The Fates Of Every Show’s Captain, Explained

With all of the characters in the Star Trek universe, it’s difficult to pin down the main character of every live-action series. If the series takes place on a starship, it’s often the ship’s captain, but it can also be another person in a place of leadership or importance to the overall plot.

The Star Trek television show library is growing by the decade, and no doubt will continue to evolve and expand with the fandom. The main characters that powered these popular shows had exciting and illustrious careers that didn’t always match their ultimate fate.

7 James T. Kirk

Died Saving The Universe

• First Appearance:
  Star Trek: The Original Series
  , S1E1, “The Man Trap.”
• Final Appearance:
  Star Trek: Generations
  (1994)

James Kirk is one of the most iconic characters in modern media, and as the captain of The Original Enterprise, he emerged as the protagonist of the show. Flanked by his two supporting officers Bones and Spock, who also happened to be his best friends and popular characters on their own, Star Trek turned into a cultural zeitgeist on his watch.

His importance is one of the reasons why his ultimate fate in the movie Star Trek: Generations is still a topic of debate among fans. Considering everything James Kirk had been through in his career, falling off a bridge didn’t seem like a fitting end. He did save the entire universe from the madness of Soren and the eternal paradise of the Nexus, so that must count for something.

6 Jean-Luc Picard

Lives Happily Ever After, Playing Poker With His Friends

• First Appearance:
  Star Trek: The Next Generation
  , S1E1, “Encounter At Fairpoint.”
  
• Final Appearance:
  Star Trek: Picard,
  S3E10, “The Last Generation.”

Jean-Luc Picard is so revered in the Star Trek franchise that his character powered no less than two popular shows, The Next Generation and Picard. In a way, that gives this character two endings, because for years we thought his final appearance was the last episode of TNG, “All Good Things.”

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It’s important to point out that this episode ended with a poker game, and the end of Picard echoes this image of him playing cards with Beverly Crusher and the rest of the crew from his time as captain of the Enterprise. This is the last that audiences see of him, which leaves his ultimate fate ambiguous.

5 Benjamin Sisko

Vanished Into A Wormhole & Became The Emissary Of Planets

• First Appearance:
  Star Trek: Deep Space 9
  , S1E1, “Emissary.”
• Final Appearance:
  Star Trek: Deep Space 9
  , S7E26, “What You Leave Behind.”

Several characters took center stage at varying times throughout the run of Deep Space Nine, but Benjamin Sisko emerged as the show’s protagonist. It wasn’t just that he was an interesting character with a compelling backstory and a mysterious future, but also because Sisko was one of the first to arrive and the last to leave.

DS9 lasted for seven seasons, and Sisko was there the whole time, until the very last episode when he and Gul Dukat fall into a fiery chasm together. Dukat is killed, but Sisko is pulled into another plane of existence to become an Emissary of the Prophets. The last anyone heard from him, it was in a vision seen by his wife that he would return to her someday.

4 Kathryn Janeway

Became A Vice Admiral & Had A Fulfilling Career

• First Appearance:
  Star Trek: Voyager
  , S1E1, “The Caretaker.”
• Final Appearance:
  Star Trek: Prodigy
  , S1E20, “Supernova, Part 2.”

Janeway made a profound impression on the Star Trek IP as the first female captain of a ship that was lost in the vast and uncharted Delta Quadrant. Although Voyager is her only live-action appearance, Janeway reprises her role in the animated show, Star Trek: Prodigy, and has been mentioned in Star Trek: Picard.

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There are two captain Janeways in the last episode of Voyager, with an older version creating a time loop by returning to the ship when it was still stranded and helping her younger self get home faster. She made a plan with Captain Janeway to help them use the Borg wormhole network to get home twenty years faster, but she had to sacrifice her own life to destroy not only the Borg but also the wormhole network.

The Janeway that survived this encounter returned safely to Earth after only seven years in the Delta Quadrant, and has since had a brilliant career in Starfleet, appearing and being mentioned multiple times throughout future entries in the series.

3 Jonathan Archer

Died Peacefully After A Long And Tumultuous Journey

• First Appearance:
  Star Trek: Enterprise, S1E1
  , “Broken Bow.”
• Final Appearance:
  Star Trek: Enterprise, S4E22
  , “These Are The Voyages…”

Jonathan Archer was Captain of the Enterprise NX-01, the version of the ship that existed in the pre-Federation days before Starfleet even existed. Part of the story of Enterprise is how the main character was instrumental in the formation of both organizations while having episodic adventures that mimicked the classic show.

The final episode of Enterprise ties in with the TNG cast and storyline, involving the characters Troi and Riker, who are present at Archer’s dramatic speech before the signing of the charter that will create the United Federation of Planets. According to the lore, Archer died peacefully in his sleep a day after attending the commissioning ceremony of the Enterprise as it appeared in TOS.

2 Michael Burnham

Her Fate Will Be Revealed In Season 5

• First Appearance:
  Star Trek: Discovery
  , S1E1, “The Vulcan Hello.”

Michael Burnham is the main character of Discovery, a show that involves other famous characters like Christopher Pike and Spock, along with some important historical events like the Battle of Binary Stars. Burnham did a lot of work for the secretive Section 31, which explains why Spock didn’t talk about his sister much in later years, but she was an important player in the events that led up to him joining Starfleet.

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Writers and producers have confirmed that the upcoming fifth season of Discovery is going to be the last one, with Burnham’s future hopeful but her ultimate fate yet to be determined. Season four had an open but hopeful ending with the Federation getting back together.

1 Christopher Pike

Early Retirement On Talos 4

• First Appearance:
  Star Trek: The Original Series,
  The Pilot, “The Cage.”

Although one could argue that Pike’s last appearance was in the TOS episode “The Menagerie” which is when he returned to Talos IV permanently, this once-obscure character rose to prominence in modern Trek and currently sits in the Captain’s chair of the original Enterprise. He’s also appeared as a main supporting character in the Kelvin Timeline films and is canonically the first Captain of the original USS Enterprise before James T. Kirk.

There are some familiar faces in this show from the IP’s past, including Spock and Number One, with several references to the old show as interesting tie-ins. Strange New Worlds is set ten years before the events of The Original Series, and it describes his heroism throughout his years at the helm of the Enterprise and how he came to accept his grim fate.

Watching the TOS episodes that make up “The Menagerie” puts the injuries that Pike eventually suffers in a more devastating context. The vintage show had to rely on the reactions of the actors to convey the horror of Pike’s disfigured visage, and even Spock looks like he’s on the verge of tears. When he returns to Talos IV, in his mind he’ll be restored, which is why Spock breaks some serious rules to get him there.

Star Trek

Created by

Gene Roddenberry

Creation Year

1966

First TV Show

Star Trek: The Original Series

Latest TV Show

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds