Star Trek: No, Michael Dorn Didn't Just Announce His Return as Worf

On Monday, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star Michael Dorn sent out a cryptic tweet that led fans to believe he'd be back in a Starfleet uniform as the Klingon Worf in the near future. Dorn tweeted, "Just got the news, being summoned back into action. Starfleet calls. #ad" Fans got excited, but anyone taking this as a confirmation that Dorn is reprising his role for Star Trek: Picard's second season or that the Captain Worf series he's been pitching for years has been picked up should ramp down their excitement. Neither of those is the case.

The "#ad" portion of the tweet raised some questions. ComicBook.com reached out to Paramount+ for clarification about Dorn's tweet. A representative confirmed that "this has nothing to do with a Star Trek Universe on Paramount+ original series." That means no, Michael Dorn isn't going to appear in Star Trek: Picard (not yet, at least).

Just got the news, being summoned back into action. Starfleet calls. #ad

— Michael Dorn (@akaWorf) April 19, 2021

It's been almost a full day since Dorn sent the tweet without further explanation. What could it mean? The most likely explanation is that Dorn agreed to do some advertising for a Star Trek licensed product and that this tweet is either part of a viral marketing push, or was somehow misfired without a relevant link.

As for what he'd be advertising for, we can only speculate, but the likeliest suspects are the Star Trek video games. In the past, the mobile strategy game Star Trek: Fleet Command got Star Trek Into Darkness actress Alice Eve to reprise her role as Dr. Carol Marcus for an advertisement. That game recently began adding characters and ships from the Prime Timeline. Getting a recognizable Star Trek actor to push the game's new character inclusions makes sense.

The new Apple Arcade game Star Trek: Legends launched earlier this month, and Worf is one of the earliest characters unlocked during gameplay, and one of a handful that has regular dialog throughout. Thus, it would make a lot of sense for Dorn to be involved in an advertising campaign for that game.

Considering Dorn's past comments about not wanting to get into Klingon makeup for anything less than a major role, we wouldn't expect to see him in full Worf garb in any ad that may come from this. But Dorn's recognizable enough among fans that, even without the makeup, his mere presence would help elevate any related project he touches.

We'll keep an eye on Dorn's Twitter feed to see what comes of the situation. Stay tuned.