Star Trek: DS9's Gul Dukat And Kira Nerys Could Never Be A Couple, According To Nana Visitor

There was quite a bit of romance on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," with some pretty unusual couples that ended up being some of the franchise's best. Unfortunately, for every couple as perfect as Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) and Worf (Michael Dorn), several ill-advised pairings didn't work out. The character with the worst luck in love on all of "Deep Space Nine" was Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), whose boyfriends had a habit of either dying tragically or being called to higher purposes. One proposed romance for her would have been even worse, however, as the show's writers were toying around with the idea of pairing her up with Cardassian leader Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo). 

In an interview with ScreenRant, Visitor revealed that while Dukat and Kira had a unique and deeply complicated relationship, a romance between them never could have worked for one simple reason: Dukat is a true villain and a sociopath who only cares about himself. When you add in the fact that he also slept with Kira's mother (exposed in the episode "Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Wrongs Darker than Death or Night" and under consensually fuzzy circumstances, no less!) and helped participate in the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, the idea of Kira and Dukat together is honestly just gross. 

Major Kira has some pretty great episodes with Cardassian characters over the course of the series, and eventually comes to challenge her own prejudices and grow in a big way. While it might have been interesting for her to fall in love with a Cardassian, Dukat would have been the worst possible option, as Visitor explained:

"I think a lot of people found Dukat [to be] not only a great character, but romantically, almost interesting. He had this thing. There were a lot of women who liked him, but I believe that would be jumping the shark. [...] 'He's a bad boy, but he means well.' No, he's a sociopath, you cannot fix that. You can't. Narcissists are good at convincing you of the person that you want to see reflected back at you. He's just so good at that."

Kira was doomed with a pretty tragic case of "I can fix him" syndrome, which she eventually turned on the station's security chief and resident grump, Odo (René Auberjonois). But Visitor is right that Dukat is simply beyond fixing. Dukat tried again and again to get Kira to fall for him, but she saw his selfishness and lack of real love for others right away. Once his daughter Ziyal was killed, he really went off the deep end, and there was never any chance for Kira and Dukat to reconcile their differences. In the end, Dukat and Kira work best as adversaries forced into occasional camaraderie, and a romance between them never could have worked out. 

Now, Dukat and Bajoran faith leader Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher)? That's a pairing we can get behind.