Star Trek: 10 Most Shocking Returns

Characters leave, and characters come back. This is a trope as old as any franchise, with Star Trek being no exception. Whether Khan shocked the audience (who had conveniently missed the title of the film) or Tasha Yar threw them for a time loop, unexpected returns can be a lot of fun. 

While this list is going to focus on those returns that have shocked us since 2017, the Star Trek universe has often used the big twist return to its advantage. As with both examples above, there have been family fall-outs, vanishings, and rescues across the galaxy. Sadly, some characters have yet to return (looking at you, Jadzia), though Star Trek has often taught us to never say never. 

Some of the examples here came so out of the blue that we can safely say they weren't on anyone's bingo cards. Sometimes, one learns things that go on behind the scenes of a show, and then one wonders how there could ever be a chance of a return. There is at least one example here of such a huge surprise, not just because of the length between appearances, but because conditions on the set (at the time) were far from positive. Frankly, there are those times when returns can feel like a long-overdue apology to the performer.

There are also those other returns that were shocking in that they were resurrections of stars who had passed away. Though this is something that must always be handled carefully and respectfully, Star Trek has thankfully managed to achieve both. 

With the franchise currently in a cooling-off period, these returns may be the biggest surprises for some time to come, but who knows? We may soon be starting our sequel list already! 

This return was one of the most pleasantly shocking surprises in recent Star Trek history. When These Are The Voyages aired in 2005, Star Trek: Enterprise came to an ignoble end, going out with a whimper rather than a roar. In the interim, the franchise moved away from the NX-01 (despite some fun references in the Kelvin timeline and the newer live-action streaming shows)

While there is much talk of a potential continuation of Archer's story in Star Trek: United, most of the crew of Enterprise hadn't been heard from again, bar a holographic cameo from Trip Tucker in Holograms All The Way Down. Jolene Blalock had barely appeared at any conventions or Trek events since her run as T'Pol came to an end. She had also been openly critical of both the show's finale and some of the behind-the-scenes decisions around her character.

Mike McMahan teased some big swings in the final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and with T'Pol's return in Fissure Quest (alongside Harry Kim(s), Garak, Bashir, Lily Sloane, and even Curzon Dax), he did not disappoint. McMahan explained that to convince Jolene to return, he penned her a letter explaining how beloved her character was, as well as the respect he intended to depict her with, comedy show or no.

It worked, leading to an enormously enjoyable episode overall. The episode felt like a healing of sorts, ensuring that T'Pol's final appearance (for now) was no longer relegated to a hologram aboard the Enterprise-D.