For decades, prolific guest actor Jeffrey Combs has played multiple characters that hail from the canon of classic Star Trek alien species. The fan favorite guest actor has played nine different characters across four separate Star Trek shows. Including the Romulan Commander Suldok from the video game Star Trek: Elite Force II, Jeffrey Combs played ten characters in Star Trek. Combs got his Star Trek big break thanks to Jonathan Frakes, who cast him as Tiron in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Meridian”. Interestingly, Combs had previously auditioned for the role of Commander William T. Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
After playing Triton, Jeffrey Combs was cast as Brunt, arch-nemesis to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s Quark (Armin Shimerman), before joining the cast of DS9 in season 4 as recurring Vorta villain, Weyoun. Incredibly, Jeffrey Combs played both Brunt and Weyoun in Star Trek: DS9 season 7, episode 24, “The Dogs of War.” It was a rare occasion where an actor played two unrelated characters in the same Star Trek episode, an honor that Jeffrey Combs shares with Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Picard and Henry V‘s Michael Williams in “The Defector”.
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7 Unknown Alien Species
Tiron in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Jeffrey Combs’ first Star Trek role was as Tiron in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3, episode 8, “Meridian”. Obsessed with Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), the alien tasked Quark with creating an erotic holo-simulation of the Bajoran. The comedy subplot climaxed with Tiron walking into a holosuite to discover a sexy hologram of Quark waiting for him on the bed. It was an early demonstration of how Jeffrey Combs could balance the strangeness of Star Trek‘s alien species with laugh-out-loud comedy. Combs’ performance relied on the chemistry between him and Armin Shimerman, a relationship that would further develop as DS9 went on.
6 Ferengi
Brunt in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Krem in Star Trek: Enterprise
When Star Trek: Enterprise decided to do a Ferengi episode in season 1, they cast Jeffrey Combs as Krem, one of the Enterprise NX-01’s hijackers. The episode also featured Star Trek: Voyager‘s Ethan Phillips who, like Combs, had previously played a Ferengi in Star Trek. Jeffrey Combs’ Brunt made his debut in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3, episode 23, “Family Business”, one of the Star Trek: DS9 episodes directed by Rene Auberjonois. Auberjonois had previously worked with Combs and decided to cast him as Liquidator Brunt.
Although Combs had recently appeared in DS9 as Tiron, the producers decided that “no one will notice” (via Star Trek.com) because he was in completely different make-up. Despite the vicious rivalry between their characters, Jeffrey Combs and Armin Shimerman became firm friends on set and remain so to this day, performing together on the end credits of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine documentary, What We Left Behind, alongside Damar actor Casey Biggs, and Rom actor Max Grodenchik.
5 Vorta
Weyoun 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Jeffrey Combs’ Weyoun was the most notable of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s clone species, the Vorta. A trusted advisor to the Female Changeling (Salome Jens), Weyoun played a pivotal role in Star Trek: DS9‘s Dominion War. The role of Weyoun was specifically created for Jeffrey Combs after the impression he made on the DS9 production team as Brunt. Unsurprisingly, Weyoun is Jeffrey Combs’ favorite Star Trek role as the actor commented in the Hidden File 02 special feature on the DS9 season 7 DVDs. Combs reflected on Weyoun by discussing what he loved about the character:
Jeffrey Combs played five different incarnations of Weyoun, maintaining the character’s over-confidence and regal air. One of Combs’ best performances was as the troubled Weyoun 6 in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Treachery, Faith, and the Great River”. This particular Weyoun was deemed “defective” by his peers due to his guilt over the scale of the Dominion War, and his belief that the entire conflict was a mistake. Weyoun 6 sacrificed his life to save Odo, who, as a Founder, was one of the Vorta’s supposed “gods”.
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4 Human
Officer Mulkahey in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 6, episode 14, “Far Beyond the Stars”
Avery Brooks’ masterpiece as both director and star featured Jeffrey Combs as the human Officer Kevin Mulkahey, who, along with his fellow cops, doles out racist and physical abuse to Benny Russell (Brooks). Given that the events of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 6, episode 14, “Far Beyond the Stars” are a vision from the Prophets, it’s arguable that Detective Mulkahey isn’t really human. However, Mulkahey is an illusory vision of something that’s all too real; a racist police officer. Combs decided to play Mulkahey as a completely different character from Weyoun, which is key to the success of his stomach-churning performance.
3 Tsunkatse Coordinator
Penk in Star Trek: Voyager, season 6, episode 15, “Tsunkatse”
Jeffrey Combs only made one appearance in Star Trek: Voyager, playing the Tsunkatse coordinator Penk. Combs’ Voyager character was responsible for sourcing alien fighters for the Norcadian’s bloodsport. Penk kidnapped Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Lt. Commander Tuvok in Voyager season 6, episode 15. The episode is notorious for the network insisting on the casting of WWE superstar, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. However, the involvement of Jeffrey Combs ensured that “Tsunkatse” still had something to entice Star Trek fans.
2 Andorian
Thy’lek Shran in Star Trek: Enterprise
Jeffrey Combs played the Andorian commander, Thy’lek Shran in all four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise. Shran had a love/hate relationship with Enterprise‘s Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), which made them the unlikeliest of friends. Thy’lek Shran was a key figure in the foundation of Star Trek‘s United Federation of Planets, as depicted in the Enterprise finale. If Enterprise hadn’t been canceled with season 4, showrunner Manny Coto planned to make Shran a semi-permanent fixture aboard the Enterprise NX-01, but sadly, this never came to pass.
Much like Weyoun in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Jeffrey Combs was offered the role of Shran without an audition. Combs’ skills at portraying complex characters underneath heavy alien make-up convinced Brannon Braga that he would be perfect to play Shran. In 2011, Jeffrey Combs told the official Star Trek website that Shran was the character that he would most like to reprise. A new Shran story is yet to surface in the modern franchise, but Enterprise‘s Andorian wasn’t the last character to be played by Jeffrey Combs.
1 Artificial Intelligence
AGIMUS in Star Trek: Lower Decks
Megalomaniac computer AGIMUS is Jeffrey Combs’ most recent Star Trek role. To date, AGIMUS has appeared in two episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and has gone on a real redemptive arc. While AGIMUS started out trying to subjugate planets, he was changed by his relationship with the repentant Peanut Hamper (Kether Donohue). AGIMUS was last seen giving Lt. Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) valuable intel on the missing starships, showing that he had indeed changed. It was typical of Jeffrey Combs to give real character depth to a Star Trek character as potentially two-dimensional as an evil computer.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise acts as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, detailing the voyages of the original crew of the Starship Enterprise in the 22nd century, a hundred years before Captain Kirk commanded the ship. Enterprise was the sixth series in the Star Trek franchise overall, and the final series before a twelve-year hiatus until the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. The series stars Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer, with an ensemble cast that includes John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park, and Connor Trinneer.
