Before we hear what the writers have cooked up, I thought it might be fun for us to post/discuss some scenes or just basic ideas for plots we have imagined for an unwritten season 8. Here is a scene from the first episode of my imagined 8th season: Ben Sisko is wandering around a quiet, rural part of Bajor. He has no idea how he got there. In fact, he's trying to recall his last memory. It's difficult. He remembers fighting the Dominion. He remembers finding Gul Dukat and Kai Winn in the fire cave. And then...what? He feels older. Much older. What happened? Why can he not remember? Suddenly, in the distance he sees something familiar. A building. A home. He smiles, but he's not sure why. All he knows is it's familiar, in a wonderful way. His pace quickens and he runs toward the house. The house grows larger and larger as he approaches, and so does his memory of this place. It's his dream house! But he doesn't remember building it. He doesn't remember living there, nor does he remember ever seeing it other than the model he created on Deep Space Nine. But there it was, exactly has he imagined it to be. Is this a dream? Is this a vision? The door opens. Ben moves off to the side, just behind a large Ogechi tree. At the door, a young man is walking out with a young child. "Only for a few minutes, Zola. The moons will be rising soon." That's not just any young man with a child. That's Jake! But how can it be? Ben's last memory of Jake was when he was only barely a man. Now here's this much older man standing before him. How can it be? The young girl runs out toward her favorite tree and pauses. Ben realizes she sees him and steps to the side, looking toward Jake. Jake's smile as he watches his daughter turns into a look of supreme awe as he looks up to see her grandfather standing before them. "Dad?" says Jake. "Son!" Ben responds as he runs past the tree and into the arms of his boy. "Dad, we've missed you so much! I don't believe it! I don't know how this happened, but I don't care," Jake says. "Slow down. Slow down, Jake," Ben says with a tired, confused look on his face. Jake steps back slightly, still gripping his father's arms. He looks into the eyes of his father, and he sees a stranger. These eyes used to be strong and confident. These are the eyes of a man who is lost. Jake has no doubt something is very wrong. "Who is it, Daddy?" Zola asks. Ben turns around and looks down at the little girl. His confused eyes are all at once filled with tender kindness. He kneels down and looks into the young girl's large, questioning eyes. "My name is Ben," he says. "I'm Zola," she quickly responds. "My grandfather's name was Ben, but he died saving the universe."
I've never thought about Season 8 but I had thought about there being one-off 50th anniversary episodes for all the different shows, with the same amount of time having passed in-universe as out. All I had thought about for DS9 was an older and more seasoned Dr Bashir and Garak visiting a Cardassian refugee camp where there's been an outbreak of something and having them butt heads with the locals and their leader. Kira was to have a cameo who Julian contacts back at DS9 at some point. She might have been still commanding DS9 but I'm not sure. I wasn't too concerned about saying where everyone was or what roles they had now but just to try to tell a good story.
I really need to read the novels. I wonder if the writers considered those before recording their season 8 brainstorming? I'm guessing they had to at least be aware, right? Otherwise, the chances are good at least some ideas will be similar I suppose. ...said someone who hasn't read the novels. haha.
ISB asked them to either watch WYLB or read the wikipedia page on it. My guess: they don't care about what happened in the novelverse.
Probably. The scriptwriters will deal with some of the same issues that the novelists responded to, so there might be similarities. I think it would depend on when they decide to set season 8. In the clips offered on indiegogo, RDM brings up that they can go get Sisko at any time. This might mean that some significant time passes after WYLB. Season 8 might not be what would have aired starting in 1999, but might be what that season would look like if aired today.