Getting shanked to death by a secret Klingon sleeper agent. Being cloned into existence
just so you can die after giving up your brain tissue. Dying's never been easy, and
it's even worse on a starship. Here are the most devastating deaths in the Star Trek franchise.
In the classic 1967 Star Trek episode, "The City On The Edge Of Forever," the
Enterprise visits a deserted world where they discover an ancient portal into the past. A
sick Dr. McCoy passes through it and changes history so that the Enterprise never existed,
forcing Kirk and Spock to follow him through the portal to fix the timeline.
Finding themselves in the Great Depression,
the duo's search for McCoy leads them to a woman named Edith Keeler, who runs a homeless shelter.
"I find her most uncommon, Mr. Spock."
While Spock tries to discover the event that caused history to be altered, Kirk gets to know
Keeler and the two start falling in love. When Spock learns that in order to fix the timeline,
they must restore a history where Edith Keeler died in a fateful car accident,
Kirk is determined to continue his relationship with her. Though in the end, it's Kirk who stops
McCoy from saving her. Devastated, the captain is forced to sacrifice the woman he loves to save
all of humanity — a powerful ending to what is often considered the best Star Trek episode ever.
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan is considered a classic for many reasons,
including its brilliant villain, its dramatic climax, and of course, the death of Mr. Spock.
After the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979, actor Leonard Nimoy made
it clear to producers that he wasn't enthusiastic about returning to play Spock again. But they were
able to get him back, thanks to a terrific script. Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer said,
"[Producer] Harve Bennett lured him with the promise of a terrific death scene,
which [Shatner] and he played so touchingly."
In the film, the Enterprise's engine is damaged while locked in combat with Khan's stolen
Starfleet ship, the USS Reliant. Spock heads down to the reactor room to fix the problem, but to do
so he must endure a lethal dose of radiation. His sacrifice saves the ship, and he delivers a final
emotional speech to Captain Kirk that has gone down as one of the most iconic in film history,
"Don't grieve, Admiral. It is logical."
Thankfully, Nimoy had a change of heart during principal photography,
which led to reshoots setting up his return in the follow-up film. But at the time,
his death was a first for Trekkies, who were forced — like the helpless
Captain Kirk — to watch a beloved and iconic character die before their eyes.
Introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation second season episode, "The Emissary," the
half-human, half-Klingon K'Ehleyr was a special Federation Emissary brought on board the
Enterprise during a crisis involving a derelict Klingon ship. A former lover of Klingon Security
Chief Lieutenant Worf, the pair rekindle their physical relationship during the mission. Worf
is left jilted, however, when K'Ehleyr refuses to commit to him in a Klingon bonding ritual.
In the fourth season episode, "Reunion," K'Ehleyr returns when the Klingon Chancellor K'mpec
is on his deathbed — and she doesn't come alone. With her is Alexander, her son sired by Worf.
But after K'Ehleyr gets too close to uncovering the treachery of the villainous Klingon Duras,
she winds up on the wrong end of his blade. With her dying breath,
K'Ehleyr leaves Alexander in Worf's care.
Worf gets his revenge on Duras, but K'Ehleyr's death marked a major turning point in his story,
forever defining his character. It gave him a son in Alexander,
who would go on to play a substantial supporting role in the series.
Though not a major character, the young Bajoran officer Ensign Sito Jaxa, made an impression on
audiences with her wide-eyed optimism and soulful personality. Her first appearance
came in the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, where she was caught up in
a cover-up at Starfleet Academy over the death of a fellow cadet. She would make a surprise
return in Season 7, where she was assigned to the Enterprise and up for a promotion.
The episode revolves almost entirely around the lives of four young officers aboard the
Enterprise during their crew evaluations. But when a Cardassian double agent arrives looking
for safe passage back home, Jaxa is recruited by Captain Picard to help. Pretending to be a Bajoran
prisoner, she will make his trip more believable, with him posing as a returning bounty hunter.
However, at the climax of the episode, the plan to return Jaxa to the Enterprise fails,
and the young officer is killed by a Cardassian patrol. It's a grim,
dark ending to what was otherwise a relatively
light-hearted episode — and a devastating end to what was a promising new character.
The first feature film starring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation was designed
to be a passing of the baton from the original Star Trek crew. Kirk, Scotty,
and Chekov all appeared at the beginning of the film to christen the Enterprise-B,
the first Enterprise with a new crew. But during their first voyage, disaster
strikes when a strange space anomaly called the Nexus damages the ship, taking Kirk with it.
"What if I told you I found a new truth?"
"The Nexus?"
Nearly 100 years later, Captain Picard and the USS Enterprise-D are facing a villain named Soran,
who is seeking to enter the Nexus himself and threatens to destroy a planet to do it. When
Picard is drawn into the anomaly, he finds none other than his predecessor, Captain Kirk — as
he was when he was taken a century earlier. The two Enterprise captains work together to stop
Soran, but Kirk is killed during the film's climax — much to the dismay of the fans.
While not the most well-regarded Star Trek movie — receiving plenty of criticism from
audiences and critics alike — it's hard to deny the devastating impact
Kirk's passing had on the fandom. Killing off the man who was arguably the biggest
star in Star Trek stunned audiences, and it was regretted almost instantly
by actor William Shatner — who seemingly made it his personal mission to return to the role.
Making her debut in the fourth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Tora Ziyal is
the half-Bajoran, half-Cardassian daughter of the series' main villain, Gul Dukat [doo-KAHT]. The
product of an affair while Dukat was the prefect of Bajor, Ziyal and her mother were sent to a
neutral planet after the Cardassian Occupation came to an end. But their transport ship,
the Ravinok, was lost after an attack by the Breen. Years later, evidence of the Ravinok's
crash site surfaces, so Major Kira and Dukat mount a rescue mission and discover Ziyal alive.
Fearing her existence might threaten his power in the Cardassian military, Dukat plans to kill Ziyal
but is talked out of it by Kira. Eventually, Ziyal forges a new relationship with her father and
comes to live aboard the Deep Space Nine station. She forms a sisterly bond with Kira, and even a
romantic relationship with the enigmatic former spy, Garak. But when the imperialistic forces of
the Dominion take over the station, Ziyal defies her father by helping the resistance fight back.
During the climactic moments when Starfleet retakes the station, Dukat can't convince Ziyal
to leave. In a shocking final twist, his top lieutenant Damar murders Ziyal in cold blood.
Like Sito Jaxa, Ziyal was an upbeat, optimistic character whose presence
added a warmth and earnestness to the series. Not only did her death devastate audiences,
it sent Dukat into a psychotic spiral, ultimately breaking him.
Following the sixth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, series mainstay Terry Farrell — who
played the science officer Jadzia Dax — was up for contract renewal. According to Farrell,
she was told by producers to accept whatever offer was given because if
she wasn't on Deep Space Nine, she would be, quote, "working at K-Mart."
Understandably frustrated, Farrell declined their offer. However,
rather than writing Dax out of the series in a way that could allow for future guest
appearances, the producers opted to kill the character off in a devastating season finale.
Most viewers — unaware of the behind-the-scenes drama — were taken by surprise when a possessed
Dukat murders Dax while she visits a Bajoran shrine. Dax had recently married longtime fan
favorite Worf, and the pair were hoping for a baby. The exit of one of the series' biggest
characters in the midst of such an emotional story was a brutal heartbreaker for fans.
"Who is this person? How did she get the symbiont? Do I even want another
Dax in my life? Does she always talk this much? These are all very good questions."
Thanks to the magic of science fiction of course, the Trill symbiont within her was
given a new body, and actress Nicole De Boer replaced Farrell as the new character, Ezri.
Though not exactly a death per se, the series finale of Deep Space Nine did see the end of
corporeal existence for the show's longtime captain,
Benjamin Sisko. Having finally accepted his role as the Emissary of the Prophets,
Sisko battles against their greatest enemies: the Pah Wraiths. Meanwhile Dukat has been cast out by
his own people and embraces the Pah Wraiths as a way of getting revenge on his nemesis.
In a final showdown in the Bajoran fire caves, Sisko and Dukat have it out once and for all.
Though Sisko and the Prophets prevail, the captain's physical body is destroyed. While the
crew of Deep Space Nine, the Bajoran people, and his wife and son all mourn his death,
it's revealed that Sisko actually transcended his physical existence: he is now a Prophet himself.
It was the first time in Star Trek history that a series ended with the death of a major
character. Though actor Avery Brooks hasn't performed on screen in over 20 years,
Sisko is technically still out there somewhere and could theoretically return.
The death of chief engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker in the final Enterprise episode is
considered crushing by many Trekkies, but another death of sorts can be seen
as much more devastating. The Season 3 episode "Similitude" saw Trip critically injured,
and the ship's resident doctor cooks up an unusual cure to save him. Using the genome
of a rare species of larva, they create a clone of Trip so they can harvest its brain tissue to save
the original. Given that the new being will only have a lifespan of about two weeks, the plan is to
let the clone live out its life and die naturally, thereby allaying most of their ethical concerns.
But their convictions are tested when the clone grows from a child to an adult in a matter of
days and begins to form friendships with the people aboard the Enterprise. The clone of
Trip falls in love with T'Pol and becomes a valued member of the crew. Eventually,
Sim — as he becomes known — is forced to confront the nature of his existence while
everyone around him must wrestle with the emotional consequences of their actions.
Though a short-lived clone instead of a main character, the death of Sim was still
heartbreaking and possessed the emotional weight lacking from Trip's actual death.
The Star Trek franchise was rebooted in 2009 by J.J. Abrams and became the same fast-paced roller
coaster that had made the director famous. But if there's one thing Abrams loves more
than lens flares, it's tugging at an audience's heartstrings with devastating emotional moments.
Star Trek begins aboard the Federation starship USS Kelvin as it encounters a mysterious spatial
anomaly. When an enormous Romulan starship emerges from it and kills his captain,
first officer George Kirk — played by then-unknown Chris Hemsworth — takes command.
He attempts to fight off the enemy ship, but the battle goes badly.
Kirk orders all hands to abandon ship — including his wife going into labor in
sickbay. Having lost their autopilot, he stays behind to pilot the Kelvin,
setting a collision course with the Romulan vessel to save the fleeing crew. The last
man on the bridge, Kirk calls his wife aboard a shuttle and delivers an emotional goodbye.
The husband and wife name their son James Tiberius Kirk just as the two ships collide.
Despite only knowing the elder Kirk for a matter of moments,
his death is a devastating gut punch for audiences to start the film.
This next entry on our list is the death of an already deceased character,
as the entire first season of Star Trek: Picard had the former Enterprise captain
mourning the loss of his old friend, Commander Data, who had been killed in
an act of self-sacrifice in the 2002 film, Star Trek: Nemesis.
"If you had Data's neural net, perfecting a flesh and blood host body would be relatively simple."
"But his neurons died with him."
Thanks again to the magic of science fiction, Data makes a return in the revived Picard series.
Though, when Data surprisingly asks Picard to end his life to give his existence meaning,
the latter agrees. The two share a quiet moment and Data sips a glass of wine before
laying down and passing away. It's perhaps one of the most emotionally heart-rending
deaths in the franchise. While Data had technically died once before, this more
conclusive ending is far more devastating — we're losing him again after a nearly 20-year absence.
A holdover from Star Trek: Voyager, the character Icheb made a surprise
appearance in a flashback during the Star Trek: Picard episode, "Stardust City Rag."
But the ex-Borg's return was short-lived, as it was revealed that it was his death that
motivated Seven Of Nine's vendetta against the ruthless criminal businesswoman, Bjayzl.
Icheb was found aboard a damaged Borg vessel with several other Borg children. They were eventually
taken aboard the Voyager and disconnected from the collective — just like Seven Of Nine.
Though the other children were returned to their people, Icheb's parents had bred him as
a living weapon against the Borg. He would thus remain on Voyager, return with them to Earth,
and later join Starfleet. But in "Stardust City Rag," we're shown his grisly end.
Icheb is abducted and ripped apart by Bjayzl so she could harvest his parts to sell.
After his demise, Seven would never be the same, and neither would audiences,
with many feeling that Icheb's graphic death scene had gone too far.
Star Trek: Discovery, the first Star Trek series in more than a decade, was a new beginning for
the franchise. It set itself apart in a number of ways from its predecessors: from its darker tone
to its big-budget action. Commander Paul Stamets and Chief Medical Officer Hugh Culber — played by
Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz, respectively — were the first gay crew members in Star Trek history,
living together on the ship as a committed couple. That's why it came as such a shock when,
in the first season, Culber was brutally murdered.
After crewmate Ash Tyler determines he's suffering from some kind of traumatic repressed memory,
he goes to Culber for help. The Chief Medical Officer discovers that Tyler isn't human at all
and has been surgically implanted with a Starfleet officer's personality on top of
his real identity — that of the vicious Klingon messiah Voq, who promptly breaks Culber's neck.
While some critics knocked the death of Culber as an example of the unfortunate trope of killing
off gay characters, it's hard to argue that it was anything less than one of the season's most
devastating moments. Star Trek: Discovery brought Culber back in season two, and he's since followed
the crew of Discovery into the 32nd century, where he and Stamets remain a happy couple.
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