Star Trek is one of those programs that has engraved itself into popular culture so much that it has begun to influence the real world. Many who don’t even know the show will recognize the “live long and prosper” hand symbol, and directly related or not, some technology from the show has wiggled its way into daily life. It’s strange then, for those who are fans of the show, to seemingly know a key narrative flavoring, and to later realize that most of it is never fully shown on screen. One of these is the relationship between commander Riker and counselor Troi.
During TNG there is little to nothing of their relationship explored on screen, though a lot is suggested. It’s only implied that after the series had finished, and within the films, that their romance actually becomes something tangible. The most notable examples are from the films Insurrection and Nemesis. As part of the Insurrection plot, Riker and Troi become younger versions of themselves through exposure to some metaphysic eradication, and rekindle their relationship. In Nemesis, the two are married on screen just before they both gallivant off to their new ship, the USS Titan, which Riker commands. Their history, however, is often hinted at throughout the series, and used to create sexual tension between them.
Part of their tension comes from having met prior to the events aboard the iconic USS Enterprise D. They met on Betazed, the Betazoid home world, and this was where they began their romantic relationship. Things were great, until Riker got promoted for saving some scientists on Nervala Four. This strange series of events actually resulted in a transporter accident, producing a clone of Riker, but this is just an interesting side-bit for the two’s relationship. With his promotion came a whole heap of new responsibilities, and he decided to focus on his career, breaking things off with Troi. They didn’t see each other until a few years later, when they were both posted aboard Picard’s Enterprise.
Things were refreshingly not awkward between the two, which makes a nice change from the usual ex-partner drama portrayed a lot in mainstream media. Instead, they had a fairly healthy platonic relationship, one where they showed great affection for one another, but respected that their romantic relationship was no more. They would spend a lot of time together, confide in one another, and at one point even took a vacation together to Betazed. It’s never said whether they were intimate during this time or not, so a lot of this is going to come down to audience interpretation, but there is a fairly large consensus that they were just friends. They continued over the many seasons of TNG to have their own individual relationships. The only awkward one during season 6, when Troi began a relationship with Riker's clone, though this quickly fizzled out. She then had a fairly memorable, yet awfully forced, relationship with Worf (not a patch on him and Jadzia Dax), but this is often swept under the rug.
This strange pushing for Troi and Worf potentially got in the way for her relationship with Riker, and when things didn’t pan out (or the writers received some negative feedback from fans) they scrapped the Worf/Troi plotline and had to backpeddle to rekindle the Troi/Riker romance. But rekindle they did, with the introduction of their daughter Kestra in the first season of Picard.
When Picard is looking for a friend to help protect him and Soji, he of course turns to his number one, finding Riker and Troi still happily married and living in an idyllic log cabin on a plant similar to Earth (specifically the wild forests of north California) called Nepenthe. While it seems a beautiful way to close their love story, sitting around eating homemade pizza, their journey there was not easy. In Picard, it’s relieved that Kestra was not their only child, but that they had a son named Thaddeus Worf Troi-Riker (paying homage to a certain Klingon history expert). Tragically, Thaddeus had died from a condition called mendaxic neurosclerosis. He grew up on spaceships, and was quoted to be an inquisitive and brilliant child, having created 12 made up languages his family still use to communicate sometimes. They all moved to Nepenthe after his diagnosis as the soil there was supposed to help him recover, but he died shortly after at the age of 13.
Riker and Troi’s relationship is potentially one of the most realistic romances found within the Star Trek franchise. It’s almost secretive, like they didn’t want the cameras to know about it, keeping it as special and sacred as possible, not wanting to spoil it by letting the inevitable drama that comes with one's life being shown for an audience in. Audiences could always tell it was there, with each of them caring deeply for one another to the point where capturing it on camera wouldn’t have done it justice. To hear about their life together in retrospect in Picard was the perfect way to do it. It feels incredibly natural, to the point where a lot of fans are surprised to remember that their love story was never really part of the original series.