Best new Star Trek characters of the Paramount+ era

As Captain of the USS Titan-A, Liam Shaw plays a great foil to Admiral Picard & Captain Riker

Let me explain here, Captain Shaw is probably one of the worst understood Captains in all of Star Trek. Because, while we’re all watching the show and rooting for our series namesake & deity within Star Trek fandom, Jean-Luc Picard to complete his objective, Captain Shaw here is the one whose ship is being commandeered by a retired Admiral and his (also retired) first officer. And the worst part of it all is that his first officer is helping them!

At every turn, when Picard or Riker attempt to give orders to Captain Shaw, their requests are constantly being answered with his emphatic “No.” This caught on so much on the internet that he became a meme that was shared all over! Truth is, he’s just trying to follow his orders, do his job and not be brought up on court martial for following orders from someone who really doesn’t possess any actual authority within Starfleet.

Also, it should be mentioned that Liam Shaw holds a grudge against Picard since he is a survivor of the Battle of Wolf 359. As he put it, Picard was, “the only Borg so deadly, they gave him a goddamn name.” And because of this prejudice against the Borg, he also refers to his first officer not as Commander Seven of Nine, but as Commander Annika Hansen.

Though he eventually does come around in the end, and becomes an ally to Picard, Riker & the rest of the former crew of the USS Enterprise-D, sadly it does get him killed. Captain Shaw was so fresh and expertly played by Todd Stashwick that I truly wish he had survived the season and would be called upon in the future for more Star Trek series. In the end, in his final scene, he is seen suggesting the promotion of Seven of Nine (and he did refer to her as that name) to Captain.

There were a few other characters I considered for this article, but I preferred to keep it to a manageable length. Those not included that deserve an honorable mention: Saru from Star Trek: Discovery, Shaxs from Star Trek: Lower Decks, Jett Reno from Discovery & Cristobal Rios from Star Trek: Picard just to name a few.