3. Christine Chapel
Christine Chapel may be SNWs’ single biggest glow up from TOS status quo. The earlier version of Chapel frequently seemed underdeveloped and stuck in unrequited love, but the new Chapel is a lively, witty, and morally complicated character who has a say in every tale she is in.
Chapel's experience as a battlefield doctor, her willingness to accept alternative science, and her refusal to allow her love for Spock to define her whole identity, all helped her go from being a supporting character to a true co-lead.
This reinvention does walk a fine canon line, especially in how it reframes the Chapel-Spock relationship as a passionate, mutual entanglement instead of a mostly one-sided crush. Some fans will debate whether this heightens later heartbreak or risks making their TOS dynamic messier in retrospect.
Yet in terms of sheer character craft, Strange New Worlds finally treats Chapel as a full person, with ambitions, trauma, and boundaries, earning her a high spot in any ranking of the show’s legacy interpretations.