3. Hoshi Sato
Ensign Hoshi Sato hails from the NX-01 Enterprise seen on Star Trek: Enterprise. She serves as the ship’s communications officer. Sato is given solid character development throughout the series as she grows from a timid young ensign to a strong female presence.
Despite her solid arc, Sato is often left in the dust by her fellow officers. She rarely gets the opportunity to go on away missions and is notably never promoted throughout the series. She deserved more depth as a character than what she was ultimately given.
2. Nyota Uhura
Nichelle Nichols was a groundbreaking force as a black woman on television in the 1960s due to her portrayal of Nyota Uhura. Unfortunately, Uhura was largely limited to lines about her role as the communications officer on Star Trek: The Original Series but she assumed a larger role throughout the Star Trek films.
Uhura was also never provided with the same on-screen success as her counterparts who were portrayed captaining ships throughout their appearances in Star Trek cinema. Luckily, there is serious depth to the character that is finally being explored in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
1. Travis Mayweather
Star Trek: Enterprise’s infamous “Ensign Mayweather” was a popular character who never received his true time in the limelight. As the Enterprise’s helmsman, too often was Mayweather limited to flying the ship with hardly any lines. Sure, Mayweather’s character was explored in a couple of episodes, but he was often a non-contributor to the plots of Enterprise.
Mayweather especially took a backseat during season 4 of Enterprise. It was as if the writers on the show gave up on him. Before Mayweather, Star Trek did not have any main characters who grew up in space. There were so many possibilities to explore.