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Ranking the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation based on the amount of episodes they appeared in

The cast of TNG didn't have the same episode count as one another.

By Chad Porto

Nov. 2, 2015 – CBS Television Studios announced today it will launch a totally new “Star Trek” television series in January 2017. The brand-new “Star Trek” will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966. The new series will blast off with a special preview broadcast on the CBS Television Network. The premiere episode and all subsequent
Nov. 2, 2015 – CBS Television Studios announced today it will launch a totally new “Star Trek” television series in January 2017. The brand-new “Star Trek” will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966. The new series will blast off with a special preview broadcast on the CBS Television Network. The premiere episode and all subsequent /
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Star Trek: The Next Generation has a long and established legacy among Trek fans. The show debuted in the 1980s and despite being nearly a 40-year old show, the series holds up strong after all these years. So much so that many fans still point to the show as a landmark series, and the best that Star Trek has to offer.

That means if the show is the best ever in franchise history, then its cast is the best ever too, right? Maybe, maybe now, it all depends on how you want to view the series and the cast. That said, it's a landmark series and one whose importance can't really be denied. The impact the show and cast had on pop culture is pretty well known at this point.

Yet, which Star Trek: The Next Generation on-screen talent had the most appearances? Let's find out but before we do, some things to remember. First, IMDB lists all of the actors by how many episodes they're credited for, not that they're in. So an episode could have someone officially credited for it, but that person never shows up on screen.

Secondly, sites like Memory Alpha do a good job of tracking the appearances of a character in every series, but they list the two men tied for first as only being in 176 episodes, not the entirety of the series, which is 178. So keep that in mind, as we're going off of Memory Alpha's count over IMDB's. Simply to have a better idea of how many episodes each character actually appeared in.

So here's how the numbers came out of every starring character the franchise has had, plus a few recurring names.

  1. Jean-Luc Picard & William Riker (176)
  2. Data (175)
  3. Michael Dorn (174)
  4. Geordi LaForge (170)
  5. Deanna Troi (167)
  6. Beverly Crusher (153)
  7. Wesley Crusher (68)
  8. Miles O'Brien (52)
  9. Guinan (29)
  10. Natasha Yar (28)
  11. Kathrine Pulaski (20)

Despite being a big name in the series, Guinan was barely in more episodes than Natasha Yar. Beverly Crusher also got hosed by being written out of the show in season two. Had she appeared in every episode that Kathrine Pulaski was in, she would have finished fourth, at 173 appearances.

Anyway, you slice it, however, it looks like Picard and Riker appeared the most. They may have been in every episode but Memory Alpha got the total count wrong, or two episodes don't officially count towards the series total. We're not sure which one is which but we do know that only Picard and Riker hit that mark.

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