Sal Ami/Flickr "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" actors Nicole de Boer Michael Dorn and Terry Farrell at Star Trek convention
When Nicole de Boer joined the cast of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” she had no idea what had happened with the actress she’d replaced. All she knew was that Terry Farrell, who’d played Jadzia Dax on the show for six seasons, was on a different show. de Boer assumed that Farrell had just moved on to new opportunities.
In 2016, Farrell publicly stated that she’d been forced off DS9 by one of the show’s producers, Rick Berman. de Boer didn’t find that out until she and Farrell met at a “Star Trek” convention, years after the show wrapped.
In a recent interview with Heavy, de Boer talked about meeting Farrell, forging a friendship with her, and what it’s like to hang out with the actress she replaced.
A Tale of Two Daxes
After DS9 wrapped, de Boer started attending “Star Trek” conventions regularly. She got to meet Farrell for the first time at one of these events.
“When I did finally meet Terry, she was nice to me. Obviously, it brought up some pain for her, you know. Because of the stuff she went through. But she knows that’s nothing to do with me.”
As de Boer and Farrell continued to do conventions together, they hung out more and more. She recalled one particular trip that really solidified their friendship.
“We even had a chance to go to Austrailia together, years ago now, to do like a supernova convention or something. So, it was her and I. We got a chance to get to know each other better and have dinners together. And that was a really nice bonding trip for us.”
de Boer went on to say that she loves doing panels and appearances with Farrell because they get to represent Dax together.
“It’s wild. It’s cool. It’s so cute to see the fans. The fans really love it. It’s fun when we’re able to do a convention together… It is fun for the fans. Sometimes they get to do photo ops with both of the Daxes, which is cute. I guess I termed it the ‘Dax Sandwich’ one time and that kind of stuck. And it’s just a fun thing to do.”
Though she and Farrell have talked about their different interpretations of Dax during panels, when they’re hanging out together it’s all real-life conversations, not “Star Trek.”
Becoming a Convention Junkie
Not all of the actors who worked on “Star Trek” choose to appear at conventions. However, some of them make conventions a major part of their lives. de Boer is one of those actors. She gushed about how much she loves the convention experience, hanging with her costars, and meeting her fans.
“It is an absolute gift… there’s so much love there from the fans. You get to be with your other actor friends as well, you get to really engage with your fans and meet them. And meet families who brought ‘Star Trek’ to their kids and then watched it with their kids. Then their kids grew up and then they had kids and they introduced them to ‘Star Trek.’ And I get to meet these people at conventions. And it’s just so incredibly heartwarming. And so fun! It’s a huge part of my life.”
de Boer said that the last year without conventions has been tough. She’s excited for the events to start up again in 2021. de Boer is slated to appear at Star Trek Las Vegas in August and hopes to do many more conventions before the year is done.
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