WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4.
Six years after kissing Lt. Thomas Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) forgot all about it in Star Trek: Insurrection. In the TNG episode “Second Chances”, the crew of the USS Enterprise-D discovered Commander William T. Riker’s transporter clone on the surface of Nervala IV. Having spent eight years on the planet dreaming of a reunion with his Imzadi, Thomas Riker embarked on a relationship with Deanna Troi, to the discomfort of Will. It wasn’t until Insurrection that Deanna and Will finally rekindled their romance, leading to their long overdue marriage in Star Trek: Nemesis.
While Troi’s romance with Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) in TNG‘s final season continued to resonate in Star Trek: Picard season 3, no mention was made of her short-lived relationship with Thomas Riker. Despite Tom going on to have an independent career in Starfleet before joining the Maquis, Riker’s Star Trek: The Next Generation clone was never mentioned again in the TNG movies. Perhaps Thomas’ betrayal and hijacking of the USS Defiant in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine made him something of a black sheep in the Riker-Troi family.
Troi Kissed Riker’s Clone 6 Years Before Star Trek: Insurrection
In Star Trek: Insurrection, Riker and Troi are clearly considering rekindling their romance before they arrive at Briar’s Patch, as they flirt while reading the intelligence gathered about the Son’a. It’s only after being exposed to the youth-restoring radiation present in the atmosphere of the Ba’ku village that they succumb to their mutual attraction. Riker and Troi kiss, but she is repulsed by his facial hair. “I’ve never kissed you with a beard before” she says, which isn’t strictly true, as she also kissed the transporter clone version of Will Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
While Troi’s not lying when she said she had never kissed Will with a beard before, the truth is slightly more complicated. Thomas Riker was effectively the young and ambitious Starfleet officer that she had fallen in love with so many years earlier. Troi’s main dilemma in Star Trek: The Next Generation was whether to live in the past by leaving the Enterprise with Tom or embrace the future by staying aboard. Ultimately, she let Tom go, and the couple parted with a kiss. So, while Deanna kissed Thomas and not Will Riker, the two men were biologically indistinguishable from one another, right down to the facial hair.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Reveals What Happened To Riker’s Clone
Thomas Riker was in a Cardassian prison at the time of Star Trek: Insurrection, having defected to the Maquis and hijacked the USS Defiant. Although Jonathan Frakes and Ronald D. Moore had considered bringing Tom back to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the opportunity never presented itself. Therefore, Thomas Riker’s fate during the Dominion War and the brutal purge of the Maquis was left as an unanswered Star Trek question for decades. That was until Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ season 4 subtly confirmed his fate after DS9 ended.
Thomas Riker was listed as one of the former Starfleet officers at risk from Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ season 4’s mystery villain. This confirmed that not only was Thomas still alive, he was likely living as a civilian, having presumably been freed by the Cardassians at the end of the Dominion War. It’s a tantalizing tease that an awkward reunion between Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Deanna Troi and the two Rikers could still take place at some point in Star Trek‘s future.
All episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 are available to stream on Paramount+.
