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15 Greatest Star Trek Villains Of All Time, Ranked

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The Star Trek universe has grown by leaps and bounds since the first episode aired on September 8, 1966. The fan-favorite series is famous for depicting a future where mankind has come to find peace. Humanity now traveled the stars seeking new life and new civilizations. Star Trek has given the world of pop culture quite a few different heroes. Star Trek is nearly 60 years old, and the science fiction saga created by Gene Roddenberry only lasted this long because of its heroes.

With Star Trek , its villains are often mere ideas, misunderstood alien creatures, or entire races created as a metaphorical allegory. Still, Captain Kirk, Spock, Jean-Luc Picard, or Seven of Nine transcend even their own heroic status when they come face-to-face with a real villain. From Khan Noonien Singh to the nameless Borg, Star Trek 's villains may not be as iconic as that other space franchise, but they nonetheless stand apart from the typical threat to the United Federation of Planets . While not every villain has stood out over time, some have become as well-known as Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. These are the villains that have left an impression not only in the Star Trek universe but in pop culture as a whole. They are presented in chronological order based on their first appearance in the franchise.

Updated on December 30, 2023, by Robert Vaux: The article has been updated to include details on each character and when they appeared in the franchise. The entries have also been reorganized to better rank each villain accordingly.

15 Gary Mitchell Tried To Turn The Captain Kirk Against His Crew

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Star Trek extends across a vast universe and many timelines filled with powerful, and often dangerous, alien species, like the Borg and the Moopsy.

Gary Mitchell appeared in one of the most memorable episodes of Star Trek: TOS . He started as a close friend of Captain Kirk and the ship's navigator for the USS Enterprise . However, the Galactic Barrier irradiated Mitchell, and he gained supernatural powers. Gary's powers continued to intensify, and as he grew more powerful, he became less human.

Gary Mitchell lost all connection to his humanity, and he put the crew of the Enterprise at risk. He tried to force Captain Kirk to do the one thing no good leader ever wants to do; kill his own crewmate. Gary Mitchell set the standard for what made a good Star Trek villain. He was a character fans rooted against even as they felt for him. This episode was the second pilot for Star Trek: The Original Series . While Captain James T. Kirk proved to be the hero NBC wanted, he needed Gary Mitchell to show them why.

14 The Romulan Star Empire Attacked From The Shadows

While the Romulans have never been given the same standing in pop culture as the Klingons, they are arguably even more villainous. The Earth-Romulan War led to the creation of the United Federation of Planets. The secretive Romulans were so elusive that no one saw their faces for over a hundred years. While there have been many dangerous individual Romulans, like Nero, perhaps the most sinister was Picard 's Narek. A member of the Zhat Vash, hidden within the Tal Shiar "secret police," he used kindness and empathy as his weapon against Soji Asha, the "daughter" of Star Trek: TNG 's Data.

When Romulans first showed up in The Original Series , it shocked everyone to learn that they looked just like Vulcans. The Romulans were an offshoot of the Vulcan race from millennia before the series. They refused to bury their feelings and become purely logical beings, which led them to establish their own society. By the time of the 32nd Century, however, the Vulcans and Romulans reunited thanks to Spock's efforts.

13 Khan Noonien Singh Left Destruction In His Wake

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A former ruler of Earth, Khan Noonien Singh was a genetically engineered superhuman who rose to power during the Eugenics Wars. He became Star Trek 's greatest villain after he was overthrown and exiled into space. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , he and his surviving fellow "augments" nearly killed everyone on the Enterprise . To save the ship, beloved character Spock died .

Khan stands out as not only the greatest villain in Star Trek but one of the greatest villains in sci-fi. The Wrath of Khan reinvigorated the Star Trek franchise, leading to a series of sequels and new shows that continue to this day. Khan was such a compelling villain that he was even brought back for the second movie in the reboot trilogy, Star Trek Into Darkness . His descendant, La'an Noonien Singh, serves as the Chief of Security on the Enterprise in Strange New Worlds .

12 The Klingon Empire Was Ruthless And Formidable

One of the best-known alien races from the Star Trek franchise is the Klingons. They started as an allegorical representation of the Soviet Union to Starfleet's America in The Original Series . By the time of Star Trek: TNG , it was revealed that the Klingons made a tenuous peace with the United Federation of Planets. This was set in motion in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , paralleling the fall of the Soviet Union.

However, Kruge, played by Christopher Lloyd in The Search for Spock , was perhaps the most formidable of all, because he killed Captain Kirk's son, David Marcus. The Federation-Klingon War seen in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery featured the Klingons as one of the greatest foes in Star Trek . Despite the heroic actions of Lt. Cmdr Worf in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine , Klingons like Kruge and General Chang prove that one can never turn their backs on the Klingons.

11 Q and the Q Continuum Were Over-Powered

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Introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation , Q is an extradimensional being of unknown origin who appears to have nearly full control over all time and space. He is a member of a continuum of other beings, who also identify as "Q," meant to keep the cosmic balance of the universe. Q takes a specific interest in Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of his Enterprise. He put them on "trial" to see if humanity had overcome their "savage" nature. If Picard failed to convince Q, he would erase humanity from the galaxy.

While many of Q's exploits were fun to watch, it was his actions that first brought the Federation to the attention of the Borg. Q tried to play his games with another of Star Trek 's best captains, Benjamin Sisko. He quickly discovered that not every human was as willing to play along with his whims when Sisko punched the omnipotent being. He also frequently visited Captain Janeway on the USS Voyager, including involving her in the Q Continuum civil war that only ended when the fan-favorite Q mated with another of his species.

10 Lore Was A Master Manipulator

One of the things some fans forget about Data is that he has a brother. Dr. Noonien Soong created Lore, who is a prototype android and the older brother of Lt. Cmdr. Data. He had emotions, but his inability to handle his feelings properly led to Lore becoming a dangerous villain. He believed he was better than humans and other organic lifeforms.

Throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation , Lore believed he was not only superior to living beings but to his brother Data as well. His association with powerful forces like the Crystalline Entity allowed him to manipulate it and turn it towards destruction. Lore would later lead a group of Borg against the crew of the Enterprise. However, his ego would eventually lead to his destruction.

9 Armus Killed Lt. Tasha Yar

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While there were several "redshirts" who died in service to the Enterprise , no member of the main bridge crew was permanently killed off without being resurrected somehow. That all changed in Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "Skin of Evil" from the first season. A few of the best members of Star Trek: TNG 's away team encountered a powerful being known as Armus.

Armus was a being composed of the discarded evil from an ancient race of alien celestials. He had incredible psionic abilities that he used to strike down Lt. Tasha Yar. She died instantly, and Armus threatened other members of the crew by trapping them inside his inky liquid body. Picard outsmarted Armus and free his crew members, but the damage was done. Denise Crosby, the actor who played Yar, wanted to leave the series during its tumultuous first season. However, she would return in "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "Unification I & II."

8 The Borg Queen Led A Conquering Army

One of the most dangerous enemies from Star Trek: TNG was the Borg . They were a hivemind of cyborgs that hoped to wipe out all living things in the universe and replace them. The Borg go from planet to planet, assimilating the alien races they come across and turning them into Borg. They also used up the resources of the planets to fuel their evolution and power their ships.

The Borg Queen led the Collective when they threatened the Enterprise in Star Trek: First Contact . The only true threat to the Borg was the Federation, and they even attempted to assimilate Earth in the past to erase its place in history. The Borg were ultimately defeated by a one-two punch (separated by 25 years) from Captains Picard and Janeway. In the Voyager series finale, a time-traveling Admiral Janeway poisoned the collective while also using them to get the lost ship back to the Alpha Quadrant. In Picard Season 3, the Borg made a last-ditch attempt to assimilate Starfleet but were defeated by the crew of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D.

7 The Cardassian Empire Had A Violent History Of War And Oppression

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Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced a few new alien species who would become lasting threats to the Federation. The Cardassians were a xenophobic race of aliens involved in quite a few violent skirmishes over territory. They also occupied the planet of Bajor and committed several atrocities before the enslavement ended. Ensign Ro Laren was the first recurring Bajoran character, until Major Kira Nerys became Benamin Sisko's first officer on the Deep Space Nine station, originally built by the Cardassians to further oppress Bajor.

There were a few memorable Cardassian soldiers who left a lasting impression on fans. Gul Madred captured and psychologically tormented Captain Picard in "Chain of Command." The former head of Deep Space Nine was Gul Dukat, who was responsible for war crimes against the Bajoran people. If Deep Space Nine had a central villain, it was Gul Dukat, who ultimately met his end along with Captain Sisko in the series finale.

6 The Changelings and the Dominion Sought Power

While Captain Picard's biggest problems were Q and the Borg, Captain Sisko and the crew of Deep Space Nine had to deal with the Dominion. Hailing from the Gamma Quadrant, the Dominion was essentially an evil version of the United Federation of Planets. Made up of hundreds of races, the Dominion looked to expand past the Gamma Quadrant using the Bajoran Wormhole. Called "the Founders" by other Dominion races, a character known only as "the female changeling" led their war effort.

The Dominion War lasted two years and became one of the deadliest wars in Federation history. It only ended when a secretive faction of Starfleet, known as Section 31, created a deadly plague. It threatened to wipe out the shape-shifting alien race known as the Founders, who led the Dominion. Od o, the constable of Deep Space Nine, was a changeling who didn't know his history. In their liquid state, changelings can "join." He administered the cure first to the female changeling and then, in the series finale, returned to their home, the Great Link, to cure the rest of his species. Little is known about what happened to other Dominion races.

5 The Hirogen Were Blood-Thirsty Hunters

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A species of hunters, The Hirogen harried the USS Voyager as they attempted to return to Federation space. Wanting the Voyager and her crew as trophies, various groups of the Hirogen attacked the lost ship numerous times throughout the series. With their insatiable need for the hunt, the Hirogen proved one of Voyager's toughest challenges.

The encounters varied from one or two of the crew coming across the Hirogen to a two-part episode where some Hirogen, including Alpha Karr and his second Turanj, capture the ship. They force the brainwashed crew into performing various scenarios on the Holodeck, including a version of German-occupied France. When Captain Janeway successfully negotiated a cease-fire with Karr, Turanj killed him and tried to continue hunting the crew.

4 'Boothby' and Species 8472 Could Impersonate Others To Get Their Way

Despite only appearing in a few episodes, Species 8472 was one of the most dangerous enemies the Voyager ever faced. Hailing from another dimension known as "fluidic space," Species 8472 used a form of biotechnology for the ships and weapons. After their first entry into the dimension Star Trek heroes occupy, they set up a holographic Starfleet headquarters as a reconnaissance operation, including duplicating legendary Academy groundskeeper Boothby, played by the late Ray Walston.

Initially, they posed such a threat that it took an uneasy alliance between the Voyager and the Borg to defeat them, bringing Seven of Nine into the crew. Yet, Captain Janeway learned Species 8472 wasn't as aggressive as the Borg claimed. Rather, the Borg tried to assimilate them, and they assumed all creatures in the galaxy were like the Borg. The member of Species 8472 who impersonated Boothby was a threat but not unreasonable. He later told Janeway he would try to convince his fellows to not invade the Milky Way.

3 The Xindi Murdered Millions Of Humans During Their Attack On Earth

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The Xindi were a species made up of a collective of six alien races located in the Delphic Expanse. There were the humanoid primates, the ape-like aboreals, an insectoid race, an aquatic race, and the militant, villainous reptilians. The main villains in the third season of the controversial Star Trek: Enterprise , the Xindi sent a superweapon to Earth after hearing that Starfleet planned to destroy them, designed by primate scientist Degra.

The Xindi superweapon killed seven million people and left a scar stretching from Florida to Venezuela. The Xindi stand out as the only enemies in all of Star Trek — besides humans, of course — who have caused serious damage to Earth. After being captured and deceived by the NX-01 Enterprise crew, Degra realized the Xindi had been duped by another alien race from another dimension. They built spheres throughout the Delphic Expanse meant to "terraform" the galaxy so their people could live in it. Only after the Xindi and humanity united were the Sphere-Builders defeated.

2 Nero Destroyed The Planet Vulcan

Introduced in the 2009 Star Trek reboot, Nero was a Romulan, one of the greatest adversaries of Star Trek 's Federation. Nero blamed Spock for the destruction of the Romulan homeworld. Nero traveled 129 years into the past, which allowed him to use his superior technology to attack the USS Kelvin, a Federation ship on which James T. Kirk's parents were stationed. He and his mother lived, while his father died with the ship.

This created the "Kelvin Timeline" an alternate reality like the Mirror Universe, but one where different versions of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the rest lived "new" lives. One of Nero's most villainous acts was using implosive "red matter" to destroy the planet Vulcan. Nero's actions set the course for the new Star Trek films, while the current TV shows continued in the original timeline. Later, Star Trek: Picard revealed the destruction of Romulus had lasting consequences there as well.

1 Captain Gabriel Lorca Used His Position To Manipulate His Crew

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Star Trek: Discovery introduced the titular new ship and its captain, Gabriel Lorca . He recruited Michael Burnham to his crew and manipulated his mission orders to take the Discovery to another reality. Lorca was secretly from the Mirror Universe, a dark alternate reality that first appeared in The Original Series , and was revisited in both Deep Space Nine and Enterprise . He's become something of a standard-bearer for the concept, which the franchise periodically returns to in order to explore its protagonists' dark sides.

Lorca was a traitor who turned on the Terran Emperor in the Mirror Universe. He escaped punishment by accidentally traveling to another reality. Lorca took the place of his counterpart, using his rank in Starfleet to get assigned to the one ship that could take him home. Lorca was conniving and determined, but still a captain who could inspire his crew. He was a dangerous enemy, emblematic of the third wave of Star Trek .

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

'Star Trek': The 10 Best Villains, Ranked

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With well over twenty television series and movies focusing on the exploits and adventures of numerous Starfleet commanders, the Star Trek saga has become one of the most iconic sci-fi stories in entertainment history. With its incredible line-up of heroic leads, though, there also needs to be an array of antagonists capable of striking fear into the hearts of fans.

From the original Star Trek series to revival shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation to 2009’s cinematic re-imaging of the franchise, the saga at large has a cohort of worthy villains. Ranging from misunderstood antagonists to outright evil and tyrannical beings, Star Trek ’s 10 best bad guys are just a small collection of the regular threats to the galaxy Starfleet faces.

10 Captain Gabriel Lorca – 'Star Trek: Discovery' (2017-)

From Harry Potter to Star Wars: Rebels , Jason Isaacs has made a career out of playing villains with outstanding and underrated impact. As such, it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise when Gabriel Lorca was revealed to be a bad guy in Star Trek: Discovery .

As the commanding officer of the USS Discovery, Lorca presented as a hard-edged captain, but not one without a sense of fairness and accountability. However, it was then revealed that he was an imposter from the mirror universe who had murdered and schemed to get to his position. To date, Discovery is yet to produce a villain as compelling as Lorca.

9 Nero — 'Star Trek' (2009)

A credit to the brilliance of 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , many of the series’ villains have boasted epic tales of revenge against crew members of Starfleet. While most of those homages have fallen well short, one that did get close was Eric Bana ’s portrayal of Nero, a spiteful Romulan who blames Spock ( Zachary Quinto ) for not preventing the supernova which killed his family.

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Traveling back in time to exact his vengeance, Nero creates an alternate timeline the new Star Trek movies take part in. While the character is a little one-dimensional, Bana makes his seething hatred burst off the screen with a magnetic vigor, and the fact that he realizes part of his plan by destroying Vulcan made him all the more impactful.

8 Kai Winn Adami — 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' (1993-1999)

Religious zealots often make for fantastic villains. In addition to having immense power and influence in their story worlds, they also usually excel as complex characters who are difficult for protagonists to outmaneuver. That was exactly what fans got in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with Winn Adami ( Louise Fletcher ).

As a ruthless opportunist, Adami often used her prominent standing in her faith as a means to gain more power and often came at odds with Captain Benjamin Sisko ( Avery Brooks ), despite being named the Emissary of the Prophets. Delivering every snide line with her spiteful, condescending smirk, Adami may not have been the most terrifying villain in Star Trek , but she was certainly capable of stoking the ire of fans like few others.

7 General Chang — 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country' (1991)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country served as the film farewell to the cast of the original series. It also saw the belligerent race of the Klingons restored to the brand of villainy that made them so popular in the original series, with General Chang ( Christopher Plummer ) an over-the-top antagonist for the ages.

With peace talks between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets nearing a conclusion, Chang uses his unique Birds of Prey warship to frame Captain Kirk for a political assassination, thus shattering relations between the Klingons and humanity. Resentful of the prospect of a peaceful future, the wily old Klingon was also made memorable for his love of Shakespearean quotes.

6 Weyoun — 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' (1993-1999)

A gifted villainous actor, Jeffrey Combs has appeared as a wide range of characters throughout Star Trek , but the greatest one he portrayed was Deep Space Nine ’s Weyoun. A Vorta who serves as the mouth of the Dominion, the conniving diplomat always presented a wide smile but was never one to be trusted.

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As a clone (which all Vorta are), he was also quite difficult to get rid of. Despite being killed several times throughout the series, he kept coming back for more and usually delighted fans every time he returned with his wonderfully slimy personality still firmly intact.

5 Q – 'Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

As a being of unlimited power, it is quite funny that Q ( John de Lancie ) became almost a comedic figure in the series, but that is not how he was introduced. First appearing in the pilot episode of The Next Generation , the omnipotent villain charged Picard for the crimes of humanity before becoming a recurring character, not only in The Next Generation but in the wider Star Trek series.

Arguably his most villainous action came when he challenged Picard’s mettle as a leader by transporting the Enterprise to a distant system. His display of immense power introduced the Borg to the Federation, which kick-started a conflict that resulted in the deaths of millions.

4 Kruge — 'Star Trek III: The Search for Spock' (1984)

Feudal, ruthless, and incredibly brutal, the Klingons were a military power to be feared ever since their introduction in Star Trek: The Original Series . That couldn’t have been emphasized better when Christopher Lloyd portrayed Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .

A commander of a Klingon Bird of Prey warship, Kruge was a relentless fighter with a stern desire to acquire secrets of Genesis to further his career and strengthen the Klingon Empire. He killed his own lover for looking at classified information and sanctioned the murder of Captain Kirk’s ( William Shatner ) son, something which haunted Kirk throughout the rest of the Star Trek saga.

3 Gul Dukat — 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' (1993-1999)

Star Trek has had many unforgettable villains across its numerous television series, but few are as truly evil as Gul Dukat ( Marc Alaimo ). A Cardassian war criminal who appeared throughout Deep Space Nine , he ruled over Bajor with an iron fist, assembling labor camps that saw millions of Bajorans die.

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Interestingly, Alaimo didn’t only excel at making Dukat a force of evil, but he was also able to give him layers and complexity as well, which made him all the more compelling. Not only the best of Deep Space Nine ’s antagonists, Gul Dukat is arguably greatest villain in Star Trek ’s television history.

2 The Borg Queen — 'Star Trek: First Contact' (1996)

After making their first appearance in the second season of The Next Generation , the Borg fast became one of Star Trek ’s most notable antagonistic clans. As a cybernetic force operating as a hive mind to assimilate all other lifeforms to their state of being, the Borg were a terrifying threat that fans feared would be undermined with the introduction of their queen in Star Trek: First Contact .

With Alice Krige portraying her, however, the character became one of the saga’s most striking villains with her horrific goals and her unnerving sensuality. The character became a recurring role in the franchise, appearing in Star Trek: Voyager and recently returning in Star Trek: Picard .

1 Khan Noonien Singh — 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan' (1982)

If its cinematic predecessor left some fans a little underwhelmed, then The Wrath of Khan more than made up for it. The first of many sequels, it features all the fan-favorite main characters of the series but became such an adored film within Star Trek ’s filmography thanks to Ricardo Maltabán ’s turn as Khan.

A past enemy of Starfleet, Khan was a genetically engineered superhuman on a warpath to exact revenge against Captain Kirk and his crew. With his raw and resonant motivation, some great dialogue, and a magnetic performance from Maltabán, Khan elevated The Wrath of Khan to be the best Star Trek movie produced to date and stands unmatched as the greatest villain the saga has ever produced.

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The STAR TREK Franchise’s Greatest Villains, Ranked

As a franchise, Star Trek has more “misunderstood antagonists” than outright villains. Often, the Federation just has misunderstandings with other alien species. But there is some outright villainy in the far future. And some of the most legendary antagonists in sci-fi history came from this franchise. These  Star Trek  villains hail from The Original Series,  from  The Next Generation , from Voyager , from Discovery , and everything in between. They come from the big and small screens. But one thing they all have in common is the villainous delight they brought to fans. Here are 13 of the very best (or rather, very worst) Star Trek villains over the last 55 years , ranked.

13. Seska ( Voyager , 1995-1996)

Star Trek: Voyager had few great villains, outside of the Borg Queen. The other alien races they fought, like the Hirogen, didn’t have memorable leaders. But the best villain in this  Star Trek series was an actual crew member. Seska (Martha Hackett) was one of the rebel Maquis who Janeway took in, who became Voyager crew members when the ship got lost in the Delta Quadrant . But we later learn that she was a Cardassian spy, surgically altered to look Bajoran to infiltrate the Maquis. Later trapped aboard Voyager , she caused all kinds of problems for Janeway’s crew. Including siding with hostile alien races against her crewmates.

12: Harry Mudd (TOS, 1966-1967, The Animated Series 1973, Discovery 2018)

The original series had several memorable antagonists, but almost all were mostly one-offs that never returned. The grand exception to that rule was Harcourt Fenton Mudd , or just Harry Mudd. A space pirate and swindler, actor Roger C. Carmel played him like a 17th-century salty sea pirate. Only one who captains a space freighter used for smuggling and other nefarious purposes.

Harry Mudd appeared three times to plague Kirk and his crew. In the first season’s “ Mudd’s Women ,” we learn that underneath his jolly exterior is an opportunist, drug dealer, and pimp. And in the more lighthearted “ I, Mudd ,” he was still someone willing to kill. He even appeared on the animated series. A more sinister version of him played by Rainn Wilson showed up on Discovery. But the best is still the original. And he is one of the best Star Trek  villains out there.

11. Nero ( Star Trek 2009)

Because of the success of Ricardo Montalban’s Khan, many Star Trek movies attempted to follow in the “vengeance-driven madman” template for their main bad guy. And most, like Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis , failed to live up to Khan. But Star Trek 2009’s villain, Romulan Commander Nero came closest. After a supernova destroyed his homeworld , resulting in his wife’s death, he blamed Ambassador Spock for failing to prevent it as promised.

So what does Nero do? The bitter Romulan traveled back in time with one mission — to make Spock suffer as he suffered. Well, since he destroyed his entire home planet of Vulcan, we say he made good on that promise. We admit he’s a bit one-note, but Eric Bana is just great in the role and chews all the available scenery. And this raised him to truly memorable status.

10. The Duras Sisters ( The Next Generation  1991-1994, Deep Space Nine 1993, Star Trek: Generations 1994)

One highlight of TNG was a long-running Worf-centric arc, dealing with his family’s Klingon political rivals, House Duras. The first member of House Duras we met was a man, a braggart and idiot , who met his death at Worf’s blade. But his two sisters, Lursa and B’etor, played by Barbara March and Gwynyth Walsh, respectively, were much more interesting and fun on screen.

Conniving schemers, the Duras sisters sought to control the Klingon Empire by any means possible. And the fact that women couldn’t rule on the High Council didn’t stop them from trying. They also get extra points for being the ones who destroyed the Enterprise -D in the film Star Trek: Generations . Although these  Star Trek villains but a few minutes themselves after that. The Duras sister lived by the sword, and died by the sword.

9. Captain Gabriel Lorca ( Discovery 2017-2018)

In the first season of Star Trek: Discovery , the titular ship’s Captain was a rough-around-the-edges jerk named Gabriel Lorca. Jason Isaacs, who played malicious men in the Harry Potter franchise and in Star Wars: Rebels , portrayed Lorca . So really, we should have known from the get-go that Lorca wasn’t just a jerk, but an actual bad guy. We eventually discovered that he hailed from the Mirror Universe , where all the Federation’s counterparts are basically terrible people. We hated Lorca as Captain, but we kind of loved him as an outright bad guy.

8. The Borg Queen ( Star Trek: First Contact 1996, Voyager 1991-2001, Picard 2022)

In Star Trek: The Next Generation , the franchise introduced the Borg Collective as a cybernetic hive mind, with no individual personalities among them. But when it came time to do the film Star Trek: First Contact , the creative team knew the Borg needed a face. (And a torso. And sometimes, legs). So since the Borg is like a beehive, wouldn’t it have a Queen?

In First Contact , she attempted to assimilate Earth in the past, and bring both Data and Picard to the dark side (to borrow a phrase). The Borg Queen could’ve taken away the collective’s singular scariness, but because of Alice Krige’s performance and weird sensuality, she became a fan favorite . The character later antagonized Voyager , and Annie Wersching currently portrays her on Picard .

7. Q ( TNG, DS9, Voyager , 1987-2001, Picard 2022)

The omnipotent entity from the Q Continuum , played by John de Lancie, Q evolved from a Star Trek villain into more of a nuisance. But that’s not how he started. First appearing on Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s pilot episode, he forced Picard to stand trial for the crimes of humanity. Other encounters saw him creating wild fantasy scenarios for the Enterprise crew , and currently, changing Earth’s past to create a dystopian present. But he gets to keep villain status for one reason. In an act of pure pettiness, he introduced the lethal Borg to the Federation, centuries too early. And thousands died as a result. That’s pretty villainous to us.

6. Weyoun ( Deep Space Nine , 1995-1999)

The biggest threat to peace on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the Dominion , a sort of anti-Federation from the other side of the Galaxy. Although the leaders of the Dominion were its shape-shifting Founders , the face of this empire was the alien race called the Vorta . And the conniving Vorta we saw most on DS9 was Weyoun, played by Jeffrey Combs.

Combs played the characters as if he were a used car salesman. A used car salesman with an army of genetically engineered soldiers at his disposal, mind you. As a clone (as all his species are), even when they killed off this Star Trek villain, he’d just return as an identical version. Weyoun appeared 24 times total on Deep Space Nine , as six different clone variants. He was like a rash that Captain Sisko just couldn’t get rid of. And DS9 viewers were thankful for it.

5. Kruge ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , 1984)

In the original Star Trek TV series, the Klingons were a lot of posturing and bluster. But they rarely did anything that was too bad. The true template for Klingon badassery was set by Doc Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd, in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . As a Klingon Bird of Prey commander named Kruge, he was obsessed with uncovering the secrets of the newly-created Genesis planet for his own ends, and for the glory of the Klingon Empire.

In just this one film, we saw Kruge coldly kill his lover Valkris for seeing classified information, as well as one of his own officers for screwing up on the bridge. And not just killed, but totally vaporized. He also destroyed a Federation starship and had one of his own officers murder Captain Kirk’s son just to prove a point to his adversary. Christopher Lloyd absolutely set the tone for what Klingons were in the franchise going forward with this performance. And that’s why this  Star Trek baddie sits so high on our ranked villains list.

4. Kai Winn Adami ( Deep Space Nine , 1993-1999)

As we know from the real world, religious fundamentalists are scary. And when they gain political power? They are even scarier. Such is the case with Kai Winn , played by Oscar-winner Louise Fletcher . They introduced us to her as a Bajoran Vedek (priest) in season one of Deep Space Nine . She first appeared as a religious zealot who tried to divide the Federation from the Bajorans.

But those ambitions were not enough for Winn. She soon clawed her way to the top, becoming her planet’s supreme religious figure. Winn said everything with a condescending smile, one that just makes you love to hate her. And as the series progressed, we learned that her so-called faith is just a smokescreen for her desire for power and control. Although the writers gave her layers, she was nevertheless one of Star Trek’s most ruthless villains.

3. General Chang ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , 1991)

The second-best cinematic villain in the Star Trek franchise was played by the great Christopher Plummer , in the original crew’s final outing together, The Undiscovered Country . When the Klingon and Federation have to make a peace after a tragedy befalls the Klingon homeworld, not everyone in the Empire wants to make friends with their longtime enemies.

At the front of that line was Chang , a Klingon general who loved to quote Shakespeare and who hid all his animosity behind a wry smile. An old warhorse who was not prepared for a peaceful future, he was even willing to work with his enemies to ensure a lasting peace never occurs. He may have made only one appearance in one film, but it sure was one for the ages. Not to mention, we love a villain who wears a great-looking sash.

2. Khan Noonien Singh ( Star Trek 1967, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 1982)

Ricardo Montalban originally played the part of a 20th century genetically engineered tyrant named Khan Noonien Singh in the 1967 episode “ Space Seed .” Despite a great performance, if it was only that one episode, he would likely not be on this Star Trek  villains list, much less rank this high. No, it was his return 15 years later as a vengeance-driven madman in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan that really makes him one of the all-time greats.

When  Star Trek combined believable motivation, top-tier acting, and forever memorable lines (“Vengeance is a dish best served cold”), it made an unbeatable mix. The combination makes him the best big-screen Trek villain of all time. Everyone else in the film series pales in comparison. Especially the other Khan, Benedict Cumberbatch, who played the character (in name only) in Star Trek Into Darkness.  He does not make it onto our  Star Trek  villains rankings.

  1. Gul Dukat ( Deep Space Nine , 1993-1999)

No Star Trek villain was as complicated, layered, and outright evil as the Cardassian war criminal Gul Dukat . As the commandant of Terok Nor , the space station later called Deep Space Nine , he oversaw the occupation and subjugation of the planet Bajor. His rule saw millions of Bajorans die in labor camps, and deal with untold suffering. And when he lost the planet, he became bitterly obsessed with getting his old position back as its brutal overseer.

Although veteran actor Marc Alaimo played the part dripping with ego and evil, he also gave Dukat layers. Among those layers was his genuine caring for his half-Bajoran daughter . But DS9 never let you forget, no matter how much we might occasionally sympathize with him, this was one bad dude. As a recurring villain throughout the seven-season run of DS9 , no Trek antagonist was ever allowed more to work with, or delivered it all so well.

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The best Star Trek villains of all time: from the Borg to the Klingons

The most memorable bad guys from the final frontier.

Like the even older Doctor Who, Star Trek has created more than its fair share of memorable adversaries since it debuted in 1966.

As captains James T Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Kathryn Janeway and the rest have boldly gone across the final frontier, they’ve met countless alien antagonists, human foes and even the occasional malevolent machine.

Many were instantly forgettable – few fans are still singing the praises of the Kazon, the Son’a or the Xindi – but others are nearly as famous as the franchise itself.

Here are 10 of the best Star Trek villains from the last five decades, taking in baddies from everywhere from the original series to The Next Generation, the movies and Discovery.

Don’t forget that you can set phasers to upvote or downvote these classic Star Trek villains.

All of the existing Star Trek TV shows are available to stream on Netflix, while Star Trek: Picard is on Amazon Prime Video.

Every one of the Star Trek movies is available to watch now on Paramount+. In fact two Star Trek shows feature in our best Paramount+ Shows guide.

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10 great Star Trek villains

1 . Khan Noonien Singh

During Earth’s Eugenics wars of the 1990s (yep, they passed us by too) Khan was a genetically engineered tyrant who escaped into space with his most loyal followers. Revived by James T Kirk in original series episode “Space Seed”, he tried to take over the Enterprise before being exiled on a barren world for his troubles.

Superhumans don’t give up, however, and when he was unexpectedly picked up by a recon mission 15 years later, Khan vowed vengeance – and became one of Star Trek’s greatest villains in franchise highpoint The Wrath Of Khan. Khaaaaaaaan!

2 . The Borg

The comically inept Ferengi were originally set to be the Big Bads of Star Trek: The Next Generation, hard as that is to believe three decades later. That didn’t quite work out, but in season two episode “Q Who?” one of sci-fi’s all-time great antagonists appeared on Jean-Luc Picard’s viewscreen for the first time – the Borg.

Cybernetically enhanced and acting as a single, ruthless hive mind, they’ve spent centuries assimilating other species into their collective, while reminding the universe that “resistance is futile”.

3 . The Klingons

A product of 1960s Cold War paranoia, the Klingons were a thinly veiled analogy for the Soviet Union in the original Star Trek. As synonymous with the franchise as Daleks are to Doctor Who, the Enterprise’s most famous foes returned as villains in the movies with a radical new look – those famous lumpy foreheads – before making an uneasy peace with the Federation in the Next Generation era. Their warrior-based society went on to form the backbone of many a TV story.

4 . The Romulans

Although closely related to the Vulcans, the Romulans have always favoured military superiority over logic. First introduced in the original series, this secretive race went AWOL for decades before Jean-Luc Picard reopened hailing frequencies in The Next Generation.

Since then, they’ve been regular Star Trek antagonists on TV and on the big screen – including JJ Abrams’s first reboot movie, where their world was destroyed by a supernova. The survivors of that apocalypse are set to play a key role in upcoming Amazon Prime Video series Star Trek: Picard.

While Kirk and Spock met a being who claimed to be god in the laughable Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, The Next Generation had its own omnipotent being to contend with. Originally introduced in the pilot episode, putting the Enterprise crew on trial for the crimes of humanity, Q gradually evolved from full-on antagonist to a fun (if all-powerful) thorn in the side – and even developed a grudging respect for Jean-Luc Picard and co.

Episodes were generally better if they boasted a visit from Q – he even played matchmaker between the Federation and the Borg.

6 . The Dominion

Deep Space Nine started off as a pedestrian hybrid of The Next Generation and Babylon 5. Then its second season revealed the threat that lived on the other side of the wormhole: the Gamma Quadrant’s evil Dominion.

They were comprised of the militaristic Jem Hadar, genetically engineered to do their masters’ bidding; the Vorta, obsequious clones bred to relish admin; and finally the shapeshifting Founders running the show, acting like gods and providing a worthy enemy for Star Trek’s first proper story arc.

The old storytelling staple of the evil twin gets an android reboot, in the form of Data’s older brother, Lore. Unfortunately, this prototype model had some major programming glitches – like megalomania, an innate sense of superiority, and a penchant for mass genocide.

He’s also fond of impersonating his little bro. Lore eventually led a rogue faction of Borg who were struggling to deal with their new-found individuality, before he was ultimately captured and permanently boxed.

8 . Captain Gabriel Lorca

Starfleet captains are usually model Federation citizens, but there was always something a bit different about Gabriel Lorca. Being on a war footing against the Klingons was always going to shift the rules of engagement, but even so, the USS Discovery’s commanding officer had remarkably scant regard for regulations and the sanctity of human life.

It all made sense when the captain was revealed to be the other Lorca from the authoritarian Terran Empire in the Mirror Universe, a place where it’s good to be bad.

Sometimes the worst enemies are the ones you build yourselves… In 2001: A Space Odyssey wannabe Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the mysterious V’Ger wiped out all in its path as it attempts to hook up with “the creator”. Ultimately it turned out to be Nasa probe Voyager 6 with some serious upgrades.

It had learned some stuff through the course of its lengthy travels, so was looking to attain the next level of existence – with little concern about the collateral damage.

This malevolent oil slick only appeared once, in The Next Generation episode “Skin Of Evil”, but warrants a place in this list of great Star Trek villains because it’s one of the few entities to kill off a principal crew member. The distillation of an entire planet’s bad vibes, it delighted in tormenting humans and murdered security chief Tasha Yar for its own amusement. One of Trek’s most shocking moments makes you rather glad he can’t leave his home planet.

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Star Trek Beyond: Idris Elba is 'predatory' villain Krall

He's not a Gorn.

Alongside his critically acclaimed roles in Beasts of No Nation , Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom , and Luther , Idris Elba has spent the last few summers dropping charisma bombs in summer-blockbuster fare like Thor , Prometheus , and Pacific Rim . Now, in a busy year that includes voice roles in Finding Dory and The Jungle Book , Elba will take on the Starship Enterprise as the Big Bad in Star Trek Beyond . We talked to Elba about his character and the joys of claustrophobic prosthetics.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Your character has been shrouded in mystery. Please tell me everything about him.

I play Krall. This is a man with a definite purpose. I say a man, but he’s not a man. Or is he?

Everyone wants to know: Is he a Gorn?

Is he a new species in the Star Trek universe?

Yes. What’s interesting about him is that he has a real beef with what the Enterprise stands for. Krall’s a character who’s deeply steeped in hatred — in my opinion, a well-earned hatred — for the Federation. It felt quite political. There’s a relatability to what’s happening in our world. Not everybody’s happy with what everybody calls the good guys.

There’s that line in the trailer , “This is where the Frontier pushes back.” It feels like a refutation of the whole foundation for the Federation.

There’s some history that we explore, to understand why he feels the frontier needs to push back. There’s definitely an opposing argument to the good that the Federation think they do. There are purists that believe in independence, and believe that we’re all made differently for a reason, and will fight tooth and nail to defend that. There’s massive relatability to modern world politics in that sense.

Some Star Trek bad guys are physical threats, and then there are villains like Khan who give all kinds of great megalomaniacal speeches. Does Krall fall into one of those traditions?

Krall is predatory. He’s not one for big speeches. He is one for going to get what he wants. If that means having to do it himself, outside of his army, he is not afraid to do that.

What it like working under all that makeup?

Typically, my day would start at 4:15 in the morning. I’d be in the chair until around 7:30, shoot about 8:30. Shot ’til around 9 at night, maybe later. Get home, unwind, get to sleep, and then wake up in the morning and do the whole thing again. It was definitely an extensive process. I learned so much about working with prosthetics, and how that can influence the performance. I’m claustrophobic by the way; I don’t like rubber masks on my face.

Did you have a favorite Star Trek character growing up?

Honestly, my favorite character from the TV show was Clark Kent. Clark Kent? [ laughs ] Sorry, different show! Captain Kirk was my favorite. Kirk was just smooth, man! There was nothing fazing him. It was part of the DNA of the show that, in times of ridiculous peril, Mr. Kirk was the coolest actor on the set.

What is Krall’s relationship like with Kirk in Beyond ?

Working with Chris [Pine] was a good old laugh. He’s a funny boy, and a wicked professional. But in terms of Krall and Kirk… can we say, Jaws and Dory?

You’re attached to a few different franchises now, between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the upcoming Dark Tower adaptation . Is there a possibility that you will return for another round of Star Trek ?

I can’t imagine at this point what else could happen for this character. I think, after this film, you don’t want me to return.

Star Trek Beyond opens July 22.

To read more of our Summer Movie Preview, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on newsstands now, or buy your choice of four collectible covers here – and subscribe now for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.

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Every Star Trek Movie Villain Ranked From Worst To Best

Who are the baddest of the bad on the big screen Star Trek adventures?

From the very first moment pen was put to paper on Star Trek it was envisaged as presenting a utopian, idyllic future for humanity. Gone were the wars, the greed, and poverty, and the disease that defined our modern age and, in its place, one unified human race dedicated to the exploration of both outer space, and the inner soul.

But this is entertainment! Without the villainous yin to the do-gooder yang of these intergalactic boy scouts, we'd have all spent the last half a century watching our intrepid crews galavant around the galaxy just cataloguing assorted gasses. A TV show, as the saying goes, is only as good as its protagonists, but a movie... well, that lives or dies by its bad guys.

Thus every time Star Trek has made the leap from the small to the silver screen, it's required a great deal of thought about who'd be brought in to provide the necessary threat to our established crews. Terrifying alien overlords, insidious Starfleet double-agents, even mind-bending entities whose motivations are, actually, pretty harmless, we've had a bit of everything across 13 films now.

So, with everything from their performance, their motivations, their actions, and their legacy to consider, how do you rank every single one of them from worst to best? Well, let's find out.

19. Admiral Dougherty

Admiral Dougherty was the Starfleet commander of the mission in the Briar Patch. He worked with Ru'afo to move the Baku from their village on the planet in the name of saving lives. The metaphasic energy in the planet's rings was crucial to reversing the ageing process, effectively making the entire location the Fountain of Youth.

Though acting from a well-intentioned place, Dougherty let his obsession for this mission blind him to Ru'afo's real goals. Though Captain Picard challenged him on it, he was unwilling to waver in his determination to continue. He even went so far as to order Ru'afo to send two Son'a warships after the Enterprise-E to stop the ship from reporting what was going on to the Federation Counsel itself.

A late in the day change of heart led to his undoing. Picard finally managed to open the Admiral's eyes enough for him to confront Ru'afo, though this rapidly led to the man's death. He had stumbled into the middle of a blood feud that ended up destroying him and his reputation.

Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick

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7 best Star Trek villains, ranked

Thanks to its more than 50 years of continued existence, Star Trek   has produced just a lot of stuff. That stuff includes several great TV shows, more than a few outstanding movies, and perhaps most importantly of all, some genuinely great villains.

4. The Klingons

3. the borg queen, 2. gul dhukat.

Because Trek has always concerned itself with the politics of the stories it tells, the series has also introduced some genuinely nuanced bad guys. There are plenty of great villains of the week, to be sure, but there are also legendary villains who have made their way onto this list. These are the seven best Star Trek villains, ranked.

Say what you will about  Star Trek Into Darkness , but J.J. Abrams’ first Star Trek effort was a rousing success. Among its many feats was its introduction of a totally new villain in the form of Nero, a vengeful Romulan who blames Spock for not preventing the death of his family.

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Eric Bana’s performance in the role is transformative, but what really sells the whole endeavor is the sense of grandeur and scale that’s on display. Nero is filled with rage, and it’s that rage that has driven him to where he is now.

We’ve had plenty of great villains from across the many Trek shows, but Deep Space Nine ’s Weyoun was among the most beloved, in part because he was an ideal foil to the show’s cast. As the mouthpiece for the Dominion and a Vorta himself, Weyoun always delivered his message with a smile, but that rarely meant that he actually had the best of intentions.

In fact, Weyoun was in many ways your typical slimey politician, and that was undoubtedly a huge part of what made him so appealing to fans of  Deep Space Nine every time he was killed off and then inevitably returned to the show.

An omnipotent being that is a reminder of how far  Star Trek  characters can come, Q was first introduced as an ominous presence but became something much sillier as he became more familiar to Star Trek fans.

It was Q’s actions that ultimately resulted in the introduction of the Borgs to the universe, and he was also the one who charged Picard with the crimes of humanity. In spite of his power, Q is ultimately not the worst perpetrator of evil in the world of Star Trek, even though he certainly could have been.

In many ways the primordial Star Trek villain, the Klingons have shown up in a number of different villainous guises over the course of the franchise’s long and storied history. In the show’s original configuration, they existed as a foil to the Federation — the USSR to the Federation’s America.

Of course, Trek never expressed any idea quite that simply, and the Klingons were always humanized, even as they often opposed what the Federation was doing. You understood that they had their reasons, even if you weren’t always supposed to be sympathetic to them.

The Borg, in general, is a major menace to the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation . Operating as a hive mind with the goal of assimilating all other living things into them, part of the point of the Borg was that they were everywhere and nowhere.

That’s why many were so worried by the introduction of the Borg Queen, but they didn’t have any reason for concern. The Borg Queen totally works, in large part thanks to Alice Krige’s memorable, sensual performance in the central role.

Gul Dukat was the best version of the authoritarian mode of Star Trekvillain. A character so villainous and tyrannical that you wanted nothing more than his ultimate defeat, even if you also found him compelling.

A Cardassian war criminal who ruled over Bajor as a complete totalitarian, what made Dukat so remarkable was that you could understand that his actions were heinous, even as you found yourself drawn into his world. Many argue that Gul Dhukat is the finest villain Star Trek has ever produced, and we think that’s pretty close to being on the money.

A name memorably screamed not once but twice in Star Trek movies , Khan is most remembered today for killing Spock in  The Wrath of Khan , widely regarded as the best of the  Trek  movies for a reason.

Although Khan was just a villain-of-the-week in the original series, in Wrath of Khan , he is elevated to a devious mastermind, capable of taking down and outsmarting even Kirk, Spock, and their crew. Ricardo Montalbán’s performance made the role one of the most important in the history of the franchise. As for Benedict Cumberbatch’s reprisal of the character? Well, the less said about that, the better.

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While the year is only half over, 2024 has already been great for science-fiction movies. Films from Marvel (Deadpool & Wolverine) and DC (The Batman 2) have yet to grace the silver screens, but other franchises have taken the opportunity to win over audiences and stake their claim in theaters worldwide.

As we venture deeper into the second half of 2024, these five sci-fi films have stood apart from the pack and emerged as the best the genre has to offer so far in 2024. 5. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Of all the completed Star Trek series, Discovery may be the most difficult from which to pick out the 10 best episodes. That’s not because it’s the weakest series in the franchise like Enterprise is -- by our reckoning, it’s actually in the low middle -- but because its serialized format makes it tricky to isolate specific chapters to celebrate. Each season of Discovery followed Michael Burnham and the crew of the show’s eponymous starship on a lengthy adventure with cosmic stakes, but not every hour packed a memorable punch. Still, while many of the chapters tend to blur together, there are some definite standouts spread evenly throughout the show’s entire five-season run. Ready? Let’s fly.

10. “Coming Home” (season 4, episode 13) The finale of Discovery’s fourth season is an example of everything that’s great about the series, but also everything that’s lame about it. The Federation’s climactic confrontation with the extragalactic Species 10-C is visually splendid, emotionally intense, and ultimately a story about communication and empathy, the cornerstone of Star Trek’s ethos. Sonequa Martin-Green delivers one of the best performances in the entire franchise, as her character swallows her shock and grief at her partner’s apparent death and steadies herself for duty. But, by the end of the episode, everything has worked out swimmingly, there are hugs and smiles and no lasting consequences. Popular progressive lawmaker Stacey Abrams makes a cameo as the President of Earth to congratulate the show’s producers Captain Burnham on her inspirational work. That’s Discovery for you -- sometimes amazing, sometimes cringe, often at the same time.

Science fiction movies tend to lean heavily on the fiction side to create fantastical stories and futuristic worlds beyond anyone's wildest dreams. There are more than a few films in the genre, however, that stand out for using theories and concepts grounded in actual science. These scientifically accurate movies use realistic principles to create engaging worlds and scenarios that are often more effective because they are plausible.

From the meticulously crafted survival story in The Martian to the not-too-distant future shown in Her, these movies make the most out of the unique intersection between science and imagination. They propose potential realities people may one day experience given the trajectory of both human ingenuity and society's most dangerous flaws. Whether viewers are in the mood for soft sci-fi or more extreme applications of scientific theories, there's something for every type of fan looking to see how science and cinema collide. 5. Gattaca (1997)

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• From Q to Khan: The 10 Best <em>Star Trek</em> Villains Ever

From Q to Khan: The 10 Best Star Trek Villains Ever

A t its best, Star Trek is a science fiction series about humanity’s ability to expand its horizons and overcome differences . But all that would be pretty boring without some great villains to overcome. Trek’s bad guys have been a mixed bag, ranging from the laughable — looking at you, Harry Mudd — to the legitimately terrifying — The Borg.

Who’s the baddest of the bad? Here’s TIME’s ranking of the 10 best Star Trek villains ever.

The omnipresent, omnipotent, omni-jerkwad Q is up here in tenth place only because he’s not really a villain — he just loves messing with the crew of Picard’s Enterprise. Sure, he can be a real pain sometimes, like when he tried to tempt Commander Riker with godlike powers. But he also helped the Enterprise, and the Federation at large, by flinging the Enterprise into a confrontation with another big bad on this list — the Borg. This move gave humanity a sense of what they were up against while they were out there, boldly going.

2. Duras Sisters

There are few Klingons less honorable than sisters Lursa and B’Etor of the House of Duras, whose actions plunged the Empire into civil war. They also had a history of working with Romulans to take control of Klingon politics, which is the sort of thing that would get you stabbed with a Bat’leth. The Duras Sisters came close to killing Picard’s crew, but some quick work by Commander Data helped the Enterprise-D turn the tables on their Bird of Prey — though the Federation flagship suffered irreparable damage in the process.

The robotic probe Nomad was launched from Earth with a noble goal: Seeking out new life and new civilizations, which is something of a theme in Star Trek. Unfortunately, a collision and melding with an alien probe turned it into a super-intelligent death machine, capable of genocide on a massive scale. But Captain James T. Kirk managed to use Nomad’s grim logic against the spacecraft, leading it to self-destruct, thus saving the Enterprise, humanity and probably lots of other species. (Good job, Kirk!)

4. Dr. Soran

What would happen to you if you found your way to heaven, only to get torn back out? That’s what happened to Dr. Tolian Soran, and it messed him up good. Soran had an encounter with “the Nexus,” essentially a rift in space-time that visitors experienced as a dreamlike world they could shape to their liking. After he was pulled from the Nexus against his will, Dr. Soran became obsessed with getting back — even if it meant destroying entire worlds in the process. Not cool, dude.

5. Professor James Moriarty

Okay, fine, Professor James Moriarty is a pretty great villain no matter where he shows up. But he’s particularly good in Star Trek: The Next Generation, where he appears as a holographic simulation that gains a degree of self-awareness and turns to evil. Eventually, Picard and crew found a clever and humane way of outsmarting him: They trapped him in a computer simulation with “enough experiences to last a lifetime.” It’s all very meta. Either way, Moriarty episodes are some of that series’ best “Holodeck gone wrong” stories. Won’t somebody fix that Holodeck?

Whereas the android Data is basically the chillest dude who ever stepped foot on the Enterprise-D, his “brother” turns out to be seriously evil. On their first encounter, Lore deactivates Data and impersonates him in an unsuccessful effort to steal the ship. Later, he attacks Federation outposts and tries to manipulate Data to get him to turn against the Enterprise crew. That almost happens, but Geordi and Captain Picard step in to remind Data his brother kinda sucks, and Data dismantles his evil twin.

7. Gul Dukat

The Cardassians are basically a whole species of evil jerks, with Gul Dukat among the most twisted. He oversaw the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, subjugating the planet’s population as a ruthless dictator. He later aligned his people with the Dominion, an advanced government hell-bent on galactic takeover and a major Federation enemy. He ultimately ended up imprisoned in the Bajoran fire caves, which is fine, because he was not a nice person.

8. The Borg

The Borg are Star Trek’s most viscerally terrifying villain. Part organic lifeform, part machine, the Borg destroy all life they see as inferior, and assimilate any species in which they find value. They’re also bound together in “the Collective,” a hivemind that allows essentially zero independent thoughts or actions. And they have very powerful weapons. Picard, who was once assimilated, summed it up best in this speech :

9. General Chang

Now here’s a Klingon villain who really ranks in the top echelon of Trek baddies. After a nearby disaster put the Klingon homeworld at risk, the Federation and the Klingons moved towards peace talks — the thinking being that, if the Klingons didn’t have to spend so much money on its military prowess, it could fix the planet. But General Chang, among other Klingons and Federation officials, hated to the idea of peace. Instead, they conspired to ruin the talks — only to be foiled by Captain Kirk and crew. Chang also had an annoying habit of quoting Shakespeare, so nobody really missed him.

10. Khan Noonien Singh

Could anybody else really take the number one spot? A genetically engineered super-human from the past, Khan was a dictator who controlled large swaths of Earth until he was nearly deposed. Instead of being captured or killed, he fled the planet on a ship in biological stasis, only to be found centuries later by Kirk and company. After Khan unsuccessfully tried to take over the Enterprise, Kirk left him to settle a nearly barren world. He was later re-discovered by another Federation ship years later, harboring intense hatred for Kirk after the planet became nearly inhospitable to life. Khan then went on a vengeance tour, nearly destroying the Enterprise with a ship-turned-suicide bomb. Thankfully, Spock saved the day — at the cost of his own life. Sorta. The takeaway is this: Khan’s a seriously evil dude.

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Star Trek Villains

Villains and antagonists from the popular sci-fi franchise Star Trek which include TV series, films, and other media.

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The Untold Truth Of Star Trek's Romulans

Star Trek   gives good bad guy. Since  Star Trek: The Original Series'  ( TOS)  premiere in 1966, Gene Roddenberry and his colleagues have brought us lots of memorable recurring antagonists. There are the warlike Klingons, the trickster Q, and the relentless Borg — but before most of  Trek 's repeat villains came the Romulans. 

Only appearing in a few of the original series' episodes and making minor appearances in the original crew's films, the Romulans were nonetheless remembered when the  Trek  franchise was revived with  Star Trek: The Next Generation   ( TNG ). For most of their time onscreen, the Romulans have been Cold War -like opponents. They plot, they assassinate, and they threaten, but they rarely make open war on Starfleet. But when they do open fire? Well, nine times out of ten, the Romulans only let slip the proverbial dogs of war after their work in the shadows has made their victory seemingly inevitable. 

Unlike Starfleet, the Romulan military and secret agents have few moral qualms about dealing with other species, and their mercilessness helps breed paranoia within their ranks. They'll do anything to get ahead, and assume everyone they meet is just as willing. Their paranoia sometimes proves more than accurate, as even some of the most idealistic members of Starfleet have taken a break from their usual ethical high ground when dealing with the sons and daughters of Romulus. 

For more about one of  Star Trek 's oldest powers, keep reading for the untold truth of the Romulans.

Their creation was inspired by ancient Rome

According to commentary on the  TOS  season 1 Blu-ray, the idea for the Romulans came from writer Paul Schneider, who wanted worthy adversaries for Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and was inspired by the Roman Empire . 

Romulans make their first appearance in the  TOS  season 1 episode "Balance of Terror." We learn that after a bloody conflict with the Romulans, a peace treaty was forged between them and the Federation via subspace radio. The treaty establishes a neutral zone in which neither side's ships are allowed to enter. A map is displayed to the  Enterprise  crew that shows the planets Romulus and Remus on the opposite side of the zone. 

Romulus was the legendary founder of Rome. In Roman myth, Romulus and his brother Remus are born to a mortal woman, Rhea Silvia, who mates with Mars — the god of war. Left for dead by their uncle Amulius' servants, the twins are saved by a wolf. They're eventually raised by shepherds and, upon growing to adulthood and learning the truth about who they are, they kill their uncle and seek a place to start their own kingdom. There are different versions of how it happens, but at some point in the tale Romulus usually kills Remus in a dispute over where their new kingdom is to be founded. 

Considering the treachery and violence we've seen the Romulans are capable of, if nothing else Schneider picked fitting names for their worlds. 

Romulans are an offshoot of Vulcans

When the  Enterprise  first encounters Romulans, they're the first humans to actually see the race, and their physical similarities to Vulcans leaves some crew members questioning Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) loyalty. Their similar features aren't a coincidence — Romulans are an offshoot of the Vulcan species.

Centuries before the events of Star Trek  when the Vulcans begin to purge their emotions in pursuit of pure logic, not everyone plays ball. Some Vulcans reject the new ideas, and after a bloody war they leave to create their own society on Romulus and Remus. 

Romulans, however, are not   just Vulcans on a different planet. Millenia of genetic drift created many subtle variations in their physiological makeup. They still share pointed ears, but there are some obvious differences, like the prominent ridges on Romulans' foreheads. There are less obvious differences too, which Dr. Crusher learns in the  TNG  episode "The Enemy," when she unsuccessfully tries to heal an injured Romulan by treating him as if he were a Vulcan.

Predictably there are Romulans like TNG 's Sela (Denise Crosby) who feel nothing but contempt for Vulcans. But some feel a strong kinship toward their less passionate cousins. In the  TOS  episode "The Enterprise Incident," the Romulan Commander (Joanne Linville) admires and and is attracted to Spock. In the  TNG  two-parter "Unification," it's feared that Spock has defected to Romulus, when in fact he's there meeting the members of a growing movement of Romulans who wish to reunite with their Vulcan ancestors. 

One of the first onscreen Romulans was Spock's dad... kind of

If you're more familiar with the original crew movies than with  TOS , or more familiar with  TNG , then you may be surprised to learn who played the first onscreen Romulan Commander: Mark Lenard, who would later appear in "Journey to Babel" as Spock's father Sarek. Lenard reprised the role of Sarek in  TNG , in a number of the original crew movies, and even lent his voice to Sarek in  Star Trek: The Animated Series . But before he played Sarek, he played the unnamed Romulan Commander in "The Balance of Terror." 

Speaking to  Starlog  (via MyStarTrekScrapbook ) in 1984, Lenard said the Romulan Commander role was the second time he'd gone up for a part on  TOS . And while the second time proved the charm as far as getting on the series was concerned, it would take a third try before he got to meet any of the series regulars. In "Balance of Terror," all of the communication between his character and the  Enterprise  crew takes place on a viewscreen, so there was never any need for him to be in the same space. It wasn't until he returned as Sarek that he was able to meet the intrepid crew.

Lenard wasn't the only Romulan in that episode to return later as a Vulcan. Lawrence Montaigne, who plays the ambitious Romulan officer Decius in "Balance of Terror," returns as the Vulcan Stonn in season 2's "Amok Time." 

The Romulans boast a number of secret cabals

One of the reasons so many Romulans remain loyal to their government is the Tal Shiar — a powerful secret police that conducts clandestine operations both inside the Romulan Empire and against Romulus' rivals. They kidnap, torture, assassinate, and don't lose much sleep over any of it. 

The Tal Shiar is first mentioned in  TNG but becomes more visible in  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ( DS9 ), when we witness how resilient the organization is. In the two-part DS9  story spanning "Improbable Cause" and "The Die is Cast," the Tal Shiar join forces with the Cardassians' secret police — the Obsidian Order — in a sneak attack on the Dominion. The whole thing turns out to be a trap and their fleet is decimated. The events wipe out the Obsidian Order and help lead to the overthrow of the Cardassian government. The Tal Shiar, on the other hand, are still one of the most powerful parts of the Romulan government when we meet their leader Koval (John Fleck) in the  DS9 s eason 7 episode "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges."

More recently in  Star Trek: Picard ,   we learn the Tal Shiar is a part of an older organization called the Zhat Vash — something so secret some Tal Shiar members believe it's a myth. The Zhat Vash is dedicated to wiping out all synthetic life, and it's embedded in governments all over the galaxy, including the highest ranks of Starfleet.

A favorite episode proves Starfleet isn't above using Romulan tactics

The Romulans are often depicted as unduly paranoid in contrast to the well-intentioned heroes of Starfleet. In a fan-favorite episode –  DS9 's "In the Pale Moonlight" — Starfleet proves that sometimes the Romulans should  be paranoid. 

Captain Ben Sisko (Avery Brooks) commits himself to convincing the Romulans to enter the war against the Dominion. He enlists the enigmatic Cardassian Garak (Andrew Robinson) to retrieve Dominion plans to invade Romulus. When that doesn't work out, Garak sells Sisko on the idea of creating a fake holographic record of the Dominion leaders discussing the invasion of Romulus. Sisko invites the Romulan Senator Vreenak (Joseph McHattie) to DS9 to show him the recording, but the senator sees through the lie. Not long after an enraged Vreenak leaves the station, we learn his ship has been destroyed and the Tal Shiar believes the Dominion is behind it. Sisko realizes Garak never meant for the fake holo-record to work, but instead always planned to assassinate Vreenak and pin it on the Dominion. Sisko is enraged and even attacks Garak in his shop, but in the end — because he's desperate to defeat the Dominion — he keeps the truth to himself. 

The entire story is told from Sisko's point of view as he reads it into a log entry. In the final moments of the episode, as soon as he finishes the tale, he orders the computer to delete it. 

Romulans make Star Trek's most famous beverage

Apparently, when Romulans aren't plotting to dominate the galaxy, they like to party. Sprinkled here and there throughout the  Trek  franchise is Romulan Ale — a  very  strong alcoholic drink that is illegal in the Federation, yet Starfleet officers keep getting their hands on it anyway. 

The first time the beverage is mentioned is in 1982's  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan when Bones (DeForest Kelley) brings a bottle of it to James Kirk for his birthday. Kirk is noticeably surprised at how strong the drink is. Regardless, he somehow doesn't have a problem serving it during a diplomatic dinner aboard the  Enterprise  in 1991's  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country — a detail that is used against him and McCoy when they're framed for assassinating the Klingon Chancellor. Ben Sisko serves what appears to be replicated Romulan Ale to a Romulan senator in the  DS9  episode "In the Pale Moonlight," though the senator refers to it as "kali fal," which may or may not be the Romulan name for the blue drink. At the wedding reception for Riker and Troi in 2002's  Star Trek: Nemesis , Worf (Michael Dorn) complains that "Romulan ale should be illegal" as he nurses a headache. "It is," Geordi (Levar Burton) reminds him.

As far back as the TOS  episode "The Enterprise Incident," the Romulan Commander shares a blue drink with Spock as she's trying to seduce him, though we never hear its name. 

In 1995, they wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas

In 1995, the Romulan Empire made its first appearance on a Hallmark commercial. No you didn't misread that. Promoting a Romulan Warbird Christmas ornament, Hallmark released a commercial depicting the pointy-eared aliens kidnapping a Hallmark cashier to interrogate her about how she'd "pirated" the design of the ornament from the Romulans. 

And they didn't just get any actors to show up in costume and makeup. The cheerful cashier's interrogators are mostly  Star Trek  actors who had already played villains on at least one  Trek  series. Martha Hackett — the Romulan woman in the commercial — is probably more well known to  Trek  fans as the Cardassian Seska on  Star Trek: Voyager . But she'd also played the Romulan officer T'Rul in the two-part  DS9  episode "The Search." The introduction of the Defiant  includes a cloaking device on loan from the Romulan Empire and it's T'Rul's job to run the cloaking device and keep its secrets from Starfleet. 

Considering neither T'Rul nor any other Romulan is shown on board the  Defiant  to safeguard their cloaking secrets after "The Search," they apparently weren't any better about protecting their secrets than they are at interrogating Hallmark cashiers.

Romulans are in lots of first drafts, but fewer final drafts

When it comes to the Trek  movies, the Romulans usually play second fiddle if   they show up at all. Romulans were the chief antagonists of J.J. Abrams' 2009  Star Trek  reboot, but before that they failed to take center stage in any of the movies. The closest they got was 2002's  Star Trek: Nemesis ; their homeworld and government are important to the plot, but the main villain is Shinzon (Tom Hardy) — a clone of Picard — and a race of former slaves called the Remans. 

But it isn't for lack of trying. The Romulans were originally meant to take a larger role in a number of  Trek  films. Remember the Klingons in 1984's  Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ,   led by the ruthless Commander Kruge (Christopher Lloyd)? According to a 2002 issue of  Star Trek: The Magazine , it was originally going to be the Romulans who clash with the  Enterprise in orbit of the Genesis planet — not Klingons. They were  originally planned as the villains for 1998's  Star Trek: Insurrection , but were ultimately replaced by the face-stretching Son'a. In Michael Piller's unpublished book Fade In , the  Trek  writer wrote that Patrick Stewart — among others — was very much against the inclusion of the Romulans, who the actor felt were "unexciting." Stewart worried that using the Romulans would make it appear as if "we just couldn't come up with any new bad guys." 

The process of turning an actor into a Romulan has evolved

The look of the Romulans, the process of creating that look, and the resources devoted to it have all changed significantly since their first appearances. In  TOS , Romulans look almost identical to Vulcans, and the cost of adding latex pointy ears to actors made them too expensive to use on background actors. On the  TOS  season 1 Blu-ray commentary, we learn that in "Balance of Terror," only two of the Romulan actors were actually given the ears while the rest of the Romulans are made to wear helmets hiding their ears.

Romulans show up a lot more once  TNG  comes around, and their reintroduction comes with a new design. Prominent brow ridges were added to Romulan prosthetics. According to the reference book  Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , this was both to make the Romulans appear more menacing and to help differentiate them from their Vulcan cousins.

As of the 2020 premiere of  Star Trek: Picard , hi-def technology changed things. On  The Ready Room  – the  Picard  after-show — prosthetic designer Vincent Van Dyke said that "every single background performer, all the way to the foreground hero characters" not only are fitted with ears, but "laced brows." Every single Romulan actor on  Picard  wears a prosthetic piece that includes eyebrows which have been painstakingly laced — one hair at a time — into the prosthetic. Long gone are the days of fitting the extras with skullcap helmets. 

In Star Trek: Picard, the Romulans become both friends and foes

One of the unique things about  Star Trek: Picard is that while it gives us plenty of Romulan villains, we also meet possibly the most sympathetic Romulan characters to ever appear in any  Trek  production.

When we find the retired Picard running his family vineyard, he's accompanied by two Romulans who treat him like nothing less than family. Laris (Orla Brady) and Zhaban (Jamie McShane) are former Tal Shiar agents who live with Picard, cook for him and — when a Zhat Vash squad comes gunning for the retired admiral — risk their lives for him. Their loyalty springs largely from Picard's efforts to evacuate the Romulan Empire. Both are fiercely protective of Picard, particularly Laris. 

At the same time, the Romulans have not all left their more villainous impulses behind. Along with Picard's Romulan friends, the newer series introduces us to the seductive Narek (Harry Treadaway), his ruthless sister Narissa (Peyton List), and the fanatical Zhat Vash whose agents have the unsettling ability to spit out a corrosive liquid that kills both themselves and anyone unlucky enough to be nearby. 

Star Trek: Picard forces 2009's Star Trek to make more sense

One of the interesting side effects of  Star Trek: Picard and its stronger focus on the Romulans is that it manages to reach back in time and force 2009's  Star Trek to make more sense. 

A lot of fans — even those who enjoyed J.J. Abrams' reinvention of the  Trek  franchise — weren't overly impressed with Eric Bana's Nero. The Romulan villain goes into the past and, among other things, destroys Vulcan. Nero does what he does purely for vengeance, to get back at the Federation for the supernova that destroyed Romulus and killed his family. To some fans, Nero's motivations didn't add up. After all, the Romulan supernova is a natural phenomenon. How could Nero blame the Federation, the Vulcans, or anyone else for not helping, particularly when you consider how hostile the Romulans have been to, well...  everyone ? 

But with  Star Trek: Picard and the backstory it presents, Nero's quest for vengeance comes into focus. In  Picard  we learn that Starfleet committed to helping evacuate the Romulan Empire and then, after the unexpected synthetic revolt on Mars, backed out of the endeavor. From Nero's point of view, it's one thing to stand by and do nothing; it's quite another to offer help and then to withdraw it at the 11th hour. It makes Nero's rage much easier to relate to, though his actions are no less monstrous. 

Den of Geek

The Star Trek Alien Race That No One Can Ever Redeem

Even in the nostalgia filled new era, no one’s tried to salvage one of the biggest mistakes Star Trek ever made.

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Star Trek has a mixed record when it comes to introducing new alien races. Sure, even non-hardcore Trek fans can list off facts about Vulcans, Klingons, and the Borg , but there are many, many more aliens that fall into obscurity. Mostly because they’re one-off guest aliens used to set up the ethical dilemma of the week. But every so often, the makers o f Star Trek bet BIG when it on a new alien species, confident they’ll become a major recurring element of the Trek franchise. And then they faceplant in spectacular fashion. 

The most well known disaster was the Ferengi, the money-obsessed culture that was introduced as major recurring (and “imposing”) new threat for Star Trek: The Next Generation . But what was supposed to be a critique of capitalism just came off as silly at best and actively offensive at worst. Yet even with that horrid intro, the Ferengi were eventually rehabilitated in Deep Space Nine , which shifted them to intentionally comedic villains. That spinoff was able to take the shattered remains of the Ferengi and flesh out a race that provided not just comedic stories but moments that offered serious critiques of our modern day. No other Trek race has received this level of redemption, though Lower Decks’ delightful obsession with utilizing obscure bits of Trek lore means deep-cut alien races often get a second shot in animation. 

Yet one an alien race that was created at the height of Trek’s cultural relevance in the mid ‘90s has been quietly swept under the rug, even in an era where bringing back characters from critically reviled franchise entries is the hip thing to do. Remember the Kazon?

Introduced in Star Trek: Voyager ’s premiere as the major antagonists for the series, they did little to impress. A fragmented race of warring sects, the biggest accomplishments in their debut were kidnapping Kes, a one year-old space elf girl, and bickering over water. Thrilling. They weren’t helped by their makeup design, which can charitably be described as “generic Star Trek alien with a bad hair day.” More accurately they’re just Dollar Store Klingons.

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The Kazon are the worst Star Trek alien species. they are just beardless Klingons with an assortment of cruciferous vegetables on their heads. who said this looks good? pic.twitter.com/r6jjkUO4aR — Eddie Steak (@EddieSteak) August 13, 2018

Even as Voyager attempted to make the Kazon work, fleshing out their culture in episodes such as “Initiations,” they never came off as anything more than pale imitations of the massively popular Klingons. The best the series managed was a storyline about how young Kazon earned their place in society. Which amounted to just “kill somebody.” So much depth. Yet despite the Kazon’s clear failure, series co-creator Michael Piller, speaking in Captains’ Logs Supplemental: The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages , was adamant at the time of Voyager’s second season that they’d become “perhaps one of the top five adversarial alien races in Star Trek ‘s history.”

That season put all its hopes on the Kazon. They prominently featured in Voyager’s first attempt at a serialized story…which was an unmitigated disaster. While Deep Space Nine was blazing a trail for multi-season arcs in the franchise, Voyager haphazardly tossed “arc” moments into episodes with no rhyme or reason. Remember “Threshold,” the episode where Tom Paris turned into a salamander? It has a bewildering scene where a traitorous Voyager crew member informs the Kazon of the salamander-creating technology. The Kazon never followed up, sadly. It’s telling that as time went on, the entire Kazon race was subsumed into the soap opera antics of Cardassian agent Seska and her baby drama with Commander Chakotay . 

Voyager finally abandoned the Kazon as a viable adversary in the season three premiere and never looked back, outside of time travel shenanigans where the Kazon were shorthand for “hey, it’s early Voyager !” The failure of the Kazon, especially as main villains for Voyager ’s attempt at serialization, can easily be seen as a contributing reason why the show avoided serialized stories for most of the rest of its run. The writers looked at how badly the Kazon arc went and decided to throw serialized stories out with the Kazon bathwater.

The reputation of the Kazon hasn’t improved over time. No one’s rushing to flesh out the race, like Discovery attempted to do with the Breen . They haven’t gotten a semi-ironic reappraisal like “Tom Paris as a Salamander.” The best they’ve received are small appearances in Star Trek: Prodigy where their main purpose is to be a signifier to the audience that “this is gonna be a show with a lot of Voyager elements in it.”

It’d be easy to say everyone’s agreed the Kazon were off-brand Klingons and move on, but that observation hides the real core problem behind them. One that goes back to their earliest conception. As revealed in the behind-the-scenes book, A Vision of the Future: Star Trek Voyager , the earliest notes for the Kazon from co-creators Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, and Rick Berman describe them as “gang”-like villains: “They come in and ‘squat’ on a planet. They’re basically bullies. At least two gangs, Crips and Bloods, in competition for influence.” 

Nope. With all respect to the work of Taylor in particular, this is somehow worse than the way she attempted to portray gay discrimination in TNG’s “The Outcast,” which had nonbinary aliens as the villains in what feels like a straw man argument from Fox News. 

Speaking in Captains’ Logs Supplemental, Piller added that the Delta Quadrant itself was supposed to resemble then contemporary East Los Angeles, with the Kazon as LA street gangs. He had hoped to represent that by casting younger actors, between 18 and 25, as a way to demonstrate the Kazon, “never lived to be old enough to have the kind of experience and perspective on the world that, say, the Klingons or Romulans might have.”

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This didn’t end up happening and Piller pointed to it as a reason why the Kazon didn’t ultimately work. Unfortunately, the explanation lacked the self-reflection that a team of producers which featured no one actually familiar with living in East Los Angeles were the wrong ones to create a species that served as a metaphor for that experience. At least Piller admitted that the Kazon “ultimately came out being sort of Klingon-ish.” 

Taylor was more scathing, also speaking in Captains’ Logs Supplemental. “They’re just sort of big, loutish characters that cause our people to overact. They had a cartoon like quality that I think was not our finest hour.”

Let’s just call them what they are: the Kazon were ill-conceived outright racist caricatures of LA gangs. That’s the real reason no one is rushing to redeem the Kazon. You’d have to completely reinvent them to the point it’d be better to just start fresh with an entirely new alien race.

Thus the Kazon are doomed to their fate as the back-up of the back-up alien race that represents Voyager . The Borg will always truly belong to TNG and the Hirogen, arguably Voyager’s biggest original alien race success story, are too fleshed out to just plop them into small cameos. That’s why the Kazon are referenced by Tom Paris in Lower Decks . They needed something instantly recognizable as being part of Voyager f or a quick punchline, nothing more. 

You’ll never see a Ferengi-like redemption for the Kazon because they were beyond one from the moment they were conceived.

Shamus Kelley | @ShamusWrites

For more from Shamus including original TV scripts visit www.ShamusKelley.com. He’s been a TV writer since 2009 when he created and executive produced the 21 JSR…

Screen Rant

Star trek: picard’s real villains revealed: [spoiler], not romulans.

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Star Trek: Picard's Forgotten Captain Recycled A DS9 Hologram Trick, But Better

Star trek: picard totally forgot about jean-luc's other son, no one noticed star trek: picard season 3 subtly set up uss enterprise-d’s return.

Warning: SPOILERS Below For Star Trek: Picard Season 1, Episode 9

The true villains of Star Trek: Picard have been revealed: The great threat isn't the Romulans, but a federation of synthetic beings that exist outside of the galaxy and are coming to wipe out organic life. However, this doesn't mean the anti-synthetics cabal called the Zhat Vash are on the side of the angels; in Star Trek: Picard episode 9, "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1", the Romulans are still plotting to eradicate the planet Coppelius and the synthetics who live there, all of whom are the brothers and sisters of Soji (Isa Briones).

The mysteries of Star Trek: Picard season 1 are all tied together by the actions of the Zhat Vash , who have spent hundreds of years dedicated to wiping out artificial lifeforms. However, the Romulans believe that the threat to the galaxy is Soji and the numerous other synthetics built by Dr. Bruce Maddox (John Ales) and Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner) from the positronic neuron of the late Commander Data. Ironically, it was Zhat Vash leader Commodore Oh's (Tamlyn Tomita) plot to force the United Federation of Planets to ban synthetics by staging an attack on Mars by rogue androids that led to Maddox and Soong to escape to the hidden planet of Coppelius and spend 14 years perfecting human-like synthetics, culminating in the creation of Soji and her late twin sister Dahj. The Zhat Vash have been chasing Maddox and his "abominations" ever since but thanks to the devious machinations of Narek (Harry Treadaway), the Romulan Tal Shiar discovered the location of Coppelius from Soji.

Related: Star Trek: Picard: Zhat Vash Origin & Synthetic Armageddon Explained

When Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) sought refuge for himself and Soji with his friends Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) on Nepenthe, the aged Starfleet legend confessed he was in over his head. It turns out this was an understatement because in his quest to find Data's daughter, Picard and his ragtag crew aboard the hired starship La Sirena found themselves embroiled in a conflict for the fate of the galaxy. Worse, it's unclear who is entirely in the right or whether Picard can trust the synthetics he came to save - especially when they placed him under house arrest under the orders of Sutra, one of Soji's android sisters, during "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1's" cliffhanger ending. So, let's unravel Star Trek: Picard 's macro story and try to determine who the bad guys truly are.

An Ancient Federation of Synthetics Are Star Trek: Picard's Real Villains

By using a Vulcan mind-meld on Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill), Sutra saw the Admonition, which is the ancient warning left behind by the ancient synthetics. For centuries, the Zhat Vash used as the Admonition as an initiation rite to plunge the unassuageable fear of androids into the heart of their members. However, it seems that Sutra was right when she guessed that the memories of the Armageddon hundreds of thousands of years ago weren't meant for the Romulans to find but they were actually intended as a warning for other synthetic beings.

The complete message Sutra discovered detailed an ancient history of organic beings building synthetic lifeforms in their pursuit of perfection and then growing jealous because their creations don't age or die. So, the organics sought to destroy the synthetics. The organics won the war long ago and, since they left the message behind, it's logical to assume that the synthetics were the ones who dragged eight suns together into an octonary star system and left Aia, the Grief World, in the center. But hundreds of millennia later, the synthetics have formed a vast alliance of artificial beings far outside our galaxy - and they have a way to watch the evolution of the synthetic race that originated with Dr. Noonien Soong's positronic androids.

Sutra and Altan described the synthetic federation as an all-artificial lifeform version of the United Federation of Planets. Their purpose is to "seek out advanced synthetic life and excise it from the oppression by organics" - a spin on Starfleet 's mission to seek out new life and new civilizations to join the Federation. The synthetic federation is waiting to be summoned by the androids on Coppelius to wreak the same devastation to the organic lifeforms in the Alpha Quadrant. Sutra sees this as the best option for her family's survival against the Romulans' attack. But she also bears a special grudge against Starfleet and organics because of the synthetics ban and especially because Captain Alonzo Vandermeer of the U.S.S. ibn Majid killed her twin Jana in 2390 under Oh's orders when she learned they were synthetics. However, it's unclear whether the synthetic federation are "villains" in the sense that they are evil, or if they're just coming to fight for the survival of their synthetic race.

Related: Star Trek: Picard: Cristobal Rios' Backstory & Connection To Soji Explained

The Romulans Are Still Villains

However, the fact that there's an even greater threat somewhere beyond the final frontier (that the Romulans aren't aware of yet) doesn't mean the Zhat Vash aren't also the villains because they absolutely are. Commodore Oh, her operatives, Narissa (Peyton List) and her brother Narek, and their underlings have caused the deaths of tens of thousands during the Mars attack. Narissa also ordered the assassination of Dahj and she murdered Hugh Borg (Jonathan Del Arco) as well as thousands of Borg Drones in stasis aboard the Artifact. The Romulans are also looking to wipe out all of the synthetics, who are sentient beings, despite the fact that their creation was illegal under Federation law (that the Zhat Vash's devious acts made possible).

The damage Oh has caused is possibly incalculable, especially since she was planted into Starfleet as a Romulan mole soon after Data was created and has manipulated the Federation from the shadows for decades. And while the Zhat Vash see their nefarious acts as necessary for the good of the galaxy, it is their aggression against synthetics that is now provoking the synthetic federation to attack the Alpha Quadrant. Sutra surmised that since the Admonition was meant for synthetics and not Romulans, the Zhat Vash have been willingly driving themselves insane for centuries, all based on something that wasn't intended for their pointed ears in the first place. Indeed, if and when the synthetic federation attack, the Zhat Vash will have written the book of their own demise. The dreaded question is whether the Synthetics will stop at destroying the Romulans or if they'll lay waste to the entire galaxy as well.

Who Will Be The Destroyer?

The final lingering question of Star Trek: Picard season 1 is who will be the Destroyer that the Zhat Vash prophecized would lead the synthetics? The discovery of the synthetic federation casts 'the Destroyer' in a new light; if it's one of the synths on Coppelius, does the Destroyer merely lead the other Data-derived androids against the Romulans or is the Destroyer somehow an interface to the synthetic federation and will lead their army from beyond the galaxy?

After reuniting with her family, Soji spent much of "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1" questioning whether taking a life is justified in order to protect many others. She was musing about her desire to kill Narek but, in a macro sense, if Soji becomes the Destroyer, then it extrapolates to her killing the thousands of Romulans about to invade. Star Trek: Picard episode 9 ended with a hint that Soji would indeed become the Destroyer the Zhat Vash believed her to be. However, the more likely candidate is Sutra, Soji's predecessor and golden-skinned doppelganger. Sutra clearly has a revenge-fueled agenda in mind and it was her idea to summon the synthetic federation. Sutra's manipulative behavior, like freeing Narek from captivity, which led to the murder of her sister Saga (Nikita Ramsey) positions Sutra as a true villain. In fact, even though she was created from Data's positronic neuron, Sutra acts more like Lore, Data's evil android older brother.

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There are still other options for the Destroyer as well; it could be Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), who is now the ersatz Queen of her own micro-Borg Collective, or it could be Narissa if she was indeed assimilated by the Borg at the end of Star Trek: Picard episode 8. Trekkers can only hope that Star Trek: Picard 's season 1 finale answers all of the questions in a way that lives up to the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes of the past.

Next: Star Trek: Picard Breaks Its Own Borg Cube Timeline

Star Trek: Picard streams Thursdays on CBS All-Access and Fridays internationally on Amazon Prime Video.

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