Star Trek: Why Ensign Ro Laren Left TNG (& How It Set Up DS9)
Michelle Forbes' Star Trek: The Next Generation character, Ensign Ro Laren, was intended to spin off as a lead character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but here's why the actress rejected the part and left the franchise. The surprising move necessitated the creation of a new Bajoran character, Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), which ended up serving DS9 even better in the long run. Ro Laren was introduced in the TNG season 5 episode "Ensign Ro" and she quickly became one of the show's most popular recurring characters.
Ensign Ro appeared in eight TNG episodes, six in season 5 and one in season 6, which was the popular episode "Rascals" where Captain Picard, Ro, and other members of the Enterprise-D's crew were de-aged into children. She also appeared in season 7 episode "Preemptive Strike", which wrote Ro's character off TNG. Additionally, Ro Laren was the basis of the entire Bajoran race and its conflict with the Cardassians that played a pivotal role in Deep Space Nine. This included the innovations of the Bajorans' famous nose ridges, which were designed as a way to make Forbes appear appropriately alien but not hide her attractive features, and the fact Bajorans' surnames come before their first names. Amusingly, Patrick Stewart pronounced "Bajor" as "The Bah-JOR" in "Ensign Ro" before the proper pronunciation of "BAY-Jor" (no "The") was firmly established for the planet and the Bajorans.
Despite the plan to move Ro to become second-in-command of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Forbes flatly turned down the role. As TNG's executive producer and DS9's creator/original showrunner Michael Piller said of Forbes' exit in oral history The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: "It had been assumed that she would be one of the people spun off and moved over to DS9, but she wanted to be a feature actress." Indeed, soon after she left TNG, Forbes starred opposite Brad Pitt in thriller Kalifornia and had several other movie roles. Forbes then returned to television and was featured in many hit series like Battlestar Galactica and True Blood.
Forbes' turning down DS9 left her on bad terms with Star Trek and the actress originally wasn't planning on returning for the TNG season 7 episode, "Preemptive Strike", which wrote her out of the series. When Forbes turned down DS9, her final appearance was meant to be "Rascals." However, in the final season of TNG, the series was rushing towards its finale and the producers had no workable story ideas for the show's penultimate episode besides "Preemptive Strike," which required Forbes to reprise Ro. Showrunner Jeri Taylor spoke to Forbes and was able to convince the actress to play Ro one final time so that she would betray Picard and Starfleet and join the Maquis. Not having Ro Laren as the main Bajoran on DS9 ultimately worked out better for the spinoff. As Michael Piller explained:
I found there was a great deal more conflict in having the Bajoran not be Starfleet... [The priorities and agendas] between Sisko and Ro would have been a much different one [than Sisko and Kira] because ultimately, [Ro is] Starfleet and has to do what the boss says. Kira Nerys could do things that are not appropriate Starfleet behavior.
Meanwhile, the foundation built around Ro Laren on TNG also became a major part of the Starfleet/Maquis conflict that kicked off Star Trek: Voyager. While Ro was a rebel within Starfleet, Major Kira being a member of the Bajoran Militia did open up intriguing new storytelling possibilities - including her later romance with Odo (Rene Auberjonois) - that wouldn't have been possible with Ro. Still, it's a testament to Michelle Forbes' charismatic work on Star Trek: The Next Generation that her character is still so fondly remembered by Trekkers even though Ensign Ro never appeared again.