Star Trek Characters That Must Return (2026)

For all of the fun that Star Trek: Picard's third season brought to audiences, featuring the return of much of the main cast of The Next Generation, as well as some truly spectacular and poignant moments (you know the ones I mean), there were also problems.

Simply put, Ro Laren and Elizabeth Shelby were done dirty.

Assuming that this season of Star Trek may be the last hurrah for this portion of the franchise's history (namely The Next Generation era), one could be forgiven for introducing higher stakes than before. In Star Trek, characters who die tend to have lifelines thrown at them. There was an entire episode of Lower Decks dedicated to this trope. So, killing off major characters may seem like a wise choice.

However, the choice of those characters - two women, both of whom were originally depicted as capable, professional officers - was somewhat suspect. Reducing Ro Laren and Elizabeth Shelby from their original depictions to easily duped and unceremoniously killed off was a massive misstep. That it happened twice is even more alarming.

Fridging female characters has such a long, sad history in media that it remains so frustrating to see a Star Trek series fall victim to it. Ro dies, thus convincing Liam Shaw to take action. Shelby dies, thus confirming the threat of the Borg to Shaw (again). 

Ro's death was off-screen, meaning there is a chance she was beamed out at the last moment. Shelby's is a little more explicit, making her return in that form a little more complicated. Should a Legacy series ever see the light of day, these are two characters who deserved far better than they got.