Summary
With all of the characters in theStar Trekuniverse, it’s difficult to pin down the main character of every live-action series. If the series takes place on a starship, it’s often the ship’s captain, but it can also be another person in a place of leadership or importance to the overall plot.
TheStar Trektelevision show library is growing by the decade, and no doubt will continue to evolve and expand with the fandom. The main characters that powered these popular shows had exciting and illustrious careers that didn’t always match their ultimate fate.
7James T. Kirk
Died Saving The Universe
James Kirk is one of the most iconic characters in modern media, and as the captain of The Original Enterprise, he emerged as the protagonist of the show. Flanked by his two supporting officers Bones and Spock, who also happenedto be his best friendsand popular characters on their own, Star Trek turned into a cultural zeitgeist on his watch.
His importance is one of the reasons why his ultimate fate in the movieStar Trek: Generationsis still a topic of debate among fans. Considering everything James Kirk had been through in his career, falling off a bridge didn’t seem like a fitting end. He didsave the entire universefrom the madness of Soren and the eternal paradise of the Nexus, so that must count for something.
6Jean-Luc Picard
Lives Happily Ever After, Playing Poker With His Friends
Jean-Luc Picard is so revered in theStar Trekfranchise that his character powered no less than two popular shows,The Next GenerationandPicard. In a way, that gives this character two endings, because for years we thought his final appearance was the last episode ofTNG, “All Good Things.”
It’s important to point out that this episode ended with a poker game, and the end of Picard echoes this image of him playing cards with Beverly Crusher and the rest of the crew from his time as captain of the Enterprise. This is the last that audiences see of him, which leaves his ultimate fate ambiguous.
5Benjamin Sisko
Vanished Into A Wormhole & Became The Emissary Of Planets
Several characters took center stage at varying times throughout the run ofDeep Space Nine,but Benjamin Sisko emergedas the show’s protagonist. It wasn’t just that he was an interesting character with a compelling backstory and a mysterious future, but also because Sisko was one of the first to arrive and the last to leave.
DS9lasted for seven seasons, and Sisko was there the whole time, until the very last episode when he and Gul Dukat fall into a fiery chasm together. Dukat is killed, but Sisko is pulled into another plane of existence to become an Emissary of the Prophets. The last anyone heard from him, it was in a vision seen by his wife that he would return to her someday.
4Kathryn Janeway
Janeway made a profound impression on the Star Trek IP as the first female captain of a ship that was lost in the vast and uncharted Delta Quadrant. AlthoughVoyageris her only live-action appearance, Janeway reprises her role in the animated show,Star Trek: Prodigy,and has been mentioned inStar Trek: Picard.
There are two captain Janeways in the last episode ofVoyager, with an older version creating a time loop by returning to the ship when it was still stranded and helping her younger self get home faster. She made a plan with Captain Janeway to help them use the Borg wormhole network to get home twenty years faster, but she had to sacrifice her own life to destroy not only the Borg but also the wormhole network.
The Janeway that survived this encounter returned safely to Earth after only seven years in the Delta Quadrant, and has since had a brilliant career in Starfleet, appearing and being mentioned multiple times throughout future entries in the series.
3Jonathan Archer
Died Peacefully After A Long And Tumultuous Journey
Jonathan Archer was Captain of the Enterprise NX-01, the version of the ship that existedin the pre-Federation daysbefore Starfleet even existed. Part of the story ofEnterpriseis how the main character was instrumental in the formation of both organizations while having episodic adventures that mimicked the classic show.
The final episode of Enterprise ties in with theTNGcast and storyline, involving the characters Troi and Riker, who are present at Archer’s dramatic speech before the signing of the charter that will create the United Federation of Planets. According to the lore, Archer died peacefully in his sleep a day after attending the commissioning ceremony of the Enterprise as it appeared inTOS.
2Michael Burnham
Her Fate Will Be Revealed In Season 5
Michael Burnham is the main character ofDiscovery, a show that involves other famous characters like Christopher Pike and Spock, along with some important historical events like the Battle of Binary Stars. Burnham did a lot of work for the secretive Section 31, which explains why Spock didn’t talk about his sister much in later years, but she was an important player in the events that led up to him joining Starfleet.
Writers and producers have confirmed that the upcoming fifth season ofDiscoveryis going to be the last one, with Burnham’s future hopeful but her ultimate fate yet to be determined. Season four had an open but hopeful ending with the Federation getting back together.
1Christopher Pike
Early Retirement On Talos 4
Although one could argue that Pike’s last appearance was in theTOSepisode “The Menagerie” which is when he returned to Talos IV permanently, this once-obscure character rose to prominence in modernTrekand currently sits in the Captain’s chair of the original Enterprise. He’s also appeared as a main supporting character in the Kelvin Timeline films and is canonically the first Captain of the original USS Enterprise before James T. Kirk.
There are some familiar faces in this show from the IP’s past, including Spock and Number One, with several references to the old show as interesting tie-ins.Strange New Worldsis set ten years before the events ofThe Original Series,and it describes his heroism throughout his years at the helm of the Enterprise andhow he came to accept his grim fate.
Watching theTOSepisodes that make up “The Menagerie” puts the injuries that Pike eventually suffers in a more devastating context. The vintage show had to rely on the reactions of the actors to convey the horror of Pike’s disfigured visage, and even Spock looks like he’s on the verge of tears. When he returns to Talos IV, in his mind he’ll be restored, which is why Spock breaks some serious rules to get him there.
