10 Star Trek Characters With Wasted Potential

Hemmer? We barely knew ya!

Or, to quote our marvellous editor Martin Wilkinson, "Wanna get known? You gotta die!" This was certainly the case for one character in the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. What a death for the history books it was, too!

We were, very briefly, but very memorably, introduced to Lieutenant Hemmer as he beamed aboard the Enterprise as part of the new crew rotation at the end of the SNW season pilot also titled Strange New Worlds. Casually carrying his kit bag over his shoulder like a bad-ass, he was immediately recognisable as an Aenar – a species of Andorian who originate from their planet's Northern Wastes, first introduced on screen at the end of the Star Trek: Enterprise season four episode United and expanded upon in the following episode, naturally named The Aenar. As Cadet Uhura said, "Cool!" Freezing, even, if we were on Andoria.

We meet Hemmer – the Chief Engineer, no less – more properly in SNW's second episode Children of the Comet. A kind of loveable curmudgeon with a heart of gold, Hemmer participates in a bit of ultimately light-hearted back-and-forth with Uhura about his abilities as an Aenar, roping Spock into the repartee which includes a very well-placed carrot!

During the rest of the season, Hemmer's interactions with Uhura form the mainstay of the character's development. Hemmer takes on a mentoring role to the young Uhura, and the pair strike up a unique bond. Indeed, in his final episode All Those Who Wander, before (spoiler alert!) he must bravely sacrifice himself for the good of his shipmates (Gorn eggs are about to hatch from inside him…yikes!), Hemmer takes the time to give the most touching piece of advice to Uhura to "make a home for [herself] amongst others". This helps convince Uhura to remain in Starfleet. "Do not weep for me. I've had a good life," are Hemmer's departing words. No can do, sorry. Not a dry eye in the house!

The character had such enormous potential. It might be difficult to argue that this was entirely wasted, as his arc was handled beautifully (and who knows, a certain other engineer might be coming aboard soon), but my oh my would we have liked to have seen more! The actor who played Hemmer, the brilliant Bruce Horak, is slated to return to Star Trek, although as who we don’t know at this point as producers have confirmed that Hemmer really is dead.