Only Two Star Trek: The Next Generation Cast Members Appeared In Every Episode

Only two members of the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" cast appear in all 176 episodes of the beloved sci-fi series. Fittingly, the Enterprise's captain and first officer were always aboard. According to Memory Alpha, Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Jonathan Frakes' William Riker made an appearance in every hour of the series from the premiere on September 28, 1987, to the finale on May 23, 1994.

There are six actors on the show who are credited in every episode (178 total if you count the double-length series premiere and Season 4 finale as two episodes each). In addition to Stewart and Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, and Michael Dorn's names pop up in every episode — but appearing in an episode's credits as a series regular doesn't always mean an actor actually shows up in the flesh in the actual episode. There are episodes where characters appear via stock footage, as holograms, or in voice-only roles, but all the "TNG" actors except Stewart and Frakes have at least one episode where they were truly MIA.

Spiner's character, Data, is absent from the Season 4 episode "Family." Sirtis, who plays Deanna Troi, doesn't appear in 10 episodes. Burton's Geordi La Forge isn't in six. And Worf, Dorn's character, isn't in two Season 1 episodes.

Michael Dorn might have been missing from those two early "Next Generation" episodes, but he certainly made up for it. No actor has appeared in as many episodes of "Star Trek" across the entire franchise as Dorn has. In addition to his near-perfect "TNG" attendance, Worf appears in 98 episodes of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," as Dorn joined the cast in Season 4. Dorn appears in seven episodes of "Star Trek: Picard" as well, bringing his total up to 279 episodes. (Dorn also directed four episodes of "Trek." He helmed three episodes of "DS9" and one of "Star Trek: Enterprise," though Worf himself never showed up on the latter series.)

Colm Meaney takes the silver medal of "Star Trek" episode appearances; his Miles O'Brien made his debut as a minor character on "TNG," where he appears in 52 episodes, before making the jump to "DS9," where he is a main character who is featured in most of the show's 173 episodes. Patrick Stewart is no slouch. He's in third place, having been in every episode of "TNG," all 30 episodes of "Picard," and an episode of "DS9."

However, depending on how you want to count it, another actor might be near the top of the rankings. Majel Barrett, an actress who was also the wife of "Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, appears in "TOS" and "The Animated Series" as Christine Chapel, and in "TNG" and "DS9" as Lwaxana Troi. She is also the voice of the Federation computer across most of the franchise, giving her more than 200 voice-only appearances.