Ira Steven Behr has worked as writer/producer on several TV series since Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — which he ran as executive producer — completed its seven seasons, and none of them has particularly struck gold ... not until The 4400, where he is currently showrunner. Described by many critics as an odd combination of "X-Files" and "X-Men," The 4400 has nevertheless captured a loyal audience that has carried it well beyond its original six-hour miniseries format. In fact, the sci-fi/mystery/drama show is premiering its third season this Sunday, June 11, on the USA Network.

Behr, sporting a blue goatee, welcomed a small group of journalists into his Hollywood offices — a suite he shares with Piller Squared (The Dead Zone), formed by his late colleague Michael Piller — to talk about the upcoming round of new episodes of the cable TV hit.

One of the characters who became very important to the mythology of The 4400 in its second season was "Kevin Burkhoff," an erratic and somewhat demented neurosurgeon played by Behr's old friend from DS9, Jeffrey Combs ("Weyoun" and "Brunt," as well as "Shran" in Star Trek: Enterprise and others). As previously reported, Combs will continue in that recurring role throughout the third season, appearing in seven of 13 episodes.

"Jeff is up in Vancouver even as we speak, filming show nine: 'The Ballad of Kevin and Tess.' This is a big episode for Kevin Burkhoff," Behr reported. Despite the importance of his character to the show, Combs will not be bumped up to principal cast member, though Behr wouldn't mind seeing that happen. "It all came down to money. Not (regarding) him specifically, we just ran out of money to add another regular character," he explained.

In the new season, Burkhoff will be conducting experiments on himself, "trying to see if he can be the first non-4400 to develop 4400 capabilities — and he's in a great deal of trouble," Behr revealed. In the show, the "4400" are the people who returned in a mysterious ball of light after being abducted over the course of 60 years, and most of the returnees are now able to demonstrate superhuman powers of one kind or another. For instance, one principal character can heal with his hands, one can see the future, and in one episode, a 4400 played by Robert Picardo could make people lose weight just by being near them.

If you watched the second season finale last August, you saw Burkhoff — in a brief preview of his third season throughline — injecting himself with a glowing liquid he had concocted. If you're a Combs fan and that image seemed vaguely familiar, it was on purpose: "It was a complete and utter homage to Herbert West," Behr confessed, referring to the "Re-Animator" series of films that Combs stars in. "And it was something we were quite pleased to do. You know, Jeff is a real buddy of mine, and he's someone I try to use a lot in various projects. So the thought of finally getting him into a role where he could be a little bit of that guy? I could not stop myself." (Note: Combs is slated to star again as Herbert West in the new sequel "House of Re-Animator" in 2008.)

Behr also spoke about how he has brought many of the same sensibilities to The 4400 that he did to DS9, particularly when it comes to the serialized nature of both series. "Serialization just keeps me interested, as both a viewer and as a writer," he said. "You know, I grew up in an age where there was no serialization — people were always falling in love one week and the next week that character was never talked about; your best friend shows up for an episode and dies in your arms and you're not in therapy the next week trying to deal with it! And it used to bug me quite a bit as a kid. I did not feel that was life, the way I lived it anyway. And so I just think it makes the show more compelling. I understand that it asks more of the audience. That was my mantra during the Deep Space Nine days. It was a complicated show, with so many threads. But nowadays we have the 'saga sell' at the beginning of each episode to get people on board. And the recaps, and the Internet. So there's lots of ways to pick up the storyline."

Something else 4400 and DS9 have in common, thanks largely to Behr, is the veiled political and social commentary. Except in The 4400, it's not really so veiled, because the show is contemporary, directly referencing the Department of Homeland Security and indirectly referencing the Patriot Act and other touchy subjects. "I think we do a lot of under-the-radar commentary about a lot of things. But we have to be a lot more careful about how we do it," he said. "I mean, Deep Space Nine, we had a lot of that — we could talk about religion, we could talk about anything, and no one gave a damn because they were wearing prosthetics." But in 4400, "We get looked at extremely closely for that kind of stuff, because they're worried about offending people."

Behr did say, though, that the executives at USA have been svery supportive of the creative directions he has set for the show, even if it makes them nervous. "They have gone beyond their comfort level, I think, in order to allow us to give them the best show we can give them."

And he won't back off this season on the political references. For instance, the National Security Agency will be "rearing its ugly head," and the show will deal with issues of civil rights, detainment, and other "scary stuff — scares me, you know."

On another point of comparison to DS9, Behr said that he and the writing staff do have in mind a "roadmap" for the show if it should go into a fourth or fifth season or beyond, in terms of revealing its secrets. (Viewers do know, vaguely, who abducted the 4400, and roughly why — it has to do with preventing a future catastrophe — but what that catastrophe is and how these people and their powers relate to it is still a mystery.) Despite having this roadmap in mind, "What I find is, the stories change the roadmap, as you go on." Plus, "I don't know what the studio and network are going to feel about certain things, and that's the reality of the business. I had a different ending for Deep Space Nine at one point that was never gonna go. And I knew it was never gonna go. But I was kind of tacking toward that in the back of my mind."

So what was that alternate ending Behr had in mind for DS9? "Well, ultimately, I wanted it to be that it was all a construct in the mind of Benny Russell." In other words, it would have turned out that the 20th-century scenario of "Far Beyond the Stars" would have been the true reality of the show (sort of like the snowglobe ending of St. Elsewhere). "But there was no way in hell," he admitted. "The trouble with Deep Space Nine was, you weren't just one show, you were part of this whole continuum and you had to be careful what you did because it impacted on the trail of gold that they were following so strenuously and did not want to see disappear. At the same time I was always hearing, 'What would that mean for Voyager?'"

While Combs' character increased in significance throughout last season, another important character played by a Trek veteran got bumped off — sort of. Billy Campbell, who played "Thadiun Okona" in "The Outrageous Okona," played the charismatic millionaire "Jordan Collier" who rallied together the 4400, but he was assassinated by another principal character. However, his body turned up missing, and (Spoiler Alert if you are not caught up with the show!), he showed up mysteriously, homeless on the beach, in the last scene of the second season finale. We won't see Jordan again, though, until near the end of the third season, so don't expect an answer to that riddle anytime soon.

But the journalists present learned that the real reason Jordan Collier was killed in the first place was because Campbell decided to take 18 months off from show business to go sailing on "his tall ship." And not so much as a vacation, Behr explained, but to work as an active crew member — "you know, hauling riggings up and down..." (We can't wait to hear the rest of that story!) So Campbell should be back soon, and has told Behr he's looking forward to returning to the show.

The 4400 premieres its third season with a two-hour episode this Sunday, June 11, starting at 9:00 ET/PT (8:00 CT) on the USA Network. The following Sunday it takes its regular one-hour slot at 9:00, right before new episodes of The Dead Zone, which co-stars another DS9 alumnus, Nicole deBoer ("Ezri Dax").

At the press gathering, Behr was asked his opinion of J.J. Abrams taking the reins of the next Star Trek movie. "Certainly business-wise it's a smart move — it gives the name and the cachet. He could do something great," he commented. "But is the world ready for more Star Trek? I do not know. We'll find out. I wish him luck."

He added, "My only interest would be, if they were doing Deep Space Nine, then you'd have some choice quotes from me." Does he think a DS9 movie would ever happen? "I don't think so. I think we could do a pretty kick-ass Deep Space Nine movie, but not even in my wildest imaginations do I consider it."

He also mentioned that he stays tight with his former colleagues from DS9, such as those currently working on Battlestar Galactica (which also shoots in Vancouver). "They all mean a hell of a lot to me, and they always will. And the fact that these are Michael Piller's offices, y'know, is very kind of ironic and beautiful all at the same time."

So we all had to know: What's the deal with the blue goatee? He explained that when 4400 started, to save money the studio put him and his writing staff in a corporate office building occupied by Viacom executives, an environment not conducive to the creative process. "Every day I'd look up and there'd be eyes staring at me, looking in, I swear to God, and people would come in and go, 'How's it going? How're the scripts going?' I'd say, 'It was going great, until you just interrupted me!' So, I got more and more unhappy with the conditions that we were working under, and I came home one day and I talked to my wife and kids and said, 'Y'know, I'm not them and they're not me, how do I keep remembering that?' And my wife said, 'Blue your beard.' And my daughter said, 'Yes yes yes yes yes!'"

It startled the people he worked with at first, especially the network executives, to his delight. "Now, of course, they're used to it, and it's a big joke, and it's lost its impact. But my kids like it." And it helps him be the coolest dad at his kids' school, he said.