Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard Season 3.Star Trek: Picardhas officially come to a spectacular end,with its series finale delivering one last showdown against the Borgand an epic final adventure for the crew ofThe Next Generation. The final season kicked off with Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) sending out a distress call to Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) before revealing that she’d secretly had his son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers). Slowly but surely, the whole found family of theEnterprise-Dreturned to rally around the Picard-Crusher family unit and take on the mystery threatening the entire galaxy.
At the beginning of the season, Will Riker (JonathanFrakes) is naturally the first to join Picard on his mission; however, he reveals an unexpected rift between him and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). AsSeason 3 showrunnerTerry Matalasswiftly noted, the intention behind adding that bit of angst into their relationship would both allow them to explore some of the emotional foundation laid by Season 1 and to bring them back to the place where we fell in love with them—and Matalas did exactly that with the series finale.
Inthe final episode ofStar Trek: Picard, the love between Riker and Troi was instrumental in bringing about the rescue of our heroes. When the interference with the Enterprise’s instrumentation prevents Data from being able to get a lock on Riker, Picard, Jack, and Worf (Michael Dorn),Deanna is able to find them because of her connection to her Imzadi—a Betazoid word that means “my beloved.” AsStar Trek: Picardcomes to a close, let’s take a look back at these two soulmates whose relationship has transcended time and space, animation and live-action, and so much more.
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“Do You Remember What I Taught You, Imzadi?”
From the very first moment that Will Riker and Deanna Troi set foot on the USS Enterprise, their relationship became a cornerstone of who each of them is, both together and separately. In the pilot episode ofStar Trek: The Next Generation, when Captain Jean-Luc Picard introduces his new first officer (Riker) to the ship’s counselor (Troi) he assumes that this is their first time meeting, but the audience is granted a sparkly music cue, a classic 90s zoom in, and the dramatic telepathic voiceover of Deanna, who happens to be half Betazoid, asking if Will can still sense her thoughts.
Over the course of the series, more details are slowly revealed about the deep romantic history between Will and Deanna. As Frakes has explained many times in the franchise’s 30+ year history,the writers behindThe Next Generationleft Will and Deanna unattachedso that they could both have episodic romantic dalliances with one-off characters. However, throughout the entire series, Frakes and Sirtis made a concerted effort to keep that relationship, and their soulmate connection, alive through lingering looks and meaningful stares, allowing fans to read between the lines of what was written into the series.
Later in the first season, during an episode in which Deanna is almost whisked into an arranged marriage, we learn that the Betazoid word Imzadi means “my beloved.” It’s a word that Will and Deanna only use for each other and something they refer to each other as even when they aren’t explicitly in a romantic relationship. Prior to Riker’s landing the coveted position as first officer of Starfleet’s flagship, he was stationed on Deanna’s home planet Betazed. It’s revealed in bits and pieces throughoutTNGthat while he was stationed there he met Deanna while she was studying psychology, and they fell in love. They kept up a long-distance relationship for a while after he got his next assignment, but when they were set to meet on Risa—a tropical romance planet—Riker never arrived. Though he never intended to break her heart, and he could never “say goodbye,” Riker prioritized his dream of being a starship captain over their relationship.
“We’ve Become Very Good Friends.” “All the Better, You Certainly Wouldn’t Want to Marry an Enemy.”
While there were plenty of missed opportunities forThe Next Generationto explore a deeper relationship between Will and Deanna during the show’s seven seasons, their time serving on the Enterprise together ultimately served to enhance their romance in theTNGmovies and later inPicard. The friends-to-lovers trope is so beloved because the best foundation for any long-lasting romantic relationship is a solid friendship. There’s a passage from a short story titledThe Long RunbyEdith Whartonthat perfectly encapsulates the relationship that Will and Deanna are able to build with each other during their time on the Enterprise:
“Love is deeper than friendship, but friendship is a good deal wider. The beauty of our relation was that it included both dimensions. Our thoughts met as naturally as our eyes: it was almost as if we loved each other because we liked each other. I’m inclined to think that the quality of a love may be tested by the amount of friendship it contains, and in our case, there was no dividing line between loving and liking, no disproportion between them, no barrier against which desire beat in vain or from which thought fell back unsatisfied.”
While Will and Deanna are never explicitly in a relationship duringThe Next Generation, their friendship blossoms and grows allowing them to build a much stronger connection. And thanks to the valiant efforts of Frakes and Sirtis, the love that Riker and Troi had for each other never waned, despite rarely being explicitly written into the script. That being said, there are certainly a handful of episodes that lean into their romance. In Season 3’s “Menagé a Troi,” they take shore leave together on Betazed, sharing kisses and reminiscing about “all the good times they had” before the chaos of the rest of the episode breaks loose. It’s later implied that they frequently take shore leave together in Season 4’s “Family,” when Deanna tells Beverly that she and Will have been “talking about going back to Angel Falls.”
In Season 5, the episode “Conundrum” features the entire crew of the ship having their memories wiped—however, for Will and Deanna, their Imzadi connection remains. While they can’t remember specifics, Deanna tells Will that he’s the only thing that seems familiar to her—he later finds a book of poetry in his quarters, Ode to Psyche byJohn Keats, with an inscription that reads “To Will, all my love, Deanna.” When a Season 6 episode titled “Second Chances,” leads the Enterprise to find a duplicate Riker (thanks to a rogue transporter incident) Deanna’s complicated feelings for Will are whirled into a fever pitch. Though her relationship with Thomas Riker ends as swiftly as it begins, the episode makes it clear that both Will and Deanna still hold those yearning feelings for each other, it’s simply not the right time to let them out yet.
ThroughoutThe Next Generation, their friendship allows them to grow individually and in turn, they make each other better. In “The Loss,” Riker helps Deanna to become more accepting of her human side when her empathic gifts are temporarily impaired. When Riker must take command of the Enterprise during the crisis at Wolf 359 in “The Best of Both Worlds,” Deanna gives him much-needed perspective on how he’s grown since being assigned to the Enterprise. Later, in “Thine Own Self,” Riker is the one who administers Deanna’s bridge officers test, promoting her to the rank of Commander when she passes.
Their time on the Enterprise essentially allows them to slowly become everything that two people generally vow to be to each other when they get married. They stand by each other in times of sickness and health, each taking turns sitting vigil for the other when the ship falls prey to any number of alien incursions. They are each other’s trusted confidants, they work well together as a team, and even when either of them would date other people there was still an ever-present tether between them. In “The Price,” when one of Deanna’s one-off romantic partners attempts to make Riker jealous, implying that she’s a prize to be won, Riker shuts down the conversation with full confidence in his relationship with Deanna as well as her ability to make her own choices. Interestingly, one of the few times Riker appears to be genuinely jealous is when Deanna begins dating Worf (Michael Dorn). Because Worf means more to both of them than past romantic partners, it’s the first time either of them actually stops to consider that they might end up with other people.
“Your Feelings for Her Have Not Changed Since the Day I Met You, Commander.”
Thankfully, Worf and Deanna’s relationship comes to an amicable end off-screen, after he moves on toDeep Space Nine. While the first twoStar Trek: The Next Generationmovies don’t really dedicate much time to romance,Star Trek: Insurrectiontakes the Enterprise into a nebula with certain “anti-aging” properties, causing the crew to feel like their younger selves. For Riker and Troi, this manifests primarily in their attraction to each other. From flirtations in the library to kisses in her office, Will and Deanna rekindle their romance, ending the movie seemingly having gotten back together for good this time. As Worf points out, their feelings for each other have never changed, and at long last the timing is finally right for them to be together.
ThoughStar Trek: Nemesisis widely regarded asthe worstNext Genmovie—and for good reason—its best redeeming quality is that it finally delivered the Riker/Troi endgame that fans had been rooting for since the pilot. The movie begins with the entire crew celebrating their wedding and preparing to move on from their time on the Enterprise to the next chapter of their lives as Riker becomes captain of the Titan. One of the major critiques ofNemesisis that the film made Deanna a victim of assault, something that unfortunately happened more than once during the run ofNext Generation. The movie ends with Deanna and Will leaving for the Titan, and though they’re on good terms with each other, they’re definitely left reeling from the events of the mission, including Data’s death.
Luckily, for fans of Riker and Troi, this is hardly the last time they’re seen in the franchise. Both characters, make appearances in several other Star Trek shows before they return forStar Trek: Picard. Deanna appears in two episodes ofVoyager, and though Will isn’t there, their relationship is still used as a point of reference as they’re planning to spend their shore leave together again. TheEnterpriseseries finale uses the two of them as a framing device, as they use a holodeck program to explore the legacy of that very first crew. They also appear together in the Season 1 finale ofStar Trek’s adult animated series,LowerDecks. In the comedy series, they arrive on the Titan to offer aid to the USS Cerritos, swooping in to save the day before heading off for a planet with a “little Risa,” joking about bringing their “little Hor’gan,” implying that they’re open to getting a little freaky on vacation.
“I Love You, Imzadi.”
The next time we see Riker and Troi, they’ve been through quite a bit over the course of nearly two decades, though the tie-in novelThe Dark VeilbyJames Swallowfills in a bit of that gap. When we find them in the first season ofStar Trek: Picard, they’ve seemingly retired to a peaceful planet called Nepenthe, and through the episode, we learn that they went there to spend as much time as possible with their dying son. The episode sees them play host to Picard when he’s in need of a safe haven and gives us a glimpse into their lives, once again reeling from the trauma of loss. Though they’re still working through the pain of losing their son, they have a bright, curious daughter and are instantly warm and welcoming to Picard and Soji (Data’s daughter played byIsa Briones).
When we catch up with them again inPicardSeason 3, Will readily joins Jean-Luc on his mission to give Deanna and Kestra “a break from him.” Earlier this year Collider’sMaggie Lovittspoke to Season 3 showrunner Matalasabout the choice to plant a little bit of angst in their relationship. He told Collider, “We started to ask ourselves, what would that mean for Deanna who could feel everyone’s grief, and how would they try and solve that?“PicardSeason 3 gives Riker the push he needs to finally confront his own grief. After having lost his own son, he accompanies Picard on a journey to get to know the child he never knew he had. By the time he’s reunited with Deanna—in the prison cell of an enemy ship—they’re able to find themselves on even footing again. Will’s grief had been all-consuming, and when Deanna tried to help him carry the weight of it, he shut her out, clinging to his own pain as though it might let him hang on to their child a little bit longer. His time with Picard and Jack gives him the perspective he needs to be able to come back to Deanna and move through to the next chapter of their lives with her.
ThePicardseries finale, “The Last Generation,” brings their story full circle in the most beautiful way. Playing up those lingering looks, Riker and Troi are separated at the beginning of the episode as he heads into the ship to find the beacon they need to destroy and she stays on the ship to help serve as their eye in the sky. When complications arise from the destruction of the beacon, preventing Data from being able to get a lock on Picard and Jack, Riker goes deeper into the ship in hopes of bringing them into transporter range with complete confidence that he’ll see Deanna again soon. But when it looks like they may not make it out after all,Riker opens himself up emotionally using their telepathic bondto send one last “I love you, Imzadi” to Deanna with the promise that he’d wait for her with their son in whatever comes next. It’s that very vulnerability that allows her to sense exactly where he is and bring him home along with all of their friends.Picardgives each of its heroes a soft epilogue, with Will and Deanna planning “a whirlwind vacation,” and proving that love really does conquer all.
You can go back through all of Riker and Troi’s appearances in theStar Trekfranchise right now on Paramount+.
