If there's one thing we can say for certain about the current era of Star Trek TV shows, it's that they've taken an already-vast franchise and turned it into a gargantuan one. Star Trek now inclu📖des 11 shows, 14 movies, and more. In honor of this impressive array, we've ranked the ten best first officers. Why them?

Too often, these seconds-in-command are overlooked in favor of their direct superiors. There's so much to love about the role t🌊hat sits just slightly to the side, and so🉐 many great characters who have represented it in the nearly 60 years since Star Trek first graced our screens.

By design, a first officer's job changes throughout their career. There are plenty of examples💛 of characters who have inhabited the role on shows but to a highly limited on-screen degree. For instance, Seven of Nine is the first officer aboard the USS Titan-A by 2401, but is that enough for us to include her here, when she spends the vast majority of her prior appearances entirely outside the chain of command? We've decided it isn't, so expect our picks to reflect more mainstay candidates.

9 Will De🍎cker

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

Don't focus on the fact that Commander Will Decker is last on our list. Focus instead on how he managed to get here at all when he's only in a single feature film. Decker manages to make enough of an impression in Star Trek: The Motion Picture to justify his presence here, even as someone who is technically a captain in that movie.

When the Enterprise's former captain, Admiral James Kirk, returns to command the ship on a mission to invꦛestigate a powerful entity, Decker is temporarily reduced to the role of first officer. It's in this capacity that the younger man serves as a foil to our iconic hero; but he's a good person with the crew's best interests in mind who ably unites with Kirk despite their differing viewpoints.ꩵ And that is, ultimately, emblematic of what many first officers bring to the Star Trek table.

Since Decker's screen capacity is so limited, but hi🎃s position within the plot of the movie is so important, he gets a pretty satisfying character journey within The Motion Picture. Decker and his former love, Ilia, are central players in unraveling the mystery of the incoming entity, V'Ger. It's safe to say he also has a rather definitive ending: merging with V'ger and departing on a voyage into the deep unknown is a satisfyingly Trekkian write-out if ever we've seen one.

8 Elizabeth She༒lby

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994), Star Trek: Lower Decks (2019-2024), & Star Trek: Picard (2020-2023)

Elizabeth Shelby certainly has her fans. The ambitious upstart who challenged William Riker for a position as captain in Star Trek: The Next Generation's famous "The Best of Both Worlds" two-parter, she brings gravitas to a short-term role with ample enough aplomb to have compelled the writers of ܫboth Star Trek: Lower Decks, and a little later, Star Trek: Picard, to bring her back for more.

Shelby's Lower Decks appearance is largely (and appropriately) played for laughs, but she gets some more Borg-battling to chew on in the series finale of Star Trek: Picard. It doesn't end well for her, but hey. We like Shelby, but only barely; frankly, we needed more of her, and whi💯le we're grateful that modern Star Trek productions have done that, a recurring role on either The Next Generation or Deep Space Ninꦕe could have helped the character tremendously.

7 Chakotay

Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) & Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-2024)

In many ways, Chakotay emblemizes the principle of missed opportunities. He starts Star Trek: Voyager as a member of the Maquis - an armed group of rebels opposed to the detrimental results of a territorial dispute with the Cardassian Union. But too early into the series is his prior loyalty dismi✱ssed; instead, Chakotay quickly returns to his pre-Maquis perspective as 🙈a former Starfleet officer who has taken up the uniform for a second time. It's but one of several ways in which the writers simply didn't do enough with the guy.

Chakotay's screentime is notably reduced as Star Trek: Voyager goes on. Actor Robert Beltran is outspoken over his displeasure with the way his character was being handled, and we do concur - to a point. Beltran's somewhat phoned-in performances in later seasons aside, he brought real gravitas earlier on. Often quiet, but reliably resolute and fierce when necessary, Chakotay also provides a m𒆙eaningful (if woefully inconsistent) perspective as someone of Native American heritage who has carried spiritual beliefs into the 24th century.

Star Trek: Prodigy, a CG-animated and highly kid-friendly new show, has been something of a "rehabilitation" for Chakotay. It's telling that Beltran was willing to return to a role so few fans ever expected he'd say yes to post-Voyager. Indeed, Chakotay is portrayed in a far more interesting and multifaceted manner on Prodigy than we'd seen on Voyager for at least the back half of its run.

6 T'Pol

Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)

Star Trek: ♚Enterprise wasn't exactly greeted with a warm welcome when it debuted in 2001. We don't ✃think those first two seasons are as bad as some do, but there were a fair number of mediocre episodes. An overarching sense the franchise was "tired" prevailed. Plot ideas were rehashed from earlier shows; the cast lacked much chemistry, and while the fandom was initially split on whether a prequel was a smart move, most folks on either side of the aisle were dissatisfied when Enterprise didn't do nearly enough with the idea.

The third season's year-long arc improved things considerably, and the fourth and final season's multi-episode tales were so great that plenty of naysayers were bummed when news broke that Star Trek: Enterprise wasn't moving forward with a fifth season🌳. But there were bright spots th🅘e whole way through. In our eyes, the brightest of them is T'Pol, a Vulcan subcommander who serves as Captain Jonathan Archer's first officer. She's razor-sharp, calm in a crisis, yet contains within her more than enough suppressed emotional turbulence to sustain her more dramatic beats.

T'Pol predates Spock by a century as the first Vulcan to serve aboard a Starfleet vessel for an appreciable amount of time. This is hardly Trekkie minutiae; it's precisely why T'Pol is so inherently fascinating - she is a Vulcan working alongside a Starfleet crew in an era when her species still holds a majority opinion that humanity shouldn't be out on the frontier. We should know our place. We're not ready. T'Pol graduates from this perspective toward a deep belief that we are ready, and more than that, we're ready to ally with races li🥀ke the Vulcans to found a Federation.

5 ♋ ♔ Michael Burnham

Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024)

It's with Michael Burnham, the leading protagonist of the recently-coꦦncluded Star Trek: Discovery, that we bump into an interesting dilemma: why should we count her and not someone like our aforementioned example of Seven of Nine? Burnham's journey is, in large part, about reaching the rank of captain - and she eventually does so. Heck, there's still 20 out of 65 episodes left in the tank to showcase Captain Burnham.

But that's just it: we cumulatively spend a ton of time watching Burnham first as second-in-command, then quickly reduced to the role of "Science Specialist" after a partially-served prison sentence, and then again as the Discovery's first officer. The point is, and really, this is a big part of what makes her so interesting, Michael Burnham's tenure as first officer can always be viewed through a lens of anticꦫipation. It's a learning experience. She's building toward a future every time she offers guidance and insight while ultimately deferring to a captain.

Burnham embarks on one of Star Trek's most focused and layered character arcs. Star Trek: Discovery is almost entirely serialized, with an epic-scale mission at the forefront of each of its five seasons. Although there's plenty of development for several members of the show's main cast, Discovery is also unapologetically fixated on Burnham far more frequently. Honestly, it can be a bit much - but at least we've got another great first officer on ou𓆉r list as a result.

4 🌌 Una-Chin Riley (Number One)

Star Trek (1966-1969); Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024); & Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022-)

We've saved the overdone "it's been a long road, getting from there to here" reference for after Star Trek: Enterprise, because there's no greater application of those infamous song lyrics than Commander Una Chin-R𒈔iley, known to nearly everyone in her life as "Number One." The first of two pilot epi𓃲sodes produced for the original Star Trek - the network rejected Gene Roddenberry's initial effort - had Number One serving as Christopher Pike's first officer.

Big surprise given it was the 1960s: an exec nixed the notion of a woman holding such a lofty rank for the successful second pilot and 𝕴subsequent full-season order.

Roddenberry's wife, Majel, played Number One back then, and right from the jump, she's shown as strong-willed, opinionated, and fully worthy of her position. A bit "icy", perhaps, but Number One is essentially inhabiting a role that would soon belong to S🔥pock instead. A colder perspective compliments a more spirited captain. It wasn't until the second season of Star Trek: Discovery that we got a fresh look at the character, as events link up with Pike's captaincy. This time, she's played brilliantly by actress Rebecca Romijn.

Thankfully, Paramount quickly gave the greenlight to a new show centered entirely on Pike and his crew in the years leading up to the original series. Not only is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds excellent all-around, but we're finally seeing the inherent potential of Number One's character fulfilled. It only took 55 years. Number One is sharp-witted, steely, and - quite covertly - not actually human, but Illyrian. The Illyrians' propensity toward genetic engineering ran counter to Starfleet's vehement s🥂tance against it. The drama that unfolds when the secret eventually gets out has enriched the character's depth by leaps and bounds.

3 ⛄ William Riker 🦩

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994); Four Feature Films (1994-2002); Star Trek: Picard (2020-2023)

Yes, we know Rik⛦er's popped up in guest appearances on several more shows. We can only cover so much in these headers!

Your humble writer of this nerdy list saw William Riker as the first officer before anyone else in Star Trek history. As a toddler, new episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation would routinely air, week after week, righไt in front of my eyes. Although I was most partial to "the funny robot", "Picard's friend" was up there near the top. The point of this brief personal interlude is that while all the Berman-era spinoffs were formative experiences, Jonathan Frakes' handsome mug is permanently entrenched in my brain. (Bearded, thank goodness.)

It takes a lot, then, for me to embrace the fact that there are two first officers in this franchise whom I love that much more. Riker is a terrific character, half because he's written well, and half because Frakes has never had anything less than a total blast playing him. From his bizarre "leg goes over the chair before he sits down" and "grinning so much right now my face may soon overload" mannerisms to his steadfast determination and honorable nature, Riker is the kind of guy you just know has got your back. He🌠 can be pretty hard on the crew at times, but it's never out of spite. It's just living up to the duties of his position.

Riker's also a heck of a poker player and always happy to 🐼get to know the ladies. While poker enjoys an increasingly critical role in The Next Generation cast's iconic closeness (so much so that the final scene of Star Trek: Picard is an extended sequence of everyone gathered together for another hand), Riker's lifelong love and eventual marriage partner is Deanna Troi. The coupl🔴e's excellent chemistry and intimate understanding of one-another elevates Riker - by then a captain - to even cooler status in his more recent appearances.

2 ꧑ Kira Nerys 🦩

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Kira Nerys works for her fellow Bajorans first and Starfleet second. She's Benjamin Sisko's makeshift first officer aboard the Federation starbase Deep Space Nine, formerly the Cardassian ore refinery Terok Nor, a place of brutal subjugation for Bajꦦor during the Cardassian occupation of their world. Kira begins Star Trek: Deep Space Nine quite bitterly; she's not fond of Starfleet moving in to the neighborhood, and she makes that stance abundantly clear to Sisko. She may be "liaison officer ꦍto the Federation", but she's Major Kira Nerys of Bajor before all else.

We mentioned earlier that Michael Burnham has "one of Star Trek's most focused and layered character arcs." Kira does, tꦦoo. Coming to grips with Bajor's need for the Federation's protection is only the tip of the iceberg. Throughout DS⛎9's seven-year run, she must also contend with:

• The sustained and at-times crippling emotional trauma inflicted upon her during a militantly anti-Cardassian youth;
• Her unyielding religious connection to a group of "gods" who have given her human commanding officer the role of "emissary" to the people of Bajor;
• Repeated stumbles along Bajor's road to recovery and potential stability following its 50-year occupation;
• A pivotal position in a full-scale war with the Dominion, one of Star Trek's most terrifyingly formidable foes;
• An ever-changing political relationship with the Cardassians, the race that oppressed her world up to and including the finest example of full-circle dramatic irony in the franchise when she eventually aids in a Cardassian rebellion against their own oppressors, teaching them the very tactics that she employed against them.

Any number of these issues could have fallen flat in its presentation if not for two winning factors. First, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is just that good. The writ🍰ing seldom lets it down. Second, and arguably more importantly, Nana Visitor's performance is sensational. From the moment she quarrels with Sisko by way of introduction in the series premiere to her long, poignant gaze upon the stars in the last scene of the series finale, Visitor doesn't miss a beat.

1 Spock

Star Trek (1966-1969); Eight Feature Films (1979-1991, 2009, 2013); Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024); Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022-)

In addition to what we've cited, Spock - like Riker - ce🅠rtainly gets around in other parts of the franchise. Most notable is his appearance in the two-part Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "Unification I" and "Unification II."

We didn't want to approach our decision on who would snag top billing in this list on the idea that the most iconic character "needed" to be the one, but here we are. Spock is Spock. Who else could it be but him? (Cue comments to the contrary, we know.) The late, great Leonard Nimoy imbued this character with such richness, such humanity, that even with Star Trek's ♎mainstream popularity forever destin⭕ed for second-fiddle to Star Wars, most people will still know who they're looking at, and what he's all about, at just a cursory glance.

Born to a Vulcan father and a human mother, Spock is a man of two worlds, two very separate ways of life. Outwardly, he identifies far more with his Vulcan heritage. Inwardly, a conflict exists which provides the impetus for many memorable moments in the original series as well as its six feature sequels. Simultaneously, that unique internal dynamic gives Spock just enough of an emotional edge to all that unemotional bravado for his dearest friends James Kirk and Leonard "Bones" McCoy to lovingly chide him at every opportunity even as they value his ♕Vulcan wisdom more often than otherwise.

Nimoy's lengthy turn as Spock would, on its own, be just cause to rank Spock as Star Trek's finest first officer. But both Zachary Quinto and Ethan Peck have done well in carrying the torch, Quinto in three movies (and maybe, someday, a fourth) and Peck😼 in a season of Star Trek: Discovery followed by t🐻he ongoing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Can either man replace Leonard Nimoy? Of course not. Have either of them tried? Absolutely not. Both Quinto and Peck seem to deeply respect Nimoy's performance, and in doing so, they've found extra dimensions to Spock's characterization that successfully honor the legacy.