew very little about “Star Trek” when he was given the role, so he didn’t yet know what a Ferengi were, how they behaved, or what role they played in the larger “Star Trek” universe. Eisenberg was given some homework before Soorma’s audition, and the actor revealed that he was glad he did it. But Surma asked him a trick question by asking him what genre he was playing.

To provide some context: The Ferengi were first introduced in “The Next Generation” as a hostile alien species, but eventually transformed into semi-comic orcs. The Ferengi still operate in an outdated capitalist society, where their politics and religion are entirely centered on acquiring wealth. More context for the story below: Another “Deep Space Nine” character, Dax (Terry Farrell) belonged to a species called the Trill, a race of humans who sometimes had long-lived, super-intelligent worm creatures surgically implanted in their stomachs. The Trill’s host personality will merge with its symbiote.

When Eisenberg went to audition for Nog, he knew it was going to be huge. After all, “Star Trek” was a major media franchise, and “Next Generation” was a huge success for Paramount. Eisenberg was eager to be part of something so lucrative, especially when he learned he was auditioning for a recurring role; This wasn’t a one-episode wonder. But, as previously mentioned, Eisenberg knew nothing about “Star Trek” or the lore of the universe.

He remembered it like this:

“I went and met Ron Surma. I was lucky because he was in my corner. I’m sure he probably gave the same to other actors who auditioned because he’s a decent human being, but he brought me in and asked me, ‘Do you know what a Ferengi is?’ And I said, ‘I have no idea.’ And he gave me a VHS tape to go home and watch, and he also gave me the script so I could make the pilot and read it. I went home and read the script. To all the other actors: If they give you a script, read it!”

Wise words.

Eisenberg specifically got the Next Generation episode “The Last Outpost” which featured the first appearance of the Ferengi. In this guise, the Ferengi were troll-like, bending, hissing, and whipping people with high-tech whips. The episode gave Eisenberg a good primer. Most importantly, Eisenberg was given a full script to read. Not just his scenes, but the entire script. Eisenberg read the whole thing, which he said was a smart decision.

He sat in the audition room across from producers David Lovingston, Surma and several others, horrified by the situation. But he was wise. As Eisenberg recalls:

“It was a short scene, and that’s why you have to read the script: When I sat down, David Livingston, one of the producers and directors of the show, was sitting right in front of me. He said to me, ‘So you have a worm in your body?’ And I said, ‘No, I’m not playing Trill. I’m playing Nog, the Ferengi.’ And he says, ‘Good job.’ It was good that I read it, because I was able to not look like an idiot at the audition. It was a check in my box. Read the script, because you never know if They were going to test you or not.”

Eisenberg passed the test. One wonders whether other actors would have failed the same test. Regardless, Eisenberg got the role and played Nog throughout the entire series, and it was because he knew the difference between a Ferengi and a Trill. Eisenberg died in 2019 at the age of 50. He is deeply mourned by Trekkies and friends everywhere.