Summary

• Actors from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Voyager, except for Colm Meaney, were not allowed to pursue other acting jobs while working on the show.
• Meaney's character, Chief Miles O'Brien, had more bargaining power due to his established history and family on the show.
• Terry Farrell and other actors faced limitations and were unable to take time off or pursue other projects, which caused frustration and led to Farrell leaving the series.

Actors from cast of DS9 or Voyager.

On The Delta Flyers podcast, DS9's Jadzia Dax actor Terry Farrell ed Star Trek: Voyager's Robert Duncan McNeill and Garrett Wang to discuss Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1, episode 8 "Dax". McNeill pointed out that Colm Meaney's Chief O'Brien didn't appear in the episode, with the in-universe explanation that Miles was headed back to Earth with Keiko for a family celebration, then suggested that O'Brien's absence was due to Meaney taking an additional acting job on a movie. Read their quotes and listen to The Delta Flyers below, starting at the 12:25 timestamp:

Terry Farrell: That was pretty cush. For [Colm Meaney] to be a regular on a TV series and fly and go do movies, and come back, that's awesome.

Garrett Wang: I do feel he had that written into his contract beforehand, because any time that Robbie and I tried to get time off to go do anything else, we got kiboshed, every time. It was like, no, sorry, this is your main job. Whatever other thing that you're looking at, you can't do it. Sorry.

Robert Duncan McNeill: It had to be in his contract.

Terry Farrell: Yeah, it did. Because I couldn't get out to do something either. ... It's not fair. And I wasn't asking to go away for 6 weeks, I was asking for 5 days.

Terry Farrell Left DS9 Season 7 To Pursue Other Projects

Farrell was "rewarded" with the death of Jadzia Dax.

Terry Farrell played Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax in the first 6 seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine but did not return for DS9 season 7. Opportunities to pursue other projects were available to Farrell as DS9 approached season 7, so Farrell attempted to negotiate the role of Dax down to a recurring role, which would have allowed Farrell to remain on DS9 while also giving her the chance to further her acting career. When a compromise with DS9 producer Rick Berman could not be reached, Farrell opted not to renew her initial 6-year contract for a 7th year, and she left the series, but not amicably.

A new Dax character, Lt. Ezri Dax played by Nicole de Boer, replaced Terry Farrell's Jadzia in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 7. Farrell ed the cast of the sitcom Becker.

Rather than leave the door open for Terry Farrell to return as a recurring or guest star in DS9 season 7, Jadzia Dax was killed by Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) in DS9 season 6, episode 25 "The Tears of the Prophets". Instead of a noble death as a hero in the Dominion War, the fact that Jadzia went out as the victim of a senseless murder added insult to injury for both Farrell and fans of Dax. Jadzia Dax's death remains one of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's biggest mistakes and it perhaps could have been avoided if Terry Farrell had been allowed the same freedoms as Colm Meaney.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is streaming on Paramount+.

Source: The Delta Flyers season 9, episode 7 "Dax"