Star Trek Finally Revealed What The Breen Look Like Under The Mask

Contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Discovery"

Just because Starfleet's directive is to seek out new life and civilizations doesn't mean that life always wants to be sought out. Such is the case with the enigmatic Breen, a xenophobic warrior race first mentioned in the Season 4 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Loss" that became one of the most enduring unsolved mysteries in "Star Trek."

The Breen are referenced several more times throughout that series and "Star Trek: Voyager," with each mention adding equal parts intrigue and insight to fans' knowledge of the mysterious race. But Breen-curious fans eager to finally meet the long-hyped race were sorely disappointed at their first on-screen appearance in the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Indiscretion." Although the episode featured the reclusive figures prominently, the Breen appear with helmets and environmental suits hiding their true forms — an outfit they would rock in subsequent appearances.

But those decades of suspense finally paid off in a huge reveal in the Season 5 "Star Trek: Discovery" episode "Mirrors" — even if fans had to wait until the 32nd century to learn what the Breen really look like. As revealed through the character of rebel Breen L'ak (Elias Toufexis), the unmasked Breen are gelatinous greenish humanoids with icy eyes who tend to solidify after a few moments of exposure to the air. And if L'ak is any indication, they're not the worst-looking aliens in the universe — at least when they're in their solid form. 

Viewers learned many details about the Breen physiology through throwaway "Star Trek" dialogue. In "The Loss," a "Next Generation" episode that finds Troi (Marina Sirtis) temporarily losing her empathic abilities, Data (Brent Spiner) reveals that the Breen are a rare example of a race that is undetectable to empaths — a trait beneficial to a reclusive species. Data later considers the Breen as possible culprits for an attack on a Federation ship in "Hero Worship," citing the Breen's nearby outposts, cloaked vessels, and similar battle tactics. In the "Deep Space Nine" episode "In Purgatory's Shadow," Bashir (Alexander Siddig) hints at the Breen's gelatinous physiology, noting that the species does not have blood.

Other details that are revealed through the series suggest that there's a certain degree of myth and misinformation surrounding the species. In "Indiscretion," Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) referred to the Breen homeworld as a "frozen wasteland," noting that the dilithium-rich desert planet Dozaria would have been "about fifty degrees too hot for them." But this is contradicted in "The Changing Face of Evil" with Weyoun's (Jeffrey Combs) revelation that intelligence reports calling their homeworld a frozen wasteland are incorrect as the planet is actually "quite comfortable."

In the "'Til Death Do Us Part," Trill Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer) speculates to Worf (Michael Dorn) about the species' appearance. While Ezri hypothesizes that the Breen might be "all furry" since Breen is said to be a cold planet and shares a dream that they have large claws, Worf has only one concern — how dangerous and intolerant of other species the Breen are. According to Worf, the Breen were responsible for the disappearance of an entire fleet of Klingon ships foolishly intent on conquering their homeworld.

With all the mystery surrounding the Breen physiology, it's that much more frustrating when the species finally makes an appearance in the franchise only to be covered in head-to-toe gear. But there's a canonical reason for that, as Weyoun points out in "The Changing of Face of Evil" — they're in refrigeration suits, although the purpose for the Breen wearing them is not revealed until "Star Trek: Discovery," when we learn that these suits allow them to interact with normie humanoids without solidifying out of a fluid state ("Mirrors"). One of the best things about the big Breen reveal is that viewers had a chance to get to know a Breen before learning that's what he was. Although first introduced in the "Discovery" episode "Red Detective," L'ak's race and troubled history as a rebel Breen is unmasked in "Mirrors."

In a TrekMovie.com interview, episode co-writer Carlos Cisco called the opportunity to expand the Breen lore with a long-awaited peek under the helmet "a really big privilege." According to Cisco, after the writers initially pitched a gelatinous form, the art team drew inspiration from the translucent-headed barreleye fish."We got really excited about that," Cisco added. Like the deep sea-dwelling fish, the writers imagined the Breen as a species that evolved in a harsh environment. "So they developed a way to protect themselves which was hardening their outer shell into basically a skin," Cisco continued, "but that takes an immense amount of concentration and energy, making them slower, more sluggish, less intelligent, basically." After the Breen eventually developed refrigeration suits, they used them to protect their solid form, which they perceived as beneath their more evolved natures.