10 Star Trek Characters Who Have Appeared In The Most Shows

Star Trek
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Discovery

Despite only appearing in a handful of episodes, there are few characters as important to Star Trek as the Vulcan ambassador Sarek.

First introduced as Spock's father in The Original Series episode 'Journey to Babel', at this point Sarek and his son had been estranged for 18 years, spurred by Spock's decision to join Starfleet instead of The Vulcan Science Academy. Although the two would reconcile at the end of the episode, Sarek would appear again in The Animated Series, in a time travel episode examining Spock's childhood and relationships on Vulcan, before striking out Spock-less in The Next Generation as he succumbs to the lethal Bendii Syndrome.

This would not be Sarek's final appearance, however, as his influence upon the series would prove even greater with the revelation that Discovery protagonist Michael Burnham is his adoptive daughter. In a controversial move that many saw as a convoluted retcon, Burnham's childhood with Sarek and fractious relationship with adoptive brother Spock become much of the emotional spine of Discovery's first two seasons.

Burnham and Discovery's involvement in defeating Control & Section 31 leads to any record of them expunged from Starfleet, accounting for Sarek's not mentioning her, but it still remains canon that he shaped two of Star Trek's most important characters.