The pair exclusively sit down with EW to talk about Dorn’s advice to the new Klingon cadet and swap war stories over the prosthetics process.

Klingon to Klingon: When Star Trek vet Michael Dorn met Starfleet Academy newcomer Karim Diané (exclusive)

The pair exclusively sit down with EW to talk about Dorn's advice to the new Klingon cadet and swap war stories over the prosthetics process.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in *Vanity Fair*, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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January 29, 2026 10:00 a.m. ET

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Karim Diané and Michael Dorn. Credit:

After Karim Diané landed the role of Jay-Den Kraag, a Klingon cadet at the titular *Starfleet Academy* of the new *Star Trek* series, co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman suggested the kind of meet-up that would have any diehard Trekker selling their memorabilia to secure: a one-on-one with the great Michael Dorn.

Having played the most famous of Klingons, Worf, starting with the Jean-Luc Picard-captained *Star Trek: The Next Generation*, Dorn never properly mentored a younger actor coming into the universe of *Trek*. He doesn’t quite think of his FaceTime phone call with Diané as “mentoring” in the traditional sense, but he did offer his own experiences with the transformation process to this Klingon-in-the-making.

“To think that you were gonna be doing something like this was kind of unheard of. I don't know about anything that's happened like this before in the business,” Dorn tells ** in an exclusive joint interview with Diané. “Thirty or 40 years later, you're talking to the next generation, basically. It just doesn't happen. So I wasn't prepared for it, but I was happy to be part of it.”

Diané tells Dorn: “I obviously Googled the crap out of you beforehand and watched every single video that you have ever posted on the internet about the prosthetics process, so I felt mentored by you before I even got the chance to talk to you for the first time. There's a couple podcasts where you're just brutally honest about how challenging this experience is, and so I felt guided by you.”

Karim Diané and Michael Dorn meet behind the scenes of the Rose Bowl Parade.

Dorn holds the distinction of the most franchise appearances as a series regular actor, which famously includes all seven seasons of *Star Trek: The Next Generation* and multiple movies. He returned as Worf in four seasons of *Star Trek: Deep Space Nine* and, more recently, in season 3 of *Star Trek: Picard*.

Diané's Jay-Den arrived in *Starfleet Academy* as an aspiring medical officer, which inherently feels at odds with the brutalism and warrior code of Klingon culture. Episode 4, titled "Vox in Excelso" and streaming now on Paramount+, digs into Jay-Den's backstory and how his pacifist nature made him feel like an outsider at a young age. Flashbacks depict the moment Jay-Den's family abandoned him on a planet as he grapples with the survival of the Klingons in the present.

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Diané relates to Jay-Den's origin story on a personal level. "I am West African. So I'm half Guinean and half Congolese, and I'm from the Mandingo tribe," he says. "Mandingos are known for their warriors. I was raised to essentially be a warrior, be a tough sports guy, and like basketball and soccer. I had no interest in any of that. I just wanted to go dance and sing and go act and do plays."

Dorn and Diané wouldn’t meet in person until the Rose Bowl Parade in Los Angeles this past New Year’s, for which the *Starfleet* cadet rode the "Space for Everybody" *Star Trek* float alongside fellow franchise stars Rebecca Romijn (*Star Trek: Strange New Worlds*), Tig Notaro (*Star Trek: Starfleet Academy*), and George Takei (OG *Star Trek*). But it was the day of Diané's first Jay-Den makeup test, prior to filming season 1 of *Starfleet Academy* in 2024, that he spoke with Dorn for the first time over FaceTime.

Karim Diané as Jay-Den on 'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' episode 4.

Brooke Palmer/Paramount+

Much of what they discussed on that call involved the Shakespearean demeanor of the Klingons and swapping war stories over the prosthetics process. For Diané, it initially took him between four-and-a-half and five hours in the chair every day, including hair, makeup, prosthetics, and costume.

"I would have to wake up at 1 a.m. just to get to work, film like 18-hour days," he recalls. "Some weeks I'm working five days a week." The *Starfleet* team eventually cut that time down to two hours. "I get ready faster than Genesis now," Diané adds, referring to costar Bella Shepard, who plays Dar-Sha cadet Genesis Lythe.

For Dorn, starting out on *Star Trek* in the 1960s, it would take him three hours, five days a week, every week.

"But after two years, that's when I went, 'Guys, I just can't do this anymore,'" he recalls to Diané. "And they got it down to same thing to where you are, where it's two-and-a-half hours."

Michael Dorn as Worf on 'Star Trek: Picard' season 3.

Sarah Coulter/Paramount+

Decades later when Dorn returned for *Star Trek: Picard* (2020), "They got it down to an hour for the full makeup," he adds, "but they had two people working on me."

Diané felt a mix of excitement and nerves heading into this meeting with Worf himself. He acknowledges how "sometimes you meet people in this industry, and they aren’t the nicest." He wasn't sure what he was going to get.

"But I got on the phone, and immediately he was so chill and really kind," he says of Dorn. "That felt very nice because playing this character, I went in feeling like people are gonna compare me to him. So you go in nervous in a lot of ways — not sure how it's all gonna be received by the fans.”

Dorn can relate.

Holly Hunter as Nahla and Karim Diané as Jay-Den on 'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' episode 4.

Brooke Palmer/Paramount+

"You're stepping into this whole *Star Trek* world, which, I gotta tell you, nobody is ready for," he says. "For us [on *Next Generation*], we had the fans and the press on our ass about, 'Who do you think you are?' 'Do you think you are replacing Kirk and Spock?' 'Who are you supposed to be?'"

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Diané responds, "Listening to Michael say that, I'm like, wow, history really repeated itself, 'cause we all are experiencing the same exact thing right now [on *Starfleet Academy*]. Like, 'You think you're a Klingon?!' You're not this and that. It's with me every single time I open my phone. I get notifications. I'm probably the most chronically online out of the entire cast. I'm on every single social media platform. I go through everything, just because I like to keep my feet on the ground. There definitely is a lot of chatter."

Both Dorn and Diané agree: "There's definitely a toxic corner in the fan base."

At the same time, they acknowledge the waves of positivity percolating around the internet.

"This is the most rewarding job I have ever had in my life," Diané comments when the actors speak with EW on the Wednesday before the *Starfleet Academy *episode 3 drop. "These episodes have been out for six days and two episodes, and already my Instagram is blowing up. My Facebook messages are flooded. People are freaking out, and they love these characters. So, yeah, I'm honestly happy to do this for season 3 and 4 and 5 and 6."**

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