Strange New Worlds lives or dies on whether its legacy characters feel both fresh and faithful to the Star Trek canon fans already know. The series walks a tightrope: it must honor decades of lore while also giving these familiar faces room to grow in a different storytelling era.
Ranking the show’s core legacy characters reveals where SNW soars, where it takes risky swings, and where it may still be calibrating its approach. Below is a five-slot ranking of Strange New Worlds’ major legacy characters, focusing on how successfully the series deepens or reimagines figures first introduced in The Original Series era or its adjacent continuity
1. Captain Christopher Pike
Pike is the definitive proof that Strange New Worlds understands the assignment when it comes to legacy characters. The series takes a captain who was previously only a footnote in history and turns him into a fully developed, emotionally rich lead whose terrible fate hangs over every move he makes.
Pike's mix of humility, moral clarity, and quiet dread turns what could have been a gimmick for a prequel into a deep character study. He is the best example of how to add to a legacy character's story without losing what made them famous in the first place.
What also elevates Pike is how his leadership style reframes Starfleet command. Where later captains often feel burdened or hardened, Pike’s empathy and collaborative instinct become narrative engines, not weaknesses.
Pike's knowledge of his future pushes him to mentor Spock, Una, and the rest of the crew even more fiercely, transforming the captain’s chair into a site of shared growth rather than solitary suffering, and securing his place at the top of any Strange New Worlds legacy ranking.