Star Trek: Discovery season 5 revealed more about the Breen than ever before, but two characters from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine already knew what the Breen looked like 800 years before L'ak (Elias Toufexis) removed his helmet. The Breen were first spoken of in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but it was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that formally introduced the Breen as fearsome aliens wearing helmets and refrigeration suits. The Breen soon allied with the Dominion and became an existential threat to the United Federation of Planets.
During the waning months of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Dominion War, the Breen turned the tide against the Federation. The Breen not only destroyed Captain Benjamin Sisko's USS Defiant with an energy-dissipating device, but they attacked Earth and dealt a devastating blow to the Federation's home world. The level of menace the Breen became was only hinted at in their first appearance in 1995 during Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4's "Indiscretion," where Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) and Legate Dukat (Marc Alaimo) saw what audiences wouldn't get to see for another 29 years.
Star Trek: DS9’s Major Kira & Dukat Knew What Breen Looked Like Before Discovery’s L’ak Reveal
They never talked about it.
Major Kira and Legate Dukat saw what the Breen look like under their helmets in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4, episode 5, "Indiscretion." Kira and Dukat made strange bedfellows when they traveled to the planet Dozaria in the Badlands searching for the passengers of a Cardassian transport ship called the Ravinok. Kira and Dukat find a Breen prison camp where Dukat's daughter, Tora Ziyal (Cyia Batten), is being held. Wearing Breen refrigeration suits, Dukat and Kira infiltrate the camp, rescue Ziyal, and even take other Breen prisoner. But if Kira and Dukat were able to disguise themselves as Breen, then they killed the wearers of the refrigeration suits. Thus, Kira and Dukat saw what the Breen look like under their helmets.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Indiscretion" didn't show how Kira and Dukat acquired Breen refrigeration suits. It's possible they found them, but that's unlikely. The Breen never take off their suits or helmets, so it's more logical that the Bajoran and Cardassian killed two Breen off-screen to take their clothes. And that means Kira and Dukat disrobed the dead Breen and saw their true faces. However, Kira and Dukat never mentioned what the Breen really look like. Their focus was on freeing Ziyal and the other prisoners. In 1995, Star Trek hadn't yet fully established the Breen, and what their true faces looked like beneath their helmets was not yet a major mystery.
How Star Trek: Discovery Updated The Breen
L'ak was our gateway to understanding the Breen
Audiences wouldn't find out what the Breen look like under their helmets until L'ak was revealed as a Breen in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. Underneath their helmets, the "Jelly Breen" are gelatinous, although L'ak solidified without his headgear. Star Trek: Discovery revamped the Breen to be the Big Bads of the final season, which took gradual steps to update Breen canon. L'ak, who fell in love with a Moll (Eve Harlow), was the Scion of the Breen Imperium, and he was the first to turn his back on his people to run away with a human. L'ak's uncle, Primarch Ruhn (Tony Nappo) placed an Erigah blood bounty on L'ak and Moll, but Ruhn really needed his nephew to legitimize his claim as Breen Emperor.
Star Trek: Discovery season 5 established the Breen to be in a civil war over their imperial throne.
Tragically, L'ak died before Star Trek: Discovery season 5 ended, but Moll used his influence as Scion to take command of Ruhn's Breen Dreadnought to find the ancient technology of the Progenitors in her unfulfilled hope of resurrecting L'ak. Star Trek: Discovery season 5 established the Breen to be in a civil war over their imperial throne, but they are also a formidable force with the power to overwhelm the United Federation of Planets. It was said that no one had ever seen a Breen without his helmet before L'ak, but Major Kira and Legate Dukat must have in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In hindsight, it's amazing that they never mentioned it and didn't treat it like a big deal.
