Gomez, Trekkies will note, is a talkative and funny character. She converses well with Geordi, but she comes across as relatably awkward, not to mention pretty funny. Sadly, Sonya Gomez, Naff said, was written to be just a little too funny for the character’s own good. As such, when it came time to bring her back, Gomez was no longer well-suited to the ultra-dramatic love story they wanted to involve her in. Naff said:
“I was told that Gomez was going to evolve into Geordi’s love interest, but the dialogue and the way I was directed to play the part was more comic relief than love interest. When it came time to possibly renew me as a recurring role in the next season, I was told that producers thought Gomez was too funny to be the type of love interest that would cause Geordi to get a possibly fatal operation to see me.”
A fatal operation? It seems that the “Next Generation” writers planned out a story that would have allowed Geordi, a blind man who wears an external high-tech visor to see, to have functioning eyeballs. Naff continued:
“That was the endgame. Geordi was to fall so deeply in love with me that he’d risk his life to have eye surgery in order to see me. Apparently, the character of Gomez was written comically and didn’t match what they really wanted in the end. I was super-bummed when I got the news.”
It’s a pity about Gomez, as her return would have been welcomed. It’s fortunate, however, that the showrunners didn’t write a story about Geordi getting eye surgery. His disability was merely incidental to the show and was accepted by all his peers. A surgery story would have tactlessly called attention to it.