The Star Trek Character Inspired By A Little Girl’s Horrific Death

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 19 seconds ago

Sometimes, there are interesting stories about Star Trek’s main characters. For example, Wesley Crusher was Gene Roddenberry’s self-insert OC, which is part of why he was a teenage super genius who always knew how to instantly save the day. Unfortunately, minor characters don’t usually have much of a story behind them beyond, say, why the writer thought their name was cool.

However, the same can’t be said for Samantha Wildman, the fan-favorite supporting character on Star Trek: Voyager. Accomplished science officer and mother of the popular Naomi Wildman, Samantha proved to be a wonderful addition to the series. However, this character wouldn’t have been created at all if not for one of the show’s writers wanting to honor a little girl whose death saved his wife’s life.

A Pregnant Character Is Born

Samantha Wildman has the interesting distinction of being the first Voyager crew member to give birth in the Delta Quadrant. She announced her pregnancy in “Elogium,” which was also her very first appearance in the series (she would later go on to be a mainstay supporting character). That episode was originally pitched by Jimmy Diggs, who has his own interesting distinction: he successfully pitched more Star Trek episodes than any other freelancer in franchise history.

It was easy for Diggs to pitch Star Trek stories because his own life was filled with so many crazy tales. For example, he was a Vietnam veteran who always remembered the surreal sight of fish (thousands and thousands of them) flocking to his naval ship during a starless, moonless night. As they glittered in the water, he felt like he was traveling through the stars, and this event later inspired “Elogium.” Before he pitched the episode, though, Diggs had to face something infinitely scarier than the war: the likelihood that his wife would die.

An Unsung Hero, Revealed

She desperately needed a kidney transplant. As with everyone who needs an organ, Diggs and his wife had to deal with the fear that she would not get the kidney in time and would die. Eventually, she got the organ she needed, but in a very bittersweet way. You see, the kidney was only available because of a little girl who had died in an accident.

Understandably, Jimmy Diggs was very moved by the young girl who, even in death, managed to save his wife’s life. The Samantha Wildman character was named after this little girl, giving her a kind of unexpected second life as a sci-fi icon. Ensign Wildman became a very popular character, so Star Trek fans have (knowingly or not) kept that young girl’s legacy alive for decades. Even her specialty aboard Voyager honors the sacrifice of this little girl. Her parents told Diggs that she really liked animals, so Diggs incorporated this aspect into the new character’s background. That’s how Ensign Wildman ended up a xenobiologist aboard the ship!

As you can see, Samantha Wildman is more than just another fun, supporting character in Star Trek. She is also honoring the legacy of a young girl whose death saved a woman’s life, effectively embodying the franchise’s highest ideals. The real Samantha Wildman, like Kirk before her, helped turn death into a fighting chance to live for Jimmy Diggs’ wife. Now, she will live forever in sci-fi’s best franchise, continually inspiring all of us to do everything we can to make the world around us a better place.