10 Star Trek Characters Who MUST Return (2025)

By the end of Star Trek: Discovery, Commander Paul Stamets was at somewhat of a loss. His life's work as an astromycologist — the spore drive — had been replaced by something invented centuries after his birth — the pathway drive. The chance at a whole new horizon of scientific endeavour in the Progenitors' tech had also been taken from him. Like all aboard the Discovery, including his husband, Stamets must return to Star Trek so we can see where innate curiosity led him next.

Actor behind the real-world mycologist's namesake, Anthony Rapp, sat down recently for an interview with TrekCulture's very own Brie Beecher. Asked what his "dream casting" would be for a return to the franchise, Rapp replied,

I just saw [Jonathan] Frakes in the hallway. […] The fact that he gets to trot out Riker every once in a while now. That's part of the dream, honestly, is to come back, to get to return to [Stamets]. […] It might be cool to do something else too, but that's the dream. […] Down the road, to say, 'Hey, here I am and here's what I'm doing now'.

There is pure research, and there is applied research. There is also passing on your knowledge to future generations. As Rapp also noted to Brie in the interview, "[Stamets is not] the kind of person that's going to just relax […] and go, ok, retirement". Perhaps a professorship is the perfect next step for Stamets? Who else is going to teach the cadets about mushrooms?

Now, young mortal, and new ensign in his new quarters, unpack quickly because the trial, for you, has only just begun. That tease from Q to Jack Crusher in the inter-credits of The Last Generation was nearly two years ago. Like that warp catchphrase, we're still hanging for Star Trek: Legacy. We said this last year, and especially the year before, but there really is no time like the present. If only so we can stop repeating ourselves, the crew of the Enterprise-G must return.

By crew of the Enterprise-G, we also mean crew of the Enterprise-G — Captain Seven of Nine, first officer Raffaela Musiker, Jack (special counsellor to the captain), Lieutenant Sidney La Forge, Ensign Kova, Lieutenant Mura, and the rest. It is their adventures in the 25th century we want to see first and foremost. 

That still leaves plenty of room for guest stars. LeVar Burton could return as the now commodore to check in on daughter Sidney from time to time. Android M-5-10 Data probably needs more therapy with Deanna, who'll need more time with Will as a result. How's Beverly doing over at Starfleet Medical? Jean-Luc, of course, fits in all by himself. We're also sure Liam Shaw's not really dead, just thoroughly messing with us. And what of Laris? 

What… of… Laris…

Well, let's not break with tradition. This dastardly half-Romulan has appeared on every version of this list since this list was sent back in time to 2021 to ensure its own existence. We've said it four times before. Sela MUST return to Star Trek.

Save for a hologram, Denise Crosby was conspicuously absent in Star Trek: Picard's third season. Sela, also Crosby's idea, has been missing since 1991 and/or 2368. With no more Star Trek: Lower Decks (that we know of), and more Star Trek: Prodigy looking unlikely, Star Trek: Legacy now seems like the best chance for the character's return. Revenge is a dish best served in the still slowly cooling wake of a supernova.

Let's not count Sela out for time travel either! That is how she came to be. There are other ways to get to the 32nd century, too, such as cryogenics. That has bad guy and gal already written all over it. Paul Giamatti will be playing the season one foe for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Villainy loves company. Perhaps Sela can be the accomplice, if not the mastermind!

Of God and Angel. Before Sha Ka Ree, there was pirate lover of the Serene Squall. Rescue from the Ankeshtan K'til Retreat — a rehab centre for Vulcan criminals — failed for 'Xaverius'. Chronologically, the first we saw of Sybok was the back of him in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

That was season one. We've not seen hide nor horse nor Galactic Army of Light of Spock's half-brother in the series since. The very end of the episode, The Serene Squall, did feel like a bit of a tease. Perhaps a return has been slowly in the works. Sybok certainly needs to return, if anything just so we can find out how he got from there (the Retreat) to, well, you know, there.

At New York Comic Con in October last year, it was announced that Flight of the Conchords and Our Flag Means Death actor Rhys Darby would be guest starring in season three of Strange New Worlds, role unknown. We know he's not Doctor Roger Korby. He will be played by Irish actor Cillian O'Sullivan. That does leave a wealth of character options for Darby, including Sybok. Maybe that was him, staring out the window all along?

It was largely thanks to the self-sacrificing efforts of the crew of the Discovery that there could be a Starfleet Academy in the 32nd century. It seems only fair that the one leading the charge to the far future should get to appear in the now eponymous series. Cut short by cancellation, Michael Burnham, like her colleagues, deserves more before the coda. The road to the future's future for Admiral Burnham need not remain untravelled.

Burnham is also used to giving speeches to young Starfleet hopefuls. In Kobayashi Maru, she addressed a small group of Academy cadets — the first ever since the Burn. The academic year of the upcoming series must need a commencement speaker, too. Admiral Picard had his turn centuries prior. Why not Burnham again, therefore?

"We could really use you at the Starfleet Academy," Tilly teased us to Burnham later in Whistlespeak. "Well, don't tempt me," Burnham replied tantalisingly. That might have been a hint at a professorship in xenolinguistics. Then again, it might just have been the whistle. Either way, Burnham does have a ship to command, all things considered. The Discovery itself is a character owed a return.

As we know, Brent Spiner has already played an entire slew of the Soong family photo album — the ascendants and descendants of Noonien. We're sure he'd be up to portray one or two more. Doctor Adam was of the 20th and 21st centuries. Doctor Arik was of the 22nd. Doctors Noonien and Altan were of the 24th. That does leave a rather glaring gap.

"Cybernetics. Artificial life-forms. I doubt I'll finish the work myself. Might take a generation or two," said Arik Soong before putting pencil to paper at the end of The Augments. Picking up the pencil, at least one of those generations must have intersected with Those Old Scientists. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds could show us the Soong on a midway to Data.

That Soong might also want to get down in the Mudd. By the 2250s, Harcourt already had several android copies of himself. Connection unknown, by 2268, Fenton was the self-proclaimed king of his own self-named robot planet, once inhabited by the 'Makers' of the Andromeda Galaxy. One Soong would have a Stella time! There is also the little matter of those, but especially that android, which Doctor Roger Korby was getting to.

We've had Fred. We've had purple head. We've had various Datas back from the dead. The Soong-type android and fractal offspring seem destined to be around across time and universes. It would certainly be nice to see what became of Soji Asha and those of Coppelius, forged by Altan Soong and Bruce Maddox. There is another Soong we have bigger questions about — Kore.

'I work for and with some really cool guys,' was enough of a recruitment pitch. Kore and Wesley were beamed away from Los Angeles, and presumably Earth and the 21st century. "All of space and time" is a traveller's playground. Wesley has had his focus (more on that in a minute), but what of his companion?

Even more so as, in the Star Trek #400 comic story A Matter of Choice by Wil Wheaton, Kore is destined to be Wesley's replacement. Traveller timey-wimey might have been a bit out of place in season three of Star Trek: Picard. It was a missed opportunity for Star Trek: Discovery.

Kore must now be as timeless as her colleague. Passing by for a cameo in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy would be a breeze. Isa Briones is currently very busy in The Pitt, which has just been renewed for a second season. The ziggurat might still have to wait! Speaking of…

It's safe to say we're keen on the idea of this Mozart-like prodigy's return — to follow his return in Star Trek: Prodigy. We recently published a whole list entitled '10 Reasons Wesley Crusher Needs His Own Spin-Off Series'!

For too long, Wesley, and sadly also Wil, were easy targets. Now, he boldly wears the sweater, sipping mango juice. And the best thing is, with a little space, time, thought, Wesley can travel to any series. Fire up the definitely-a-'TARDIS' in that ziggurat! There's the universe, and universes, to explore.

We've mentioned Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, but there's no reason Wesley can't appear in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Wesley can still be the yarn to knit the franchise together. In that way, there is also the 'Crusher' of the credits of 765874: Unification. That may or may not have been the former wonderchild of the Enterprise-D by the fountain. 

Since Endgame in 2001, all but two of Star Trek: Voyager's main cast have re-appeared in the franchise in some capacity, or capacities. 2025 also marks the 30th anniversary of Caretaker, first broadcast on 16 January 1995. 

At San Diego Comic-Con last year, news broke that Robert Picardo would be reprising his role of The Doctor in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy as a series regular. The OG EMH's live-action comeback about 800 years or so in the future is exciting enough. The opportunity for a Voyager cameo or two along with him is too good to miss!

If he can make it to the 32nd century, so can hologram Janeway of Star Trek: Prodigy. The flesh and blood version of Janeway (and Seven of Nine, moreover) has already been to the 29th century. What's another couple for a quick visit?

After all those years, The Doctor must still be longing for his first crew, his first friends, his first family. Perhaps, in Starfleet Academy, we might see more of his holo-images — he was quite a shutterbug — or catch a glimpse at his memories as he daydreams again.

The good thing about time travel is that you can use it to go pretty much anywhere, anywhen. The bad thing about time travel is that it's banned. Temporal Accords be damned! The big reveal towards the end of Life, Itself was a big deal that left us hanging. To be continued…whenever, wherever, Kovich, aka Agent Daniels, must return.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy immediately stands out as the ideal home for Kovich — no time travel required, just a pathway drive or the flittering of holographic communication. In either the guise of Matt Winston or the form of David Cronenberg, an appearance or two in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for Daniels is also feasible. Pike and crew are also no strangers to time travel.

Having first appeared on Star Trek: Enterprise, Daniels/Kovich is a legacy character in his own right. Fitting, then, for him to appear in a series of the same name. The eagle-eyed will have spotted a very Kovich-looking individual by the fountain in OTOY and the Roddenberry Archive's 765874: Unification. For more with Yor on the Enterprise-J, we've already been shown how to dream.