In the prime Star Trek timeline, Tasha Yar met her death early in The Next Generation’s run, leaving large parts of her character and backstory undeveloped. In 2008, IDW released Star Trek: The Last Generation, giving her a surprising queer romance with another Enterprise crew member.
Star Trek: The Last Generation was written by Andrew Steven Harris and drawn by Gordon Purcell. Set in a timeline in which the Klingons have overrun the Federation, Tasha and many of her comrades are resistance fighters. Fans learn that in this timeline, Tasha is in a relationship with Ro Laren. Tragically, as part of their battle for freedom, Ro sacrifices herself by throwing herself on a grenade, saving both Picard and Tasha’s lives in the process.
While the story takes place in an alternate timeline, this is the continuity fans know and love. Picard eventually discovers that the timeline has been changed by the time traveler Braxton, who seeks to ward off an even larger threat than the Klingons. Once the freedom fighters find out Braxton has altered time, they unite to stop him and bring back the original version of their lives. The timeline is then restored, with few characters remembering the alternate history they all lived through.
Ensign Ro and Tasha Yar Fell in Love
Braxton’s New Timeline Brought the Pair Together
Both Tasha Yar and Ensign Ro were only in a handful of episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but both left a lasting impression on fans. Tasha was killed off in the first season episode “Skin of Evil,” but was later resurrected through time travel… and then killed off again in one of the franchise’s most bizarre plot twists. Ensign Ro joined the crew of the Enterprise during Next Generation’s fifth season, but later betrayed Starfleet. Ro seemingly met her end in Star Trek: Picard’s third season, sacrificing herself to save her former friends.
Star Trek Confirms The Tragic Fate of Ensign Ro
Ensign Ro was one of Star Trek’s most controversial characters, and Star Trek: Defiant #1 confirms her tragic fate.
Tasha and Ro Are One of Star Trek‘s Greatest “What-Ifs”
Star Trek Backed Fans’ Queer Reading, But It Took Decades
While Tasha Yar wasn’t explicitly portrayed as queer in The Next Generation, many fans both at the time and now consider her to be coded as a lesbian or bisexual in the show. Star Trek getting Yar and Data together in ‘The Naked Now’ is widely considered a clumsy attempt to stress her heterosexuality in the face of widespread speculation concerning her sexuality, coming at a time when LGBTQ+ characters were far less welcome on-screen. Written in 2008, Star Trek: The Last Generation embraces fans’ queer reading of Tasha Yar, pairing her with a character she sadly never got to meet in the original show.
Tasha Yar and Ro Laren’s romance adds a tragic dimension to the resetting of the timeline seen in The Last Generation. In the original and re-established timeline, Tasha confessed her loneliness but was killed off before she could develop any love interests. Ro Laren did not come on board the Enterprise until years after Tasha died, depriving Tasha of meeting the woman who – under different circumstances – would have become her true love. In the prime Star Trek timeline, the two never met, sacrificing their connection for an Earth free of Klingon control.
