Terry Farrell Says Spock's Death Is The Key To Jadzia Dax's Star Trek Return

One can't blame Terry Farrell for wanting another crack at getting Jadzia Dax's storyline just right. And as she told fans at the 56-Year Mission Star Trek convention in 2022, she's all for stepping into Jadzia's uniform one more time to correct what the show once put wrong — and what the franchise did with Spock (Leonard Nimoy) provides the character with a plum opportunity to do so.

Jadzia's death was a heartbreaker when it took place during the 6th season of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." It saw the character die painfully right before viewers' eyes. But as long as Farrell lives, it's a plot choice that can be amended. In an August 2022 appearance at 56-Year Mission (via TrekMovie), Farrell declared that she's all for Jadzia's resurrection, even if it seems impossible. "I was actually thinking about how Spock died. Didn't he melt, basically? He saved everyone's life. And then he just came back ... and there he was. And Kirk kind of went, 'Oh, there he is.' And everyone nodded and said, 'Yes, he's back!' I want that moment for me ... Exactly how you bring her back, it's no big f****** deal," she said. There's definitely precedence for this happening for Star Trek characters that aren't Spock, adding extra credence to Farrell's request.

Farrell added that she had retired from acting to raise her son in 2002. But now that he's in college, she's looking to jump back into the Hollywood game. "I got to do my new eight-by-ten. I'm very excited. Like, this [is] my life now. I reconnected with my manager. And we'll see what happens."

Stark Trek fans have long lobbied for Jadzia Dax to return after her abrupt death. The character's fate was a move that resulted from contractual and internal conflicts on the show. 

Farrell and Rick Berman, executive producer on "Deep Space Nine," often came into conflict, with Farrell alleging that Berman made misogynistic comments toward her on the show's set. According to the book "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years" by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Farrell asked for fewer hours for Season 7 of "Deep Space Nine," and claimed Berman and Paramount tried to strong-arm her into signing to do the usual number of episodes. She was ultimately released from her contract, an event she blames Berman for and something he has categorically denied having a hand in. Farrell would go on to act in "Becker" for four of its six seasons before that show released her. Jadzia's host body is killed off during the episode "Tears of the Prophets," only for her symbiont to be reborn in the body of a fellow Trill, Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer), during the following season. Ezri would subsequently become an important character despite fan complaints.

Naturally, this wasn't a good enough explanation for fans who had come to love Jadzia over the years. Her departure has long been a contentious sticking point for lovers of "Deep Space Nine." It's a point of view Farrell has come to agree with, and she noted during a question and answer session at 56-Year Mission that Jadzia's ignominious death is just one more reason for her to return. 

While some deaths in the Star Trek universe have become permanent thanks to the passing of several of the franchise's actors, other important character deaths have been undone or changed over the course of further TV shows and films.

Beyond Spock's death in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and subsequent return to the Starship Enterprise in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," Brent Spiner's Data dies during "Star Trek: Nemesis." A decision made mostly due to Data's agelessness as an android and Spiner's humanity — and in the hope of giving the film a strong ending, the actor was brought back numerous times to play characters related to Data across several Star Trek properties before Data himself is resurrected for good — in an aged body — during "Star Trek: Picard." 

Even the most rock-solid of deaths have been reconsidered with time. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) dies during "Star Trek: Generations," a passing that has thus far remained sacrosanct. But Season 3 of "Star Trek: Picard" strongly hints that Kirk's body — which had been removed when Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) and the rest of his crew were evacuated from Veridian III — may have been used in a cloning experiment. It goes to show that in the world of Star Trek, death is anything but a permanent condition.