Star Trek: What Happened To Captain Sisko After Deep Space Nine?

In the annals of "Star Trek" history, Benjamin Sisko is among the most notable captains the Federation has ever seen. Played by Avery Brooks, Sisko commanded the Deep Space Nine outpost, the setting of the 1992-1999 series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." But until last year, it was unclear what happened to Sisko after that series ended. Now, thanks to a new comic book series, his story continues.

As "Deep Space Nine" wore on, it became more serialized, focusing on the events of the Dominion War fought against the changelings of the Dominion who were bent on conquering the galaxy. The series concluded with the episode "What You Leave Behind," chronicling the final stand against the Dominion by Sisko and his crew. But in the final moments of the battle, in the Fire Caves of Bajor, Captain Sisko is transported to the Celestial Temple, a wormhole home to beings called Prophets whom the Bajorans worship as deities. One of the Prophets, taking the form of Sisko's mother (Deborah Lacey), tells him he must remain in the Temple as their emissary. He obliges, remaining in that dimension to learn their secrets.

What happened to Sisko after the "Deep Space Nine" finale has long remained a subject of much speculation. In the finale, Sisko tells his wife, Kasidy (Penny Johnson) that time in the Celestial Temple is nonlinear and that he could return to her at any point in time, including her own past. Recently, however, a "Star Trek" comic book series shed some light on the next steps in Sisko's journey.

While Avery's Benjamin Sisko has not appeared on-screen in any "Star Trek" movies or TV shows since the "Deep Space Nine" finale, a recent comic book series reveals what happened following those events. The comic is "Star Trek," the first issue of which was published in October 2022 by IDW, and it picks up where "Deep Space Nine" left off.

The comic begins with a prescript narrated by Benjamin's son, Jake, who was played by Cirroc Lofton on "Deep Space Nine." Three years after Benjamin went to the Celestial Temple, in 2378, it confirms that Jake has neither seen nor heard from his father since. As the story begins, Benjamin emerges on the Deep Space Nine outpost, noting that he has spent an "eternity" in the Celestial Realm. Though he considers his return an "exile from paradise," he has been sent back to warn of an encroaching apocalypse. He maintains his extradimensional connection to the Celestial Temple and the godlike powers that come with it.

Sisko enlists the help of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, noting that Picard's brief assimilation by the Borg should make him sympathetic. Picard assigns Data to be Sisko's first officer, and they take the USS Theseus to the Hephaestus nebula. There, an unseen ship kills an entire race of planet-consuming crystalline entities, an act Data refers to as genocide. As Sisko and his crew continue to explore in subsequent issues, they discover a grand conspiracy. As of this writing, nine issues of "Star Trek" have been published, with more on the way to tell the continued story of Benjamin Sisko.