By reviewing the literature on the “dark side” of star employees published over the past two decades (2005~2025), this paper reveals the multi-level mechanisms of their negative effects and calls for researchers to explore more diverse intervention strategies. Specifically, this paper first clarifies the concept and evolution of star employees. It then summarizes the different paradigms of their negative effects of star employees, including the paradigms that integrate both “positive effects” and “negative effects” and the single-path “negative effect” paradigm. The former can be further divided into the double-edged sword paradigm and two types of non-linear paradigms (the “too-much-of-a-good-thing” effect and the “too-confusing-to-be-a-good-thing” effect). Building on this, the paper further categorizes the theoretical perspectives, mechanisms, and boundary conditions of these negative effects of star employees according to different impact targets (self, others, teams, and organizations). Finally, the paper proposes future research prospects from the multi-dimensional perspectives of talent maintenance, talent governance, and talent development, aiming to provide insights for subsequent theoretical exploration and organizational management practices, promoting the optimization of talent management systems and sustainable talent development.