Ro Laren
Ro Laren is a fictional character appearing on a recurring basis in the fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons of the American science-fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. The character returned for the third season of Star Trek: Picard. Portrayed by Michelle Forbes, she is a member of the Bajoran species who joins the crew of the USS Enterprise-D over the fervent objection of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who cited her previous court-martial. Ro, too, was against joining the Enterprise crew, but said, "It is better than prison." The character was intended both to be at odds with the series regulars and to replace Wesley Crusher in the conn officer post on the bridge. Forbes was cast to portray Ro after previously appearing in the series as Dara in the episode "Half a Life".
The character first appears in the fifth-season episode "Ensign Ro", which reveals elements of Ro's backstory. She continues to appear throughout that season, and makes a further appearance in both the sixth and seventh seasons. Starfleet sought her aid to help the Cardassians apprehend a Bajoran terrorist. After joining the Enterprise crew, she wants to abandon the engineering section of the vessel following a series of power failures in "Disaster". Alongside Geordi La Forge, she is affected by a Romulan experiment in "The Next Phase", and must help prevent the aliens from destroying the Enterprise. In "Rascals", she is among the crew who are transformed into children and helps prevent a Ferengi plot. When making her final appearance in "Preemptive Strike", she is tasked by Starfleet to infiltrate the Maquis, eventually defecting and joining them permanently.
Ro was also planned to be a main character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but Forbes turned down the role, so Kira Nerys was created to replace her. Reviewers discussed Ro's religious views, comparing them to those of Kira. Ro was received positively by both critics and fans alike. Critics have praised Forbes's performance and Ro's interaction with the existing characters. She has been placed in several polls listing the most popular characters, with Jordan Hoffman calling her the second-strongest supporting female character in the franchise.
Ro, again played by Forbes, returned for the third season of Picard in the episode "Imposters", serving as a commander for Starfleet Intelligence.
Concept and development
During the course of planning out the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the producers were looking to add a recurring character who could conflict with the regular cast at times, as well as a new conn officer to replace Wesley Crusher. With that in mind, the episode "Ensign Ro" was written by Michael Piller, from a story idea created in conjunction with Rick Berman, to specifically introduce the character of Ensign Ro Laren. The episode was designed to show a backstory for the character, who would be at odds with series creator Gene Roddenberry's ideal that Starfleet officers should all work together seamlessly. One of her major character traits was that she would be a member of an oppressed people, whose homeworld had been conquered by another. Supervising producer Jeri Taylor explained that they had sought to add some "fresh life" using a darker character.Michelle Forbes was asked to return to the series, after impressing the producers with her performance as Dara in the episode "Half a Life". The character was the daughter of Timicin, played by David Ogden Stiers, and supported the tradition that her father should commit ritual suicide upon reaching a certain age. The Bajoran make-up was created on her, with Michael Westmore seeking to make her look different from the rest of the crew, but in a way that would not detract from her appearance. Westmore created an appliance over Forbes' nose, before adding a row of ridges on her face. It was designed to be light and flexible, as he wanted the piece to move with Forbes' facial expressions. Her version of the make-up had seven ridges, while other actors in "Ensign Ro" had different numbers, between five and nine, with the male actors wearing larger pieces.
Piller described the addition of Ro to the cast as one of that season's biggest accomplishments, and was pleased that it was well received. He added that in "Ensign Ro", they made a deliberate decision to have Ro embraced by Guinan to ensure that the fans warmed to the new addition. Piller felt that when Guinan took Ro to meet Captain Picard in that episode, the character was effectively presenting Ro to the fans of the series and endorsing her. During the writing process, he felt that once he came across the friendship between Guinan and Ro, he believed "we had really done something magnificent". Forbes, meanwhile, praised the writing and the cast of the series, saying that she had "become very attached to Star Trek".
Piller was disappointed with the following Ro episode, "Disaster", as it put her in the position of disbelieving Counselor Deanna Troi without having had the weight of "victories" in the past to convince the viewer of the power of her convictions. She enjoyed her sudden relationship with Commander William Riker in "Conundrum". Forbes shared the view of that episode, later saying: "When you have amnesia, you wonder if that brings out a side of you that's always wanted to come out. Would you really be comfortable with that? It's an interesting thing. I had a really good time with that episode." Later in the season, "The Next Phase" was written with the idea of being a vehicle for Geordi La Forge and Troi, but it was decided to include Ro, instead, as one of the lead characters. Ro had been included as one of three lead characters in Morgan Gendel's original pitch for the episode "The Inner Light". This would have seen her in a love triangle with Picard and Riker. Instead, the concept was redeveloped to focus solely on Picard.
Ro made a single appearance in the sixth season, in the episode "Rascals", in which a transporter accident reverts Ro and three others into adolescents, with the younger version of Ro portrayed by Megan Parlen. Some consideration arose after the episode about whether or not to keep Ro as a child, as her return to adulthood was never shown on screen. Taylor said that the change would have been "too drastic for us", and the idea was abandoned. Her final appearance, in the penultimate episode of the series, "Preemptive Strike", had been considered a long shot by the producers. After the failure to agree to her appearances on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Forbes' agent had warned them to stay away from her. A week prior to filming, no story was created for the episode other than the idea it would follow on from the Deep Space Nine episode "The Maquis", and no agreement had been reached with Forbes to appear. Her agent indicated that Forbes wanted to talk directly to the producers, so she made the phone call, making up a story for the episode as the conversation went on. Forbes agreed, making her final appearance in the series. The character was promoted to lieutenant, and Forbes wore updated Bajoran make-up developed by Westmore for Deep Space Nine.
''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''
"Ensign Ro" influenced the creation of Deep Space Nine, with the Bajorans and Cardassians taken directly from the episode. The character was included in the original series description, stationed on the Bajor-based Starfleet station, and the producers had planned for her to be promoted to lieutenant in an episode of The Next Generation prior to the start of Deep Space Nine. Taylor had expected Ro to be written out of The Next Generation, so had taken some steps to see that the character was replaced. She said, "We all just love Michelle Forbes", but the plans to replace Ro would not seek to add someone with the type of fire shown by the character in such episodes as "The Next Phase". She also said that if Ro were to remain on The Next Generation, then the character would have naturally evolved away from that conflicted position, anyway.The intention was that Ro would be one of a handful of The Next Generation characters moving over to the new series, alongside Miles and Keiko O'Brien. At this stage, the other characters were only described as a wheelchair-using science officer, a brash doctor, a civilian law enforcer, a bar owner and the station commander and his son. Ro's position on the station would have been to act as the liaison between the station and the Bajoran government. As described in the series bible, the producers had planned for Ro to be a point of conflict with "by-the-book Starfleet officers". Regarding the other main characters, she was planned to have a friendship with Odo and be mentored by Jadzia Dax.
Both Berman and Piller sought to have Forbes sign on to portray Ro as a main character in the series, but she turned them down. She liked making occasional appearances on The Next Generation, but did not want to tie herself down to a five- to six-year main-cast contract at that point in her career. She was also apprehensive about the types of demands fan appearances made on the stars of that series, and did not want to undertake the level of appearances that would be expected of a main cast member in Deep Space Nine. The producers of Deep Space Nine decided to create a new character to fit a similar mold, which resulted in the creation of Kira Nerys, who was played by Nana Visitor. This was designed to require as minimal a change as possible in the premise of the pilot at that time, which was already under production. During the course of the series, Forbes told interviewers that she was interested in making one-off appearances in the series if she liked the story and role.
Appearances
Background
In accordance with Bajoran tradition, her family name precedes her personal name. When she first joins the crew of the Enterprise-D during the course of "Ensign Ro", Captain Picard addresses her as "Ensign Laren". She corrects him, saying that Laren is her given name and Ro is her family name. She is then referred to as "Ensign Ro". Over the course of her several appearances in The Next Generation, information is revealed about her backstory. Bajor had been under the occupation of the Cardassians during her early life, and at the age of seven, she watched as one of the occupiers tortured her father to death. This led to a lifelong hatred of Cardassians.Ro joined Starfleet, and after being posted to the USS Wellington, she formed part of an away team. During that mission, she disobeyed orders, resulting in the death of eight crewmen. She was subsequently court-martialled and was imprisoned on Jaros II. Admiral Kennelly later gave her a pardon and allowed her to return to Starfleet service in return for convincing Bajoran terrorist Orta to call off his attacks after a raid on a Federation colony. He brings her to the Enterprise for the purpose of completing this mission.