Jadzia

[Mike 5]

Why did Jadzia have to die? Did Terry Farell want to leave DS9? Did the Writers/Producers want a different Dax character? Maybe they weren't happy with the Jadzia/Worf relationship? I actually find that hard to believe. Does anybody know why? It just seems a shame that Jadzia missed the last season of Deep Space Nine..I may feel differently after I see the new Dax character..But I doubt it.

[Jack_Bauer 1]

Terry Farrell's contract expired. I think by then she was involved in Becker so she decided to leave.

[Indy 8]

She had requested more money, I believe. They couldn't come to an agreement, she had been offered Becker, so she left DS9. She probably thought since DS9 only had one more season to go, Becker might provide a bit more job security.

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

The show almost ended with 6 seasons. At the last minute, they were greenlighted a 7th and final season. Everyone but Terry Farrel had signed up for the 7th Season. Terry Farrel wanted to leave to do her own show called Becker. Some say she didn't sign on for the final season due to not getting enough pay, but I've no idea if there's truth to that.

[Sam The Smuggler 1]

She Left Becker Too

[VaBeachGuy 12]

On the DS9 season sets I know she talks about leaving the show, I forget which

disk it's on though. I also remember that she asked that Dax not be killed off, which wasn't really something the writers and producers wanted to go along with. There was still more for a "Dax" character to do on the series and possibly in any future project that might come along.

 

I personally liked Ezri, I wish we had a few more seasons to get to know her like we did Jadzia.

 

I thought some people might find this interesting:

 

She’s gone. Science Fiction’s most vivacious half-woman-half-slug has bid farewell to Deep Space Nine. Terry Farrell explains why...

 

Everything changes and moves on. That’s what Terry Farrell realized last year when faced with the expiry of her six year contract with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – and discovering that she really didn’t want to return for one more year.

 

Regardless of talks with Paramount last spring, Farrell decided to go with her instinct. “I felt like I couldn’t make any decisions out of fear. And if I was afraid, then I would stay for one more year of security. I thought I just can’t do that,” explains Farrell candidly. “After six years, I didn’t flat leave the show. I didn’t screw anybody over. It’s the end of my contract. Time to move on.”

 

Key to Farrell’s feeling of stagnation was the lack of opportunities for her character, Jadzia Dax – a Trill with a 350-year-old symbiont inside her body – to evolve. “You can’t expect the writers to flesh out every character when you’ve got nine regulars and then you’ve got recurring characters that are really like regulars. They’re doing the best they can. One more year, it was just going to be the same stuff. I didn’t have someone calling me and saying 'we’ve got this great idea for Dax'.” As much as she loved the character, Farrell notes, “when it comes down to it, it’s a job to you and it’s a job to entertain people. And if you aren’t feeling like you can come up with new stuff, it’s time to do something different, so you’re not playing it into the ground. It’s like to be true to your audience is to be true to yourself, too.”

 

In spite of her conviction that she made the right decision to leave when she did, Farrell has been surprised by how difficult it’s been to say goodbye to the fans. She’s also been surprised by the popularity of her character, based on the collective outcry at news of her departure amongst viewers of the show. “You don’t think of your character affecting everybody. It’s always everybody else’s character. You know what I mean?” muses Farrell. “I didn’t realize how emotional it was going to be for me, saying goodbye to the fans. And certainly, not how emotional it was for them.”

 

Farrell was the last actor hired for the pilot. She read for the role just four days prior to the start of filming. “The first day that I read was the Friday before the Tuesday they were starting. And I think it was a couple of weeks after that that I got hired,” remembers Farrell. “I felt from the description of Dax and all of her past lifetimes that it would be an incredible challenge, and I really needed that kind of challenge. I needed to grow as an actress and I felt like Dax would really help me to do so.”

 

When it came time to actually leave, Farrell hadn’t expected the outpouring of support she received from the cast and crew. “That was an incredible moment in my life. I was really surprised, really genuinely shocked and had no idea,” she recalls of the crowd of well-wishers who’d gathered to say goodbye. “Nobody believed I was really going to go...”

 

From Cult Times September 1998

[Mike 5]

Thanks VBG. I enjoyed reading that..I still think it's a shame that she missed the last season..I wonder if she would do things differently if she had known about the popularity of her character with the fans. I am looking forward to seeing Ezri Dax in season 7..I haven't seen that character yet..1 more week and that those DVDs will be out..!

Edited November 25, 2003 by spacetigger

[VaBeachGuy 12]

Thanks VBG. I enjoyed reading that..I still think it's a shame that she missed the last season..I wonder if she would do things differently if she had known about the popularity of her character with the fans. I am looking forward to seeing Ezri Dax in season 7..I haven't seen that character yet..1 more week and that those DVDs will be out..!

I liked Ezri, she is different from Jadzia though. Ezri wasn't prepared for joining and it all kind of keeps her in a bit of a "daze" at first. She really grows into the character though, plus she's ultra cute

 

Tha way I look at Terry leaving is like this. There was only one last season, couldn't something be worked out rather then leave in the final season? I hated that, especially since Worf and Jadzia had gotten married and I hoped to see some Klingon babies.I guess it all worked out as it was supposed to though.

[Sam The Smuggler 1]

Interesting Read.

 

As Much As I Liked Ezri, I Really Wish Jadzia Didn't Die...Or Leave At All...Oh Well

 

Business Is Business.

 

I Wonder If They Would Have Donw Prodg-something Daughter" with Jadzia's Family, lol

[fredbroca 0]

On a side note did she leave becker or did she get fired? I liked that show but I stopped watching when she left.

[Kyalia 0]

I think I heard she left, but I'm not sure.

[gul_nodrog 2]

I have a couple of thoughts on this topic.

 

I watched all of season 6 with a feeling of dread, knowing what was coming in the final episode "Tears of the Prophets."

 

I am of the opinion that there was no need to kill Jadzia. I feel they should have just reassigned Dax to another post and let her call in periodically to speak with Worf or Sisko. Mention her every once in a while, you know. They could have let her become pregnant and sent her back home to the Trill homeworld because of the difficulties of a Trill/Klingon pregnancy. They could have come up with something.

 

Personally, I hated Ezri and all the time they wasted at the beginning of Season 7 on her character. There was a war on, for goodness sakes, but we spend the first half of Season 7 worrying about poor little Ezri and her angst and I couldn't have cared less.

 

I wonder if that Ira guy, or Rick Berman or Ronald Moore or any of the other powers from on high were simply p!ssed off at Farrell for not signing on for the final season and wanted to knock off Jadzia in the most meaningless way possible. Not since Tasha Yar got whacked on TNG has there been a stupider death scene of a major character. The way they killed Jadzia was just insulting to the character and I think they should have put their personal feelings about Farrell aside and done the right thing for the show ... WHICH WAS NOT TO RECAST THE DAX CHARACTER. The whole Ezri thing just goes completely against everything we've ever been told about the Trill society. She would not have been stationed on DS9 along side her former husband. AAAARGH!

 

Sorry to ramble, I just feel pretty passionately about this topic.

[KayTroi 0]

Thanks,VBG

I knew there was a reason.

[Captain Bolivar 0]

They could have reassigned dax and mentioned her from time to time but that wouldn't have been interesting. What the did with Ezri created many new conflicts with the characters so it was very interesting. And geez, it's just a show, Jadzia never really died cause she never really lived... get over it. Why sacrifice story for the sake of attachments to fictional characters.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

... get over it.  Why sacrifice story for the sake of attachments to fictional characters.

True she was just a fictional character and had a fictional death, but that emotional attachment that Star Trek fans develope is what has made Star Trek such a success. Take that emotional attachment away and there would likely be no TNG, DS9, Voyager or Enterprise because after 3 seasons of TOS the fans would have just forgotten about Kirk, Spock and McCoy. After all they were just fictional characters, but because of the attachments to those characters the show's popularity just continued to grow and grow. Now almost 40 years later we have 5 live action series, 1 animated series and 10 feature films to enjoy. All due to those emotional attachments (IMO).

[ddillard 2]

I agree completely. The attachment that the fans feel towards the characters of Trek is necessary for the show to survive. Many of the fans gain this attachment because we can identify with them and draw hope for our future by watching their lives unfold in our living rooms each week.