Star Trek: 20 Supporting Characters That Deserved More
13. Sonya Gomez
What's not to like about Sonya Gomez? The accomplished engineer from The Next Generation was driven, vivacious and even spilt hot chocolate over Captain Picard and lived to tell the tale. Sure, she might have been a little excitable, but that's something easily tempered with time. More importantly, she had a real thirst for exploration, keen to be amongst the first people to discover the secrets in the stars.
Sonya was only around for a couple of The Next Generation escapades, but she made her mark. Between bonding with Geordi, playing a crucial part in rescuing him from the Pakled and helping save the ship from the Borg, it was clear there was so much more that Gomez had to give before her sudden disappearance.
And clearly, we're not the only ones to think so. Fast forward to Lower Decks, and Gomez returns, but this time as a captain. And she's every bit as irrepressible as the first time around, equal parts resourceful, astute and empathetic.
It would have been great to see more of Gomez's journey as an engineer. And who knows, she might even have broken that run of bad luck Geordi seemed to have when it came to romance. But at least we got to see her reach her full potential as a captain, even if her return was short and sweet.