Paul Sorvino In Star Trek: TNG & Worf’s Human Brother Explained

Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) had a human brother in Star Trek: The Next Generation, portrayed by Goodfellas actor Paul Sorvino in his one onscreen Star Trek appearance. Worf was introduced in TNG's premiere episode with the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise-D, but the Klingon Starfleet officer didn't get much to do in TNG season 1. After the death of Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby), Worf became Chief of Security and began featuring in more storylines. Having been raised by human parents, Worf often struggled with his identity as a Klingon and a Starfleet officer.

After Worf's Klingon parents were killed by Romulans at the Khitomer Massacre, Worf was raised by Sergey (Theodore Bikel) and Helena (Georgia Brown) Rozhenko on a farming colony on Gault and then on Earth. Sergey had been serving on the USS Intrepid when the ship answered a Klingon distress call. In the wreckage left by the Romulans, Sergey found the young Worf, and he and his wife decided to raise him as their son. Worf's parents visited him on the Enterprise in TNG season 4, episode 2, "Family," but his human foster brother, Nikolai Rozhenko, did not make an appearance until Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7.

Paul Sorvino Played Worf’s Brother In Star Trek: TNG

Worf reunited with his human brother in TNG season 7, episode 13, "Homeward."

The only biological child of Sergey and Helena, Paul Sorvino's Nikolai Rozhenko served the United Federation of Planets as a cultural observer. Worf and Nikolai had been raised as brothers, although Nikolai's impulsiveness sometimes conflicted with Worf's more stoic nature. In 2370, Nikolai was observing the people of Boraal II, where he fell in love and conceived a child with a villager named Dobara (Penny Johnson Jerald). When the atmosphere of Boraal II began dissipating, Nikolai forced the hand of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) hand by transporting the villagers to the USS Enterprise-D. The Enterprise crew then found a suitable new planet, and Nikolai decided to remain with Dobara and their unborn child.

Italian-American actor Paul Sorvino is most known for his role as Paulie Cicero in Martin Scorsese's 1990 gangster film Goodfellas, and he often played authority figures. Sorvino also appeared as NYPD Sergeant Phil Cerreta in the second and third seasons of Law & Order. He portrayed Fulgencio Capulet, the father of Juliet (Claire Danes), in Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film Romeo + Juliet, and also played Henry Kissinger in 1995's Nixon. More recently, Sorvino appeared in episodes of Elementary and The Goldbergs, and he had a recurring role as Frank Costello on Godfather of Harlem. Sorvino passed away of natural causes at the age of 83 in July 2022.

Worf’s Brother & Human Parents Are Important To The Klingon’s Story

Throughout his time on TNG and DS9, Worf often struggled to reconcile his Starfleet duties with his Klingon heritage.

Worf grew up as the only Klingon in a small farming village, where he gained his sense of self-control, as he often had to hold back his strength when playing with human children. Despite being raised by humans, Worf always felt drawn to his Klingon roots, and he traveled to the Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS to perform the Rite of Ascension at the age of fifteen. Worf returned to Earth and later became the first Klingon to join Starfleet, eventually landing a position on the USS Enterprise-D.

In many ways, Worf is more Klingon than most Klingons. He strives to uphold everything he knows about what it means to be Klingon, but he has never actually lived among his own species for any significant amount of time. Worf's unique upbringing makes him a man of contradictions - he feels too human to be a true Klingon warrior but too alien to be human, and this is where much of his conflict stems from. Worf's Star Trek: The Next Generation journey explored his duel nature, but the Klingon didn't truly come into his own until he joined the cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.