10 Star Trek Characters We Had To Wait Years To See Again
2. The Game's Afoot...Again!
Who can't be excited for the return of Data's greatest opponent?
Daniel Davis clocked up two appearances in TNG as Sherlock Holmes's nemesis. First was Moriarty's creation in one of the show's early classics, Elementary, Dear Data, before returning four years later in a sequel that surpasses the original, Ship in a Bottle.
Davis, who in a fun twist would play an officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise CVN-65 in The Hunt for Red October, reprised his seminal Trek role 30 years later. This places him with one of the longest gaps between appearances, doubling that of Ricardo Montalban's Khan (1967 - 1982).
Moriarty himself has also been active outside of the Television universe of Star Trek. The literary universe saw him return in Jeffery Lang's 2014 novel The Light Fantastic, a story capitalising on the earlier (novel spoilers!) resurrection of Data.
Though his return was all too brief in Star Trek: Picard, it was still a welcome appearance from one of Data's greatest nemeses.