One of the greatest concepts in Star Trek is that its universe isn’t solely inhabited by captains, scientists, explorers, and warriors. There are also bartenders, gardeners, barbers, artists, and indeed, writers. And perhaps the most remarkable metafictional writer among them all is Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton), the son of Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). Unlike the resident teen in The Next Generation, Wesley Crusher, Deep Space Nine’s Jake had no desire to join Starfleet or explore space; he only wanted to explore the human condition. And even though Jake’s journey is often examined in the context of his well – known father, his story is unique across the entire Star Trek franchise.
Although the fifth episode of Starfleet Academy focuses on the legacy of Sisko and even gives [missing content], Lofton’s Jake Sisko is the legacy character whose appearance is perhaps the most poignant.
“I wouldn’t have participated if I hadn’t received the blessing of Avery Brooks,” Lofton tells Inverse. “I also view this episode as a connection between two different generations of Star Trek; we are part of the classic Star Trek now, one of the first five shows, and now this represents the future of Star Trek.”
The notion that Starfleet Academy is the future of Star Trek is both literal and philosophical. It’s set at the end of the 32nd century, more than 800 years after Deep Space Nine ended in 2375. Jake appears in an archived holographic recording as the man who became an author after DS9 concluded. In DS9’s finale, “[missing title],” Ben Sisko ascended to a higher plane of existence to be with the Prophets, though he promised to return someday. In Starfleet Academy, Jake reflects on this promise and Sisko’s support for him.
“I knew a man who always supported me,” Jake says. “Especially in my writing.” Later in the episode, when Dax (Tawny Newsome) and SAM (Kerrice Brooks) discuss Jake’s novel, Anslem, Dax shows SAM the only copy of the book.
This fictional book exists in two different Trek timelines: in a discarded future, as seen in the DS9 episode “The Visitor,” an older Jake Sisko (played by the late [missing name]) published Anslem in the years following his father’s apparent death. But even though Jake worked to rescue Ben and reverse that timeline, it seems Jake still wrote a book with the same title. The new Dax says Jake did write the book, “but never published it… it was one of the many ways he kept Benjamin close.”
The question of Ben Sisko’s return is unclear. At the end of the episode, we learn from Jake that the question of his father “was always there. He never really left us.” It’s not clear if Sisko was hanging around with Jake like a kind of Star Trek force ghost, or if there was a more tangible return.
But for Lofton, Avery Brooks and Star Trek are significant parts of his life. Lofton is an important part of the Trek fan community, and he’s been hosting the Trek podcast The 7th Rule since 2019. The franchise is deeply ingrained in him.
“I think what Tawny [Newsome] did so skillfully in writing this episode is to highlight the sacrifices that Sisko made to the Star Trek canon,” Lofton says. “And so this was an opportunity to say, we admire him, we recognize him. It was sacred and important to me.”