Why Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Finale Didn't Make Quark The Grand Nagus

Paramount

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Quark, as played by Armin Shimerman, is one of the best characters in all of "Star Trek." Although often treated as a somewhat bumbling and not-always-intelligent comic-relief character (something that often frustrated Shimerman), Quark was actually shrewd and possessed his own twisted principles that he always adhered to. Quark is a Ferengi, a species that has incorporated money and the acquisition of wealth into their very philosophical ethos. They abide by a set of holy laws called the Rules of Acquisition and must buy their way into the afterlife. 

Quark was greedy, exploitative, sexist, and often cruel. And yet, he felt all of those qualities made him a wise and great person. His principles were opposite our own, but he was going to follow them as long as he could draw breath. 

Early in the series, Quark was even cited by the Grand Nagus (Wallace Shawn) as a possible successor. The Grand Nagus is essentially the Ferengi pope, who dictates the economics for the entire Ferengi people. He's said to be the wealthiest and the most devious Ferengi of them all. At the end of the series, the Grand Nagus announced that he was going to retire in connubial bliss with Quark's mother, Ishka, and that he needed a successor. In what might be a surprise twist, however, the Nagus did not choose Quark, but Quark's brother Rom (Max Grodénchik). Rom was previously thought to be kind of an idiot, so the selection was startling. 

In the invaluable "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion" by Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block, the showrunners explained their reasoning for not "promoting" Quark at the end of the series. In short, it would have shaken up the show's status quo too much. 

Paramount

It should be noted that the final few episodes of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" were massively incidental. Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) entered the nearby wormhole and essentially ascended, becoming one with a species of noncorporeal alien deities. The changeling Odo (Rene Auberjonois) returned to his liquid people, melting into an ocean made up of their bodies. Furthermore, Colonel Kira (Nana Visitor) became the station's commanding officer, Worf (Michael Dorn) became the Federation's ambassador to the Klingon homeworld, and Chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney) left the station to become a teacher at Starfleet Academy. The show's final episode has the wistful title of "What You Leave Behind." 

Quark, meanwhile, was not promoted and did not leave the station. He remained at his bar, happy to run his modest business in a busy part of space. One of the show's central writers, Rene Echevarria, felt that the Ferengi storyline concluded the best of any on the show. Evidently, it was one of the Paramount executives' ideas to make Rom the Grand Nagus. The "Deep Space Nine" showrunner, Ira Steven Behr, liked the proposal, saying: 

"Lots of people like Rom [...] I though it was a really good idea. Obviously, we'd played around with the idea of Quark becoming Nagus, but that was wrong. Quark had to be in the bar at the end of the show. I felt that the audience needed that continuity more than whoever was going to run the station. Quark is the center of the station — and I needed that center. So we couldn't make Quark Nagus." 

Leaving Quark in place was, yes, the wisest choice. I'm glad they did it. 

Paramount

Ira Steven Behr added that he couldn't leave the old Nagus, Zek, in charge either, as he, too, underwent a major character arc. Once regarded as devious, he was exposed to new, interesting ideas through his relationship with Quark's mother, such as feminism and workers' unions. Behr noted that Zek couldn't remain in office "because we'd put him through all kinds of changes in the past few years, including the Ferengi version of Alzheimer's disease." 

When it came to Rom, though, Behr liked the idea but thought that it "wasn't enough to base a story on. [...] We had to figure out what would have had to happen to Ferengi society that would enable Rom to become the Nagus." It was writer/producer Ronald D. Moore who pointed out that Rom was kind of an idiot when it came to business, but that he was beloved for being caring and kind. Some kind of Ferengi revolution was needed for a compassionate character like Rom to become Nagus. So the writer backward engineered a few plot reasons to get Rom into the Nagus' seat. 

Rene Echevarria was the one who ultimately devised the dynamic conceptual swaps that enabled Rom to become the Nagus. The writer recalls that he and Moore came up with a fun story in which Quark actually turned down the position of Nagus because the new Ferenginar had mutated beyond his recognition. He was going to stay at his bar and continue enforcing old Ferengi principles, even as the rest of Ferengi society grew kinder. Quark was given a grand final speech where he positioned himself as the last great man in Ferengi society. 

And that, I feel, is a much better place for the character. Principled to the end.