Star Trekis a broad franchise that has swept across film and TV for almost sixty years now. With complex shows which focus on emotional storytelling and building characters that fans can really get behind, it’s no wonder that there have been a lot of incredibly sad losses over that time.
Related:Every Next Generation Character That Appears In PicardStar Trekhas killed off characters a number of times. From minor deaths over the course of various shows to the major moments that helped define some of the very bestStar Trekmovies, death has always held an important and significant place in the franchise.
8David Marcus
Over the course ofThe Wrath of Khan, Captain Kirk managed to slowly grow closerto his son, David Marcus. The hatred he felt at the beginning of the film for his dad slowly turned to a love that had truly deepened byThe Search For Spock.
The fact that they managed to grow that much closer made this death all the more depressing. And David went out in the only way the son of James T Kirk could, sacrificing himself to save crew members when his landing partywas taken by Klingons. Marcus may not have had as much screen time as other major characters who died in the franchise, but the impact was devastating coming just as Kirk was getting Spock back again.
7George Kirk
The somewhat rebooted modernStar Trekfilms managed to find a lot of success very quickly. And the first of those movies began with Chris Hemsworth, prior to the majority of his success as an actor, in the role of James T Kirk’s father.
A fellow Starfleet officer, George Kirk took control as Captain of the USS Kelvin during an attack by the Romulan vessel Narada. Saving over 800 lives with his own sacrifice, Kirk only got to hear the birth of his son before dying. This emotional journey began James’ own journey to becoming a Starfleet officer and was a fascinating, sad way to begin the new movies.
6Edith Keeler
Considered one of the greatest individual episodes of aStar Trekshow ever, “The City On The Edge Of Forever” was an episode in the first season of the originalStar Trekseries. Involving Kirk and Spock going back in time to save McCoy, it also featured Edith Keeler.
This character was a woman from Earth in the year 1930 who fell in love with Captain Kirk during the months they searched for McCoy in this new time period. While their whole love affair was contained in one episode, the emotional sacrifice Kirk had to make in allowing Edith to die at the end made it feel to the audience like she’d always been a part of the show. Preserving the timeline and saving many lives by letting her die was one of the toughest choices Kirk ever had to make.
5James T Kirk
Captain Kirk has died himself, on multiple occasions in fact. While Chris Pine’s rendition of the character died for a short time due to radiation poisoning,it was Shatner’s Admiral versionof the character who had the more permanent death.
Related:Best Planets In The Star Trek UniverseNo matter how much fans have disputed this moment,Star Trek: Generationshad a powerfully emotional ending as a final goodbye to this version of James T Kirk, who died from wounds suffered at the hands of the battle he fought alongside Jean-Luc Picard.
4Tasha Yar
Most fans of theStar Trekfranchise can agree thatStar Trek: The Next Generationis one of the greatest productsof the entire universe. They almost all agree again that the first season of the show had a fair share of problems, as it slowly developed into the ingenious show it would later become.
However,the death of Tasha Yar, a beloved character by fans who feel more could have been done with her, was a huge moment. This presented the show with the first chance to broaden its horizons and become more serious. Her holographic final message to the crew remains one of the strongest moments in the series.
3Benjamin Sisko
Another huge character death, but one which didn’t hold as much emotional weight as it could have, given the fact that it came in a series finale and wasn’t a proper death in some ways. Benjamin Sisko joined with the Prophets to fight against Gul Dukat and the Pah Wraiths. In the final battle with Dukat, his physical form was destroyed.
This was not a true death though, as Sisko was revealed to have become a prophet himself when his body was destroyed. Still, he had to vanish after his wife held him one last time.The entireDeep Space Nineshowfinished forever with Sisko’s son looking out the window of the space station, providing one of the saddest moments inStar Trekhistory.
2Data
Data’s original death inStar Trek: Nemesiswas a devastating one, which laid the groundwork for the guilt Picard is left with when fans finally catch up with him inStar Trek: Picard. However, it is his second, final death inPicardwhich hit fans in their emotional cores.
Bruce Maddox kept Data’s memories aliveall these years following Nemesis, but when Picard goes into the simulation at the end ofPicard’sfirst season and meets Data again, he gets to have a real ending. Fans were forced to say goodbye to Data all over again, and the loss was incredibly powerful, as much as it was a quiet final send-off.
1Spock
Spock has always been one of, if not the most recognizable character inStar Trekhistory. Leonard Nimoy is a name that will always be synonymous with the franchise. His death inWrath of Khanwas not permanent, but the sacrifice he made and the final goodbye between him and Kirk was the greatest moment of loss the franchise has ever had.
The two friends, after having been on countless adventures together, Kirk had to watch as the radiation killed Spock, only getting a final few words with him. Spock reminded him that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, a quote turned infamous by this scene.
