10 Star Trek: The Next Generation Storylines That Never Paid Off

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" seems to have quickly found popularity again decades after it ended. That might be at least partially owed to the return of the show's main cast in "Star Trek: Picard." The 2020 series was a revival of sorts of "TNG" that put Patrick Stewart back into the role of Jean-Luc Picard. Some of the rest of the cast suited up for cameos ahead of Season 3, which brought them all together aboard a resurrected USS Enterprise-D. 

"Star Trek: Picard" also helped answer several dangling plot threads from "The Next Generation." Despite this, however, there are still plenty of storylines waiting for a payoff. Sure, we discovered the truth about Wesley Crusher's destiny, and finally got closure for Lt. Ro Laren. We got a resolution on android Commander Data's quest to become human, finally saw the culmination of Bruce Maddox's plans to replicate him, and even resolved the will-they-won't-they romance between Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher (spoiler: they got together, had a kid, and separated before reuniting again).

Still, that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to "TNG" storylines that never got a proper conclusion — even more were never even mentioned, either on "The Next Generation" or its subsequent spin-offs. So take the helm and prepare for departure from space dock, because we're taking you on a course to 10 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" storylines that never paid off.

Of all the unresolved storylines in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," there's one that nearly every fan continues to scratch their collective heads over: The alien invasion conspiracy at the heart of the Season 1 installment appropriately titled, "Conspiracy." In that episode, Picard and the crew of the Enterprise learn that an unknown enemy has somehow infiltrated Starfleet, and they soon discover that high-ranking officers are being mind-controlled by some kind of alien parasite. It's an invasion that was previously teased in the episode "Coming of Age," creating a mini story arc.

Admittedly, the episode does culminate in Picard and Commander Riker successfully murdering the "queen" alien — in the body of Starfleet officer Dexter Remmick — and thwarting the invasion. But who these aliens were and why they wanted to take over Starfleet is never revealed. More than just their true origins being a mystery, the episode ends with a foreboding warning that the master of these alien parasites may yet return. In fact, in the episode's closing moments, Commander Data reveals that the alien leader had sent out a signal, a beacon that may be calling for reinforcements. It was a clear sign to the audience that the story wasn't over, and we might be hearing from them again. This terrifying thought never got any payoff. Even the show's final season, which seemed intent on tying up every loose end, never made a mention of it, nor did any subsequent movie sequel or spin-off series.

When a villain sets out to destroy the Federation, we all know they're probably going to fail. Still, we usually get a huge payoff — maybe a big event episode where that villain is killed, caught, or incapacitated. And while "The Next Generation" didn't have many recurring singular villains of the sort, one of the few was Commander Sela. The half-Romulan, half-human commander is the offspring of Lt. Yar from the show's first season, who wound up bearing Sela after the time travel events of the iconic Season 3 episode "Yesterday's Enterprise."

Sela makes her first full appearance in the Season 4 cliffhanger "Redemption," in one of the most unexpected plot twists in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." There, she allies herself with the Duras Sisters in a plot to destroy the alliance between the Federation and the Klingons, and she appears again in "Unification," where it's revealed that she's behind a Romulan plot to invade the planet Vulcan and tear the Federation to pieces. Sela is never stopped — only her plans are thwarted. Fans have been waiting to see her return for decades, but despite many opportunities, Sela never shows up again.

"Star Trek: Nemesis," the final "TNG" film, centers on a conflict with the Romulans, yet Sela isn't even mentioned. "Star Trek: Picard," which also involves a fiendish Romulan conspiracy, also fails to bring up Sela, let alone involve her in the plot against Picard and the Federation. With no closure, we're left to believe Sela is out there somewhere stewing, and presumably still trying to get revenge on the Federation.

The two-part Season 5 episode "Unification" was a major event in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and not just for the return of actress Denise Crosby, who played Lt. Yar, as Commander Sela. The main thrust of the story is the appearance of Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, who is leading a peace effort in an attempt to reunite the Vulcan people with their Romulan "cousins." That episode ends with Spock remaining on Romulus, determined to unite their two peoples. His mission is even mentioned again in the next episode, "Face of the Enemy." 

Like Sela, however, numerous missed opportunities arose to see Spock's dissident movement finally see fruition and bring Romulus and Vulcan back together. The 2002 movie "Star Trek: Nemesis" once again makes no mention of Spock's presence on Romulus, and while it gets referenced in a roundabout way in JJ Abrams' "Star Trek" reboot film, where Nimoy stars, we never hear of how the dissident movement is progressing. The worst offense here is that the plot of Season 1 of "Picard" sees the former Enterprise captain attempting to help save Romulan refugees, which would have been the perfect place to continue the story of Spock's reunification efforts. 

Worse still, we know that Spock eventually does succeed: In Season 3 of "Star Trek: Discovery," Spock's adopted sister, Michael Burnham, learns that at some point after the events of "Star Trek: Picard," Romulans joined with Vulcans and renamed their homeworld Ni'Var (which gets namedropped among "Picard" Season 2 Easter eggs). It was nice to finally get closure, but as an off-screen resolution, it never fully paid off the story the way it deserved.

There are plenty of times when "Star Trek" got seriously political, as the franchise has long been known for addressing modern-day social issues. One such episode of "The Next Generation" touched on a real-world issue of the day that's sadly still a problem now: the Season 7 episode "Force of Nature." In the episode, two alien scientists confront Picard with research that shows that warp engines are doing damage to space itself. If someone doesn't act, it could destabilize the fabric of space, decimate planets, and make faster-than-light travel impossible. It's a clear analog for global warming and the hole in the ozone layer that was a hot-button issue in the '80s and '90s. 

The episode ends with Picard and Starfleet reluctantly agreeing that the two visiting scientists are correct: Warp engines are a hazard to space itself. As a result, all ships — including those from other civilizations — agree to limit their use of warp drive until a solution can be found. It's a powerful conclusion that presses home the dire nature of a man-made environmental threat, but while the show continues to reference these warp-speed limits in later episodes, the problem disappeared once the series finale aired  — and we've never heard a peep about it since.

Just as bewildering, though, is that further "Trek" spin-offs, "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager," never even mention the problem, the warp limits, or a solution. The official "Voyager" series bible notes the new ship's cutting-edge warp engines negated the problem, but an offhand mention in some old production notes is hardly a deserving payoff for such an important story.

The Romulans might be the most underrated villains in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," but the series somehow still managed to have problems resolving their storylines. In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" Season 1 finale, "The Neutral Zone," the Romulans arrive and offer an ominous warning to the Federation, and over the course of six more seasons, they constantly threaten all-out war. But while Sela never gets a proper culmination, the bigger sin might be the lack of payoff for the recurring villain Tomalak (Andreas Katsulas), who serves as an adversary to Picard in four episodes and proves to be yet another great villain whose potential is never realized.

Tomalak appears in "The Defector," where a Romulan admiral switches sides and defects to the Enterprise to prevent a full-scale war with the Federation. It's a war that Romulan Commander Tomalak is eager to start, even attempting to goad Captain Picard into opening fire on him. But while Tomalak does get a few good lines, they're mostly delivered over the viewscreen. And though they lock horns over that same viewscreen in the series finale, "All Good Things," Picard and Tomalak never even meet face to face, let alone get the chance to clash phasers on the battlefield as was teased.

Introduced as a sinister, warmongering Romulan and a foil to Picard, Tomalak ultimately gets little to do other than make vague threats. And while Tomalak could have been the next Khan — the TV villain who upped their game on the big screen — opportunities were wasted on weak, newly-created villains like Nero, Shinzon, and Donatra, instead.

Once again, it's the Romulans who get the shaft, with yet another key storyline involving the conniving, pointy-eared villains falling flat after some pretty big buildup. This one began in the Season 6 entry "The Next Phase," one of the show's best episodes, which sees the Enterprise coming to the aid of a Romulan science vessel. Little do they know that that vessel has an experimental piece of technology that can turn a person both invisible and intangible, allowing them to pass through solid matter. It's a new kind of cloaking device that would change the face of interstellar warfare as we know it. 

The tech returns in "The Pegasus," which reveals that Starfleet has been secretly working on a prototype of their own, developed under the watchful eye of Commander Riker's old captain, now-Admiral Pressman (played by "Lost" alum Terry O'Quinn). At the end of that episode, it's revealed that Starfleet had previously agreed never to develop cloaking technology when they made peace with the Romulans centuries earlier.

So let's recap: Romulans have this devastating new technology, and Starfleet knows all about it. And now Starfleet has it, in violation of the treaty, and the Romulans are well aware. But if you were one of the fans waiting for some kind of payoff to this technological cold war, like perhaps seeing a ship actually use it in combat, you were left sorely disappointed. Because despite its clear game-changing impact on warfare, the technology is never seen again, not even a thousand years later in the 32nd century in "Star Trek: Discovery."

Though it debuted a year before Mulder and Scully were investigating the paranormal, the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Schisms" could very well have been one of the best "X-Files" episodes had it been written for that show instead. The episode sees aliens from another realm abducting members of the Enterprise crew while they sleep, performing gruesome experiments on them, and then wiping their memories of the entire experience. 

A fan-favorite installment, "Schisms" works so well because it's not just an alien abduction story; it's a classic mystery-thriller. We are only teased with brief glimpses of the alien abductors and their experiments. We don't ever learn what they want nor what they are doing to the Enterprise crew, or why. It all makes for a horrifying "Star Trek" story, and to cap it all off, the end of the episode suggests that we're going to see them again and finally get answers: The portal in the ship's cargo bay, which had been used as a conduit into their realm, spits out a strange, glowing orb that quickly leaves the ship and heads for parts unknown.

Commander Data suggests, in the episode's closing scene, that the glowing orb may have been a data-collecting probe. Similarly, Rike remains uneasy, wondering if they are destined for a second round with these alien invaders. Well, he's still waiting. We never saw them again, and no further "Star Trek" adventure has ever so much as referenced the aliens.

Among the best recurring guest characters in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco), a damaged Borg drone who is brought aboard the Enterprise for study in the Season 4 episode "I, Borg." He quickly regains some of his humanity and is eventually released back to the Borg. He returns in "Descent, Part II,"  the Season 7 opener, in which the Enterprise encounters a group of Borg drones who've freed themselves from the collective and are now led by Data's evil twin, Lore.

By the end of that episode, Hugh leaves with the dissident Borg as their new leader. Unfortunately, this story is ignored on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," the series that succeeded "The Next Generation," while the Borg's appearances in "Star Trek: Voyager" never mention Hugh or his Borg dissidents. We never learned for sure exactly what happened to them or if they succeeded in any way in their fight against the Borg Collective, despite a Borg uprising being a major storyline in "Voyager."

Even more bewildering, "Star Trek: Picard" actually brought Hugh back, with Del Arco reprising his role. In the show's first season, Hugh gets very little payoff, serving only in a minor subplot. There, we learn that he eventually teamed up with the Romulans on a project to help other Borg drones who escaped the collective, with the audience left to assume that maybe this is where he led his rebel Borg faction. Adding insult to injury, Hugh is quickly killed off in "Picard" in a death that almost made our list of "Star Trek" characters who died too soon.

In the original "Star Trek" series episode "The Savage Curtain," we learn about the mythical hero from Klingon history named Kahless. He is repeatedly referenced in Klingon-centric episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," said to be the greatest Klingon warrior of all time and the man who inspired their honor-bound culture. We meet him, in a way, in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" Season 7 episode "Rightful Heir," as a group of Klingon monks use genetic cloning technology to create a duplicate of the original Kahless.

The bulk of the story in that episode revolves around the struggle for power in the Klingon Empire, as the monks want this new Kahless to restore glory to their people by becoming their new leader. In the end, the Kahless clone is given the title of Emperor, and it's said that he will lead his people on a path to spiritual enlightenment. Since it was the final season, the producers probably weren't planning a big sequel in "Next Generation." But the importance of such a legendary figure in Klingon mythology felt like it deserved a follow-up where we could see him in all his glory, inspiring the Klingon heart — especially when the Enterprise's resident Klingon, Mr. Worf, shifted over to the cast of "Deep Space Nine."

While that series did feature the return of Klingon Chancellor Gowron in a recurring role after Starfleet goes to war with the Klingons and subsequently allies with them against the Dominion, we never see Kahless again. He doesn't even get to appear in the "DS9" episode "The Sword of Kahless," a story about the quest for an ancient relic that once belonged to the legendary warrior himself. 

Two of the biggest and most popular recurring characters in "Star Trek" history are Guinan and Q, both of whom made their debuts in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Guinan made her first showing in "The Child," and part of her notoriety comes from the fact that she is played by Oscar-winning actor Whoopi Goldberg. Q, meanwhile, is just as famous for appearing in the show's premiere episode, and for returning about once a year to menace Picard with the trademark wit of actor John de Lancie. Both of them finally met on-screen in the Season 3 episode "Deja Q," and when they come face to face, we learn that it's not their first encounter.

In "Deja Q," we learn that Q and Guinan have a long and contentious history. Q even claims that his rival is more than meets the eye, offering a tantalizing glimpse into the enigmatic Guinan. But since that 1990 episode, we've not learned much about the history between them, even as the two characters both proved pivotal to the story of Season 2 of "Star Trek: Picard." 

In fact, the duo comes face to face one more time in the episode "Mercy," yet we still get no payoff: Guinan fails to recognize Q at all, with the cosmic trickster even saying that this encounter is the first time she has met him. So once again, we're left to wonder just what kind of history these two characters shared, and what happened that led them to be bitter enemies. Maybe next time, if that "Star Trek: Legacy" series ever gets off the ground ...