Summary

  • Star Trek stars found unique roles in Criminal Minds, showcasing their range as actors in the dark crime drama.
  • Criminal Minds delves into human depravity while Star Trek celebrates optimism and exploration.
  • Many familiar Star Trek faces appeared in Criminal Minds, adding depth and variety to the crime drama's cast of characters.

The Star Trek universe may not have much in common with the world of Criminal Minds, but several Trek stars appeared in the dark crime drama. With its focus on exploration and its optimistic version of the future, Star Trek celebrates the best of humanity. Criminal Minds, on the other hand, explores the depths of human depravity, but still has moments of light as the heroes fight to put the bad guys behind bars. The familiar Star Trek faces on Criminal Minds display their range as actors, often playing characters very different (and significantly more homicidal) from their Trek characters.

With the nature of procedural crime dramas like Criminal Minds, every episode has a cast of characters involved in the crime of the week. Criminal Minds follows a group of FBI agents who work as profilers in the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), and take on cases too complex or far-reaching for local law enforcement to handle. After its premiere in 2005, Criminal Minds became a ratings hit for CBS and remains popular today. Whether they were playing a victim or an unsub (unknown subject) or a member of law enforcement, these 10 Star Trek stars all appeared in at least one episode of Criminal Minds.

Criminal Minds was canceled by CBS in 2020 after its fifteenth season, but was picked up by Paramount+ in 2022 for a sixteenth season as Criminal Minds: Evolution. The seventeenth season began filming in January 2024.

Star trek enterprise archer the next generation picard captain burnham
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10 Todd Stashwick

Captain Liam Shaw in Star Trek: Picard

Todd Stashwick's Captain Liam Shaw became a surprise fan-favorite in Star Trek: Picard season 3, thanks in large part to Stashwick's compelling performance. As Captain of the USS Titan-A, Shaw did things by the book and was none too pleased when Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Captain William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) pulled his ship into a dangerous rescue mission.

Although Shaw sacrificed himself in Star Trek: Picard season 3's penultimate episode, Picard showrunner Terry Matalas has confirmed the character will return if the proposed spin-off, Star Trek: Legacy, ever becomes a reality.

Todd Stashwick has appeared in numerous genre television shows, including a guest spot on Supernatural and a starring role on Terry Matalas's 12 Monkeys. In Criminal Minds season 9, episode 5, "Route 66," Stashwick plays a robber who abducts his estranged daughter and later becomes a spree killer.

9 Jeffrey Combs

Shran in Star Trek: Enterprise, Weyoun & Brunt in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, & Others

The always versatile Jeffrey Combs has played numerous Star Trek characters across multiple series, and has become one of the franchise's favorite guest stars. Combs appeared in all four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise as the Andorian Thy'lek Shran, who sometimes butted heads with Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula). In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Combs portrayed every Vorta Weyoun clone, a role created especially for him.

Combs also appeared as a couple of different Ferengi, most notably as Liquidator Brunt on DS9, as well as an unknown alien named Tiron and Tsunkatse coordinator Penk. Combs has had a prolific television career, and he appeared in Criminal Minds season 9, episode 12, "The Black Queen" as serial killer and computer hacker John Nichols.

Jeffrey Combs also provided the voice for the computer AGIMUS in two episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks

8 Ethan Phillips

Neelix in Star Trek: Voyager