Star Trek Characters That Must Return (2026)

Though there was little surprise in how much fun it was to see Jonathan Frakes don the beard and uniform again in Star Trek: Picard, William T. Riker has never really been away from Star Trek for too long. Once The Next Generation came to its conclusion, there followed four feature films, two of which were directed by Frakes himself. 

Both Frakes and Riker would pop up, in one form or another, in the subsequent live-action Treks. In fact, the only series in which Frakes has had no involvement to date is Star Trek: Prodigy. Riker has appeared in Voyager, Enterprise, and Lower Decks. Frakes has directed episodes of Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy, as well as several Next Generation episodes. 

Thomas Riker made an appearance in Deep Space Nine. Frankly, Frakes is part of the furniture in Star Trek, so his return feels like a prerequisite for any Trek show (and we've since learned that Prodigy originally had plans to feature him, too). Though it is now unlikely that he will feature in Starfleet Academy or Strange New Worlds, there is a gag to be made here. 

His appearance in Enterprise saw him surrounded by holograms of the crew of the NX-01. Perhaps it's his time to make a holographic appearance, perhaps in the far future? It may be a bit of a stretch, but this is Star Trek - anything goes in the final frontier. 

Just no more finales, please and thank you.