Popverse's top stories of the day

• Will Squid Game's record-breaking season 2 debut change Netflix's plan for a season 3 finale?
• 2025 is the year One Punch Man season 3 finally adapts the cosmically weird Monster Association Arc and I can't wait
• Hi-Diddily-Ho! It's the best (and the rest) Ned Flanders episodes of The Simpsons

Mild spoilers for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine follow

We've just turned the corner into 2025, and with it, 32 years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Held by many fans as the pinnacle of Star Trek storytelling, the 1993 - 1999 show gave Trekkies a new way to experience their favorite universe, shifting focus onto the everyday lives of space citizens rather than the space explorers featured in the previous two series. Not for nothing, it also provided one of the most enduring (and recently confirmed) ships in sci-fi fandom.

However, it takes a while to achieve a show that fantastic. In Deep Space Nine's case, specifically, it took 176 episodes. That's a whole lot of TV, and if you're interested in starting the show, it's a daunting time commitment. But don't worry, your pals at Popverse are here to help. We've compiled a Deep Space Nine essential episodes list, which will tell you, season by season, which episodes are an absolute must to understand the larger story of many fans' favorite Trek.

Read on to enjoy your curated binging, and if you're already a DS9 fan and feel we've left out a very important episode, please let us know in the comments

Deep Space Nine season 1 essentials to watch

The first season of the third Star Trek series is much like its predecessors in that it tells stories contained largely to one episode, with the occasional theme that would carry into a sequel episode down the line. So even though this first season is important to laying the groundwork for the series as a whole, you're going to find a few less "essential" episodes in this particular crop. 

• Season 1, Episode 1: Emissary, Part 1
• Season 1, Episode 2: Emissary, Part 2
• Season 1, Episode 3: Past Prologue
• Season 1, Episode 10: The Nagus
• Season 1, Episode 19: Duet
• Season 1, Episode 20: In the Hands of the Prophets

Deep Space Nine season 2 essentials to watch

Season 2 of Deep Space Nine sees the main introduction of Cardassians to the series. Don't get us wrong - Cardassians became a part of the Trek-niverse in The Next Generation, but their status as major antagonists is solidified here. To make a very poor metaphor, the Cardassians are to DS9 what the Borg may have been to TNG, or the Klingons to the original series.

• Season 2, Episode 1: The Homecoming
• Season 2, Episode 2: The Circle
• Season 2, Episode 3: The Siege
• Season 2, Episode 5: Cardassians
• Season 2, Episode 14: Whispers
• Season 2, Episode 20: The Maquis, Part 1
• Season 2, Episode 21: The Maquis, Part 1
• Season 2, Episode 22: The Wire
• Season 2, Episode 25: Tribunal
• Season 2, Episode 26: The Jem'Hadar

Deep Space Nine season 3 essentials to watch 

I'm a huge sucker for John Carpenter's The Thing, so the season 3 finale of Deep Space Nine is one of my favorite concepts on the show. I'm going to go ahead and avoid giving away too many spoilers as to what I mean by that, but watch the episodes below and you'll see what I mean. Deep Space Nine's superpower is taking sci-fi concepts and applying them to community-based dramas, and this is one of the best exampes.

• Season 3, Episode 01: The Search, Part 1 
• Season 3, Episode 02: The Search, Part 2
• Season 3, Episode 09: Defiant 
• Season 3, Episode 13: Life Support 
• Season 3, Episode 14: Heart of Stone
• Season 3, Episode 20: Improbable Cause
• Season 3, Episode 21: The Die Is Cast
• Season 3, Episode 26: The Adversary
• Deep Space Nine season 4 essentials 

Deep Space Nine season 4 essentials to watch

A familiar ridgey face joins the Deep Space Nine gang in the fourth season of the series; that is Worf, son of Mogh, played by Michael Dorn. It's a great way to show how Deep Space Nine stands out not just as as another Star Trek show, but as a cornerstone in the cohesive Star Trek universe. Though not the first example of Trek major characters making the switch between series, it certainly sets the standard.

• Season 4, Episode 1: The Way of The Warrior, Part 1
• Season 4, Episode 1: The Way of The Warrior, Part 2
• Season 4, Episode 04: Hippocratic Oath
• Season 4, Episode 11: Homefront
• Season 4, Episode 12: Paradise Lost
• Season 4, Episode 14: Return to Grace
• Season 4, Episode 23: To the Death
• Season 4, Episode 26: Broken Link

Deep Space Nine season 5 essentials to watch

You're going to notice that these lists start getting longer starting with season 5, and that's not just because there's more Klingon storylines to enjoy (although there are - check out episode 21 of this season for proof). It's because through season 5, the show begins its build-up to the famous Dominion War arc, which some fans consider the 'main storyline' of Deep Space Nine.

• Season 5, Episode 01: Apocalypse Rising
• Season 5, Episode 02: The Ship
• Season 5, Episode 04: ...Nor the Battle to the Strong 
• Season 5, Episode 12: The Begotten
• Season 5, Episode 13: For the Uniform
• Season 5, Episode 14: In Purgatory's Shadow
• Season 5, Episode 15: By Inferno's Light
• Season 5, Episode 16: Doctor Bashir, I Presume?
• Season 5, Episode 21: Soldiers of the Empire
• Season 5, Episode 23: Blaze Of Glory
• Season 5, Episode 24: Empok Nor
• Season 5, Episode 26: Call to Arms

Deep Space Nine season 6 essentials to watch

With the Dominion War in full swing. Deep Space Nine has made a heavy shift from telling episode-of-the-week stories toward longer-form arcs. Due to the upheaval of this time in DS9 history, this season is also markedly darker than its predecessors, as the citizens of the space station become more and more embroiled in the violence that surrounds them.

• Season 6, Episode 01: A Time To Stand 
• Season 6, Episode 02: Rocks and Shoals 
• Season 6, Episode 03: Sons and Daughters 
• Season 6, Episode 04: Behind the Lines 
• Season 6, Episode 05: Favor the Bold 
• Season 6, Episode 06: Sacrifice of Angels
• Season 6, Episode 11: Waltz 
• Season 6, Episode 16: Change of Heart 
• Season 6, Episode 18: Inquisition 
• Season 6, Episode 19: In the Pale Moonlight 
• Season 6, Episode 21: The Reckoning 
• Season 6, Episode 26: Tears of the Prophets

Deep Space Nine season 7 essentials to watch

Here it is, the final season and culmination of all the plots introduced in the episodes above. Starting with episode 16 of this season, one long, continuous arc stretches across 11 episodes, not ending until the series finale in episode 26. That finale, by the way, scored an impressive 5.4 million viewers when it aired on June 2, 1999, and is to this day considered one of the best wrap-ups in Star Trek history.

• Season 7, Episode 01: Image In The Sand 
• Season 7, Episode 02: Shadows And Symbols
• Season 7, Episode 08: The Siege Of AR-558 
• Season 7, Episode 16: Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges
• Season 7, Episode 17: Penumbra 
• Season 7, Episode 18: Til Death Do Us Part 
• Season 7, Episode 19: Strange Bedfellows 
• Season 7, Episode 20: The Changing Face Of Evil 
• Season 7, Episode 21: When It Rains 
• Season 7, Episode 22: Tacking Into The Wind
• Season 7, Episode 23: Extreme Measures 
• Season 7, Episode 24: The Dogs Of War 
• Season 7, Episode 25: What You Leave Behind, Part 1
• Season 7, Episode 26: What You Leave Behind, Part 2

Is there a season 8 of Deep Space Nine?

While Paramount decided against extending Deep Space Nine to eight seasons, various authors continued the story in prose novels beginning in 2001 with S.D. Perry's Avatar with several others following. One I must recommend is Garak's autobiography A Stitch in Time, written by the actor who played Garak, Andrew Robinson.

In 2015, some of the show's writers met together for a documentary called What We Left Behind which included a brainstorm session on what the story of an eighth season would have been. Everyone involved stressed this was all hypothetical, and not canon.

Why did DS9 get canceled?

While Paramount could have continued Star Trek: Deep Space Nine past its seven seasons, it chose not to. When originally conceived, the DS9 team had a rough plan for it to be five seasons - with the core cast signed to a holding deal of six seasons. The show proved to be popular enough that it eventually grew to be seven seasons, which back then was the preferred minimum length of a TV series for it to be properly sold for re-runs to other networks. Don't believe me? Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager were also ended after seven seasons.

Why was it called Deep Space Nine?

In cannon, Starfleet calls all of its space stations outside of federation space (or those co-run with another group) 'Deep Space' and then a numeric or alpha-numeric characters. If you recall, in the original Star Trek show's 'Trouble with Tribbles' episode there was a base called 'Deep Space Station K-7.

In actually, the tentative name for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was originally Star Trek: The Final Frontier, with 'Deep Space Nine' floating in as the name of the base and then eventually superseded ther original name to become the name of the show.

Is DS9 a spinoff?

Yes, Deep Space Nine is a spinoff of Star Trek: The Next Generation - which, in itself, was a spinoff of the original Star Trek TV shows and movies. Originally Deep Space Nine was intended to be even more closely connected to TNG than it was, as Michelle Forbes' Ro Laren was pencilled into to transition from the TNG to Deep Space Nine but she balked at the long-term commitment to a new show. Luckily, Colm Meaney had no problems transporting his TNG character of Miles O'Brien to Deep Space Nine.

How close is DS9 to Bajor?

After Deep Space Nine is moved closer to the wormhole in season 1, the station is said to be 160 million kilometers from Bajor (that's 99.4m miles, give or take). At impulse speed in a runabouts, the show says it takes three to five hours to travel that distance. Different vessels could travel that at impulse in quicker (or slower times). Either way, it's too far for a transport beam.

And yes, a ship with a warp drive could travel the 160m kilometers in minutes - but that kind in the same space system is discouraged, because one wrong measurement could kill millions of people. 

Is there a sequel to DS9?

Unfortunately, there's been no announcements for a sequel to Deep Space Nine in the form of a new season, a new show, or a movie. Our best recommendations for you are the aforementioned prose novels which continue the stories of these beloved characters.

Space may be the final frontier, but there's no end to Popverse's love of the Star Trek universe. Hop aboard the starship Enterprise with our Star Trek watch order, explore strange new worlds with our upcoming Star Trek TV shows and movies list, seek out the new life of the franchise, and boldly go where no Star Trek film has ever gone before - with Quentin Tarantino?