Star Trek: Voyager failed Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) as a character, but there are ways that Star Trek: Prodigy can do better. Chakotay was the USS Voyager’s First Officer and Captain Janeway’s (Kate Mulgrew) right-hand man throughout all seven seasons of the show. As a former Starfleet officer who left to join the Maquis, only to become Starfleet again when his crew merged with Voyager after getting stuck in the Delta Quadrant, Chakotay had a unique backstory and a theoretically interesting perspective to bring to the table.
Other things made Chakotay unique as well. He was Star Trek‘s first Native American main character, which should have brought much-needed representation to the franchise, and his status as an outsider because of the Maquis should have enhanced the drama of his role as a Star Trek First Officer. However, from the start, Chakotay’s character and storylines were mishandled by Voyager, and the show squandered his potential for a positive portrayal of Native culture or even interesting development. This began in the very earliest seasons and continues in some form throughout Voyager‘s run.
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6 Voyager Did Not Depict Any Part Of Chakotay’s Native Identity Accurately
Chakotay’s Indigenous heritage was offensive rather than positive
Although Voyager sought to introduce more diversity into the franchise by making Chakotay Native American, their execution was badly flawed. This was mostly due to the show hiring a fraudulent Native consultant to advise on Chakotay’s character. Voyager‘s creative time likely had good intentions when they brought on Jamake Highwater as their Native American authority. However, Highwater was actually born Jackie Marks and had no Native ancestry whatsoever. Marks was exposed as a fraud in 1984 but still went on to consult on Voyager in the 1990s due to his lies not being widely known.
Unfortunately, Marks was involved in almost every aspect of making sure Chakotay’s Native heritage was handled “correctly.” This resulted in a stereotypical and in most cases offensive portrayal of Native American culture through Chakotay, which likely hurt the character more than anything else the show did to him. Although Voyager seemed to realize their mistake and largely phased Chakotay’s Native practices in later seasons, the damage had already been done. Mark’s involvement in Voyager is a stain on the Star Trek franchise, and the damage he did to Chakotay is nothing compared to the harm he caused to real Native people with his false identity claims.
5 Voyager Forgot About Chakotay’s Maquis Identity Too Quickly
Chakotay shouldn’t have been a normal Starfleet officer
Another huge aspect of Chakotay’s character was his identity as a Maquis, the rebel group that had banded together to fight the Cardassians in the Alpha Quadrant. Although Chakotay and the other Maquis agreed to become Starfleet officers when they merged with Voyager’s crew, their former rebel status was still a fairly large part of their characters early on. However, all the Maquis, Chakotay included, lost that identity much too quickly, integrating into the Starfleet command structure in only a handful of episodes even though many of them had never even been in Starfleet before.
Chakotay had gone through the Academy and been an officer, but even so, the complete loss of his Maquis identity hurt his character going forward. His perspective as someone who had been on both sides of the conflict, and his more rebellious personality would have been a much more interesting counterpoint to Captain Janeway. Although there were some examples of these in early episodes, Chakotay settled into a largely passive role very quickly, still acting as Janeway’s advisor and confidant but rarely opposing her and not demonstrating much of his own personality.
4 Voyager Underused Chakotay (Especially In Later Seasons)
Chakotay’s storylines were cut back after season 2
Likely thanks to their mishandling of his Native American heritage, Voyager‘s creative team significantly dialed back Chakotay’s involvement in later seasons. Given that Chakotay was Voyager‘s First Officer, the show had to include him, but most of the character’s big storylines were in seasons 1 and 2. As a result, Chakotay lacked character development, and Robert Beltran became unhappy with how he was being handled. Beltran was vocal about his displeasure at the time and has continued to be since Voyager‘s end, but the ways the creative team tried to remedy this, including Chakotay’s ill-conceived romance with Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) in season 7, did more harm than good.
3 Most Of Chakotay’s Relationships Weren’t Interesting (Even His Janeway Romance)
Chakotay’s relationships (including his friendships) were utterly forgettable
Because of his lesser involvement in the show, Chakotay’s relationships with other characters, including both friendships and romances, were underwhelming. Even his early relationships, such as his turbulent romance with Seska (Martha Hackett) lacked substance and failed to captivate viewers. Later on, Chakotay was mostly the victim of forgettable, one-off romances, and many of his friendships with other characters weren’t given much screentime. His relationship with Seven, although treated as a big deal in Voyager‘s final season, was short-lived, badly received, and negated by Seven’s later appearance on Star Trek: Picard.
Chakotay’s most significant — and arguably best — relationship on Voyager was with Captain Janeway, but even this was marred by story issues. Although Janeway and Chakotay enjoyed a close working relationship and friendship, romantic tension caused by an early episode meant that they danced around obvious but unspoken feelings for most of Voyager‘s run. It would have been a bad idea for Janeway and Chakotay to become a couple given their status as Captain and First Officer, but their unresolved romantic tension caused a fair amount of frustration for audiences and undercut both characters significantly.
2 Voyager Even Failed To Make Chakotay’s Hobbies Interesting
Chakotay’s hobbies added basically nothing to his character
Like many other Star Trek characters, Chakotay had extracurricular hobbies that Voyager depicted to enhance the plot of certain episodes. However, even Chakotay’s interests outside of Starfleet weren’t enough to make him compelling. Chakotay was shown to have an interest in archeology and anthropology, but Voyager never made either a huge part of his story. This was despite the franchise already demonstrating that these interests could be used effectively with characters like Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart).
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Chakotay’s other big hobby was boxing, something that was the main focus of season 5, episode 19, “The Fight.” However, “The Fight” was one of the worst-rated Voyager episodes in season 5 thanks to its confusingly executed plot and at least partially to the focus on Chakotay’s hobby. Even when Voyager‘s creative team tried to incorporate storylines for Chakotay that didn’t involve focusing on his heritage, they failed to capture the audience’s attention.
1 How Star Trek: Prodigy Can Improve Chakotay As A Character
Prodigy has a chance to turn Chakotay around
Captain Chakotay’s return in Star Trek: Prodigy has given the franchise another chance to get the character right. With Prodigy season 2 set to feature Chakotay more heavily, the show may be able to remedy some of the damage that Voyager did. To do this, however, the creative team would first need to change or at least not double down on the negative Native stereotyping that was baked into Chakotay from the start. Since Voyager made Chakotay’s Native identity less important to his character in later seasons, this is more than possible for Prodigy to do, although actively changing Chakotay’s history and cultural practices might be a bit harder.
Along with this, Prodigy could simply give Chakotay more to do in season 2. This is likely to happen, since the season’s mission will involve rescuing Chakotay and his remaining crew from an alternate future on the Vau N’Akat homeworld. Although much of the focus is likely to still be on Admiral Janeway and the former young crew of the USS Protostar, splitting up the plot to include some focus on Chakotay could be a chance to add nuance to his character and give him a more interesting story than Star Trek: Voyager ever did.
