One Underrated Star Trek Character Is Getting Celebrated In a Surprising Way

Almost four decades after the debut of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and 25 years after the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the one character who spans both shows is getting some interesting recognition from his future birthplace. In the Star Trek timeline, in 2328, Miles Edward O’Brien was born in the Irish town of Killarney. And now, this working-class hero of Starfleet might end up as a statue. Which, strangely enough, would fulfill a prediction that Trek canon actually made in 2020.

According to Radio Kerry in Ireland, a petition now has about 600 signatures to get a statue of Trek character Miles Edward O’Brien erected in Killarney. As reported by the Killarney Advertiser, the petition strongly emphasizes Star Trek's “hopeful vision of the future,” and suggests that the “statue would shine as a beacon of hope for our world standing at the centre of one of the most beautiful regions of Ireland, if not the galaxy.”

Interestingly, this petition comes the same month that the dream pop band Mister Data just released their latest single, “Transporter Room 3,” with lyrics that are specifically about O’Brien’s biography and his family’s history of being pro-union and in favor of fair working conditions. Weird, right?

O’Brien as Star Trek’s everyman

Notably, Irish actor Colm Meaney — who played O’Brien in Trek — was born in Dublin, not Killarney. However, fictional birthplaces of Star Trek characters have been immortalized in local landmarks before. There is a statue of Captain Janeway in Bloomington, Indiana, and several murals and one statue of Captain Kirk in Riverside, Iowa.

But those characters are captains, while, of course, O’Brien is a former transporter operator, former flight controller, and eventually, the maintenance guy who kept both the space station Deep Space 9 running, and the USS Defiant from flying apart.

O’Brien’s working-class values are perhaps, part of the aspirational nature of the character. Although many Trek characters are “officers,” O’Brien makes a point in several episodes (including “Past Tense”) of reminding people that he is an “enlisted man,” meaning, he’s not an academy graduate, nor was his career path one where he wanted to get all the glory.

Instead, O’Brien is Star Trek’s best example of how some forms of classism do exist in the egalitarian 24th century. But O’Brien’s story also reveals that people need not be trapped by their class in the Trek future. In fact, O’Brien uses his decision not to attend the academy to his advantage.

Star Trek Canon’s O’Brien statue

Interestingly, Trek canon already predicted there would be a statue of Miles O’Brien at some point. Back in 2020, in the Lower Decks Season 1 episode “Temporal Edict,” a distant future flash forward indicated that O’Brien would be considered the most important person in Starfleet history ever.

So, if the Killarney O’Brien statue becomes a reality, it will exist several hundred years before even Trek canon predicted. Hopefully, that means O’Brien’s warm down-to-earth worldview and basic kindness will pervade Earth earlier than the 24th century, too.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine stream on Paramount+.