Star Trek: Voyager’s Robert Beltran Would Have Liked More “Genuine Relationships”

Robert Beltran wanted Star Trek: Voyager to include more genuine relationships in its seven-year run. Beltran portrayed Commander Chakotay, the First Officer of the USS Voyager and a major player in Voyager‘s main cast of characters. As Captain Janeway’s (Kate Mulgrew) second-in-command, Chakotay played an important role on the ship and was also essential to the show’s interpersonal plotlines that played out as a counterpart to Voyager‘s central science fiction stories.

Although the Star Trek franchise is predominantly concerned with exploring sci-fi concepts, it is the characters and their relationships with each other that drive every franchise show and ensure audiences are always coming back for more. Voyager was no exception to this, and delivered some beautifully crafted character and relationship arcs, focusing on the crew going from wary strangers to a fully realized family during their time in the Delta Quadrant. However, one thing that was fairly lacking in Voyager compared to other Star Trek series was the amount of romance.

Robert Beltran Wanted More Genuine Romance In Star Trek: Voyager

Beltran felt that Voyager was severely lacking in romance across the board

In a 2017 interview with TrekMovie.com, Robert Beltran discussed the lack of romance on Voyager, both for his character and across the board. Although Beltran acknowledged the show’s one long-term romance between Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), he was quick to point out that there was nothing else like Tom and B’Elanna’s relationship during Voyager‘s run. This was especially true for Chakotay, who often struggled in the romance department. Read Beltran’s full quote below:

“The thing is that I would have liked to have seen genuine relationships across the board, not just with me. I think they did a good job with Paris/B’Elanna, but where were the other relationships? Certainly not with me and Janeway. That was never being seriously considered. I know the fans wanted it, but the writers weren’t that crazy about it.”

Although Tom and B’Elanna provided some great romantic subplots in later seasons, Beltran is correct in stating that Voyager was a decidedly unromantic show. Tom and B’Elanna ended up being the only stable couple that Voyager created, with any other romances only being one-off instances or seemingly doomed from the start, like the early relationship between Neelix (Ethan Phillip) and Kes (Jennifer Lien). This is especially glaring when looked at in the context of Voyager‘s sister shows, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

How Voyager’s Romances Compare To Other Star Trek Shows

TNG and DS9 had a lot more romances than Voyager

In terms of other Star Trek shows of the same era, Voyager fell woefully short on romance while it was on the air. Although TNG didn’t maintain a lot of long-term relationships, the show is still known for creating some of the franchise’s most iconic couples, namely Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). Likewise, DS9 was chock-full of romance, from Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) and Kasidy Yates (Penny Johnson) to Worf (Michael Dorn) and Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell), and a slew of other main character relationships in between.

It’s interesting then that Voyager only maintained one long-term romantic subplot when romance was shown to be so well-received on other Star Trek shows. It is possible that Voyager was attempting to balance the franchise since it and DS9 were airing at the same time for several seasons. Whatever the reason, it’s ultimately a shame that Star Trek: Voyager held off on more romance. The potential for relationships between characters like Janeway and Chakotay, or the Doctor (Robert Picardo) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) was very much there but was never realized during the show’s run.

Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.