3 times Star Trek captains had to leave crew members behind

Star Trek hasn’t always believed in the “leave no man behind” mantra.

When it comes to the military, there’s a belief that no one is left behind on the battlefield. While it’s not always a possibility to uphold that belief, it has become a sort of war cry that either living or dead, everyone comes home. It’s a noble philosophy, but it’s one that like in reality, isn’t always followed; at least in the universe of Star Trek.

There have been occurrences where Star Trek has left people behind, either living or dead, for any number of reasons. That doesn’t mean they always mean to, sometimes that’s just the breaks. With so many away missions, we’re actually surprised it’s not more often.

So it’s not surprising that in the latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, “Among the Lotus Eaters”, the entire episode revolves around those left behind, and in honor of that concept, we’re going to look at three of those famous characters that did, in fact, get left behind.

Three Star Trek characters who were left behind

Zac Nguyen

Obviously, fans know who Zac Nguyen is, he was one of three members of the U.S.S. Enterprise left behind by Christoper Pike and crew when they last visited Rigel VII. Multiple wounded forced Pike to recall the away team before bodies could be recovered, and due to interference, no one was able to scan the service to see if anyone was alive. Nguyen would rise to power, however, and become the ruler of the planet, where he ruled with an iron fist. That is until Pike returned and brought him home.

David Garrovick

A former member of the Enterprise, Garrovick took on a solo mission to Planet 0042692. He crash-landed, and for some reason, the Enterprise never came back to get him. Garrovick’s involvement with the planet would change the peoples’ cultures forever, and they would later go on to worship Garrovick, referring to him as “En Son of Star-Flight Enda-Prize, Bearer of Crimson, bravest among us”.

Thomas “William” Riker

So technically, this was no one’s fault. William Riker was caught in a transporter malfunction at the Nervala IV station, as he attempted to beam back to the Potemkin. An issue with the transporter caused a unique scenario to unfold, as William Riker arrived back on the Potemkin, and another, identical William Riker was reverted back to Nervala IV. This second Riker, dubbed Thomas, would be at the station for eight years until the Enterprise-D came strolling around eight years later.