Star Trek: Voyager showrunner Jeri Taylor believed that a romantic relationship between Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) would be “stupid“. To this day, Janeway and Chakotay shippers harbor hope for “J/C“, which have only been reignited by the pair’s return in Star Trek: Prodigy. However, it became clear very early on that there would be no relationship between the two senior Star Trek: Voyager characters. This was because two of the key people involved with Voyager weren’t keen on the idea of a romance between Janeway and Chakotay.
Famously, Kate Mulgrew opposed a romantic subplot, which was why Janeway and Chakotay never became a couple. Mulgrew believed that it would undermine Star Trek‘s first female captain if she fell for her hunky second-in-command. Star Trek: Voyager showrunner Jeri Taylor echoed Kate Mulgrew’s objections when discussing the prospective Janeway/Chakotay romance in Peter Holmstrom’s The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek. Read Jeri Taylor’s thoughts on Janeway and Chakotay below:
I don’t know how it got started, but I wrote some of the episodes where Janeway and Chakotay seemed to be feeling out a relationship with each other. It was very tempting. He was such an attractive man, and a man of depth and quality. You could see him being a worthy partner for her. But it’s not a good idea dramatically, not a good idea for a captain on a ship to have a relationship with one of her crew. That’s stupid. So we decided that’s not going to go anyplace. It just had the feel of, “What can we do that people won’t expect?” [It] didn’t seem to flow organically from what had gone before, but it was just imposed on the situation.
Chakotay’s First Star Trek: Voyager Romance Showed Why Dating Janeway Was A Bad Idea
A Chakotay and Janeway romance would have been a bad idea on Star Trek: Voyager, something Chakotay’s first relationship demonstrated well.
Should Star Trek: Prodigy Revive Janeway And Chakotay’s Romance?
Prodigy showrunners have hinted at Janeway and Chakotay’s “complicated” relationship.
Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 will see Admiral Janeway lead her young charges on a search for Captain Chakotay and his missing crew. Janeway and Chakotay’s eventual reunion could result in the two Star Trek: Voyager characters finally admitting their feelings for each other. However, Prodigy‘s showrunners should heed Jeri Taylor’s words about doing what people wouldn’t expect. With an online community entirely devoted to Janeway and Chakotay’s romance, a romantic reunion in Prodigy, decades after Voyager ended, feels like exactly the sort of thing that people would expect. It would be far more surprising if Prodigy explored the depths of Chakotay and Janeway’s platonic friendship instead.
Kate Mulgrew’s thoughts on Janeway and Chakotay haven’t changed, so it will be interesting to see if Star Trek: Prodigy honors Janeway’s choice not to pursue a romance with Chakotay. Tantalizingly for J/C shippers, Prodigy showrunner Dan Hageman teased Janeway and Chakotay’s relationship in Prodigy season 2 on Virtual Trek Con where he revealed that composer Nami Melumad was “blushing” when she watched their reunion. This suggests there will be romantic tension between Janeway and Chakotay in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2. If that’s the case then it can only be hoped that the romance between the two Star Trek: Voyager characters won’t be “stupid.“
star trek: voyager
The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they’ve never faced before.
Star Trek: Prodigy
Star Trek: Prodigy is the first TV series in the Star Trek franchise marketed toward children, and one of the few animated series in the franchise. The story follows a group of young aliens who find a stolen Starfleet ship and use it to escape from the Tars Lamora prison colony where they are all held captive. Working together with the help of a holographic Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the new crew of the USS Protostar must find their way back to the Alpha Quadrant to warn the Federation of the deadly threat that is pursuing them.
