Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ranking Every Major Character Worst To Best

That’s right. William Riker, the Executive Officer of the Enterprise. One of Picard’s closest allies, respected by nearly everyone in Starfleet. He doesn’t even crack the top ten on this list! And that’s because, well, he doesn’t really do anything does he.

Oh sure, he has a lot of heroic moments, but does he actually grow as a character? Not really. At the beginning of the show, he becomes the first officer of the Enterprise. By the end of the show there he is… still the first officer on board the Enterprise. Only by this time, we’ve seen him turn down numerous offers to command his own ship.

The writers do this because, obviously, he’s a popular character and they want to keep him on the show. But, this makes Riker look like a dud with little to no ambition. An unintended consequence, but you can't ignore it.