History EnsembleDarkHorse / StarTrek

** It may surprise some of you to know that Harry Kim has a not-insignificant fandom. For as much as Trekkies tease or lament his static portrayal (see below), it's ''because'' he's such a lovable loser that some fans flock to him, to say nothing of his UndyingLoyalty.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': Dr. T'Ana quickly became a fan-favorite thanks to her hilariously grouchy demeanor and memorable one-liners. [[PopularWithFurries Her being an alien cat lady doesn't hurt either]].

*** The same goes for J. G. Hertzler, who played Martok. He did such a good job in "The Way of the Warrior" that he was brought back for "Apocalypse Rising" and, instead of having him be disposed of by the Changeling impersonator who died at the end of the episode, the writers and producers decided to have the ''real'' Martok show up later on in the season; he went on to become a fairly important supporting character.

** Q seems to have a good fanbase despite him appearing in only eight episodes on TNG and then four episodes outside of it.

*** On his way to ParodySue, it's also revealed in this episode that Dax wanted to start an intimate relationship with him but he ''wasn't interested''. In ''[[HotScientist Dax]].''

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': Hugh, a recurring character, is so beloved by the fandom that he not only beat 30 other characters to make it to the final round of the Star Trek World Cup Twitter poll, but he emerged as the victor because he earned more votes than ''Jean-Luc Picard'' (an icon of the franchise, no less!). His actor Jonathan Del Arco wants to know [[https://twitter.com/JonathanDelArco/status/1294369728580861952 when he'll receive his crown.]]

** For specific Borg, there's [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E23IBorg Hugh]], who, in a time on television where one-off characters were rare, was popular enough to be brought back for two episodes afterwards '''and''' will be appearing in ''[[Series/StarTrekPicard Picard]]'', almost thirty years later.

--> [[MemeticMutation It's a]] ''[[MemeticMutation faaaaaake.]]''

** Shran -- so much so that he would have joined the ship's crew in the planned season 5 as a regular character. His ambiguous status as ally/rival was played with flair by series veteran Creator/JeffreyCombs.

* ''Series/StarTrekLowerDecks'': Dr. T'Ana quickly became a fan-favorite thanks to her hilariously grouchy demeanor and memorable one-liners. [[PopularWithFurries Her being an alien cat lady doesn't hurt either]].

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': Hugh, a recurring character, is so beloved by the fandom that he not only beat 30 other characters to make it to the final round of the Star Trek World Cup Twitter poll, but he emerged as the victor because he earned more votes than ''Jean-Luc Picard'' (an icon of the franchise, no less!). His actor Jonathan Del Arco wants to know [[https://twitter.com/JonathanDelArco/status/1294369728580861952 when he'll receive his crown.]]

** Garak, perhaps ''the'' darkhorse of the series, started out as a minor character with a mysterious past and became a crucial part of the later seasons' intrigues. An exiled patriot, a tailor, a spy, a gardener, a soldier, TheChessmaster, and practically a series regular by the end. He appears only in 33 episodes out of 173. Andrew Robinson was even offered a promotion to main cast member (with his name in the opening titles) for the final season, but he declined.
** Martok was envisioned as a one-show guest character, but the producers were impressed enough that they brought him back for one more episode where he was [[spoiler:revealed as a changeling impostor, who was killed. But again, they liked the actor so much that the real Martok turned up alive and well in a Dominion prison camp and promptly rescued]]. From that point, General Martok adopts Worf as part of the House of Martok and rises to become Chancellor of the Klingon High Command.
** Morn began as an extra who could be seen doing nothing at Quark's Bar. He never even talked. But he became so popular that not only did the character get mentioned constantly (usually said to be [[InformedAttribute a huge talker]]) and even got an entire episode dedicated to him, "Who Mourns for Morn?"
** Weyoun. In his original appearance on the show, he was killed. The entire concept of the Vorta being clones was made just to bring him back. It helps when you're played by Creator/JeffreyCombs.

** Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd was so popular after the episode "Mudd's Women" that he was brought back for a rematch with the crew in "I, Mudd". This was a huge deal at the time, as TV shows were expected to maintain strict StatusQuoIsGod with every episode being completely understandable on its own (remember that this was before the invention of any way to record off a television, meaning literally the only way to see an episode was to turn on the TV right as it aired, and if you happened to miss one you could only pray that it showed up in reruns). He also came back in an episode of the animated series, and was even going to be brought forward in time in The Next Generation before Roger C. Carmel's untimely death. And then he was brought back on Discovery, played by Rainn Wilson.

** Lt. Barclay started as a minor character in ADayInTheLimelight episode, but then became something of a darkhorse as the series progressed; he would ultimately appear in five ''TNG'' episodes. He went on to have a memorable cameo in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', before going on to feature in ''six'' ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episodes.
** Miles O'Brien. He started as a nameless pilot with a red uniform, then appeared as a security guard, and finally the transporter chief. Eventually he was given a last name, then a first, and then an episode centered around him. He later became a series regular in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.