Every Counselor Troi Love Interest In Star Trek: TNG

Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) may always have been Imzadi to Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), but she had her fair share of other romances on Star Trek: The Next Generation. One of TNG’s most underrated characters, Troi became the heart of the show over the course of its seven seasons. Half-Betazoid and half-human, Deanna could sense the emotions of those around her. This not only helped her perform her duties as the ship’s counselor on the USS Enterprise-D, but also helped her aid Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) with introductions to new alien species.

Deanna’s best love story was with Commander Riker, and their on-again-off-again romance lasted throughout all seven seasons of TNG and continued through the four films that followed the series. Since TNG’s writers refused to put them permanently together on the show, both Deanna and Will cycled through various romantic partners. Deanna Troi did not always get the best storylines on TNG, but she was always a welcome presence on the show. Troi briefly returned to the franchise in Star Trek: Picard season 1, before playing a more significant role in Picard season 3, where she finally got to be the one to save the day.

8 Robert Knepper as Wyatt Miller

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1, Episode 11 (“Haven”)

Deanna Troi’s first romance on TNG comes in the show’s first season, when Wyatt, a man Deanna was promised to as a child, comes back into her life. Deanna and Wyatt both try to make this arranged relationship work, but neither one can really put their heart into it. Before meeting Deanna, Wyatt had been dreaming of a different unknown woman, and when this woman shows up on a nearby ship, Wyatt leaves his life behind to join her. Troi, for her part, gives him her blessing, as she still harbors feelings for her former love, William Riker.

7 Howie Seago as Riva

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 5 (“Loud as a Whisper”)

When a renowned ambassador and negotiator named Riva visits the Enterprise, he and Troi embark on a sweet, budding romance. Riva is deaf and he is intrigued by Troi’s telepathic abilities as well as her beauty. After Riva’s interpreters are killed during the negotiations, he struggles to find other ways to communicate. Troi helps him work through his newfound difficulties and come up with another way to continue the negotiations. While Riva is clearly interested in Deanna, her feelings about him are never entirely clear, though she does seem to enjoy his company.

6 Matt McCoy as Devinoni Ral

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 8 (“The Price”)

When a supposedly stable wormhole is discovered, the Federation and several other interested parties bid for the rights to manage the wormhole. Devinoni Ral is a negotiator for one of the opposing groups, and Troi immediately finds herself attracted to him. Their relationship grows serious very quickly, but Troi begins to grow uncomfortable when she discovers that Ral is an empath and has been influencing the emotions of the other bidders. In the end, Troi reveals that Ral had been secretly manipulating the proceedings, ending their passionate romance. Devinoni comes across as sleazy and not particularly likable, so it’s no real loss for Troi when he leaves the Enterprise.

5 John Snyder as Aaron Conor

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 13 (“The Masterpiece Society”)

Aaron Conor is the leader of a genetically engineered colony that keeps itself closed off from any other civilizations as a way to preserve its supposedly perfect society. When their colony is put in danger by a stellar core fragment, the Enterprise tries to intervene to save the planet. As Troi works with Conor to encourage the people on the planet to evacuate, the two begin to fall for one another. The presence of Troi and the other Enterprise crew members brings change to the isolated civilization, and, while some of the inhabitants leave on the Enterprise, Conor stays to rebuild his “perfect” society.

4 Chip Lucia as Ves Alkar

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6, Episode 3 (“Man of the People”)

In what is her worst and most problematic “romance,” Deanna finds herself initially drawn to the visiting Ambassador Ves Alkar. Unbeknownst to Troi, Alkar lies about his traveling companion and manipulates Troi into performing a ritual with him. This ritual actually links the two, allowing Alkar to channel all of his negative emotions into Troi. This causes Troi to behave erratically and age rapidly. Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) manages to save Troi’s life, and Alkar dies when he is flooded with all of the negative emotions he has channeled through others. “Man of the People,” as an episode, is not particularly kind to Troi, robbing her of all agency and control of her own emotions.

3 Jonathan Frakes as Thomas Riker

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6, Episode 24 (“Second Chances”)

When the Enterprise visits the planet Nervala IV to gather scientific data that had been left by Starfleet officers years before, they encounter an exact duplicate of Commander Riker. This Riker chooses to go by Thomas and he is the result of a transporter malfunction that happened eight years ago. Thomas has been living alone on the planet for the past eight years, giving him a very different life experience than Will Riker. Because of this, Thomas reminds Troi of the younger Riker she first fell in love with, and he remains in love with her. The two briefly rekindle their romance, but when Thomas leaves for an assignment on another starship, Deanna chooses to remain on the Enterprise.

2 Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 7

In TNG season 7, episode 11, “Parallels,” Lt. Worf finds himself traveling through various parallel universes. In one of these universes, Worf and Deanna Troi are married and have two young children. Prior to this experience, Worf had never considered pursuing Deanna romantically, but he soon becomes more open to the possibility. After “Parallels,” Worf begins to pursue Troi in his universe, and the two eventually embark on a romantic relationship. While their romance proved to be divisive among fans, it was nice to see the characters happy, and Troi developed a sweet, motherly relationship with Worf’s son, Alexander (Brian Bonsall).

1 Jonathan Frakes as William T. Riker

Star Trek: The Next Generation through Star Trek: Picard

Will Riker was always going to be Deanna’s final love. The two had dated and fallen in love before the beginning of TNG, and they danced around each other throughout its seven seasons, often referring to one another as Imzadi. Although Troi and Riker both had other partners over the course of TNG, they never quite got over one another. Riker’s desire to climb the ranks of Starfleet caused him to prioritize his career over romance, until he finally realized he could have both. In Star Trek: Insurrection, Deanna and Will finally rekindled their on-again-off-again romance before eventually getting married in Star Trek: Nemesis. When Riker gets promoted to Captain of the USS Titan, Troi joins him.

After the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies, Riker and Troi remain together years later in Star Trek: Picard. Despite the tragic loss of their son, Thad, and some rocky moments in their marriage, Deanna and Will remain very much in love. When Riker finds himself facing death on a Borg Cube, his last thoughts are of Deanna and these thoughts are what end up saving him. She senses him reaching out to her and pilots the USS Enterprise-D to his location just in time. At the end of Picard season 3, Riker and Troi, who have a daughter named Kestra (Lulu Wilson), set out for a much-needed vacation, prepared to face whatever their Star Trek future holds, together.