WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy season 1.
Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 has revealed details about the life of Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) after the end of Star Trek: Voyager. The animated Star Trek series is a stealth sequel to Voyager, focusing on a group of young misfits who find themselves in command of an experimental starship, the USS Protostar. In Prodigy‘s season 1 opener, Dal R’El (Brett Gray) and his fellow slaves find the abandoned Starfleet vessel buried within the Tars Lamora prison colony. It soon transpires that the Protostar was originally under the command of Captain Chakotay who, along with his crew mates, is now missing.
The mystery of Chakotay in Star Trek: Prodigy is resolved by the end of season 1, but that resolution only sets up more questions about the Star Trek: Voyager hero. Prodigy season 2 will continue the search for the missing Chakotay as Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) recruits her young charges for a rescue mission. With Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 coming to Netflix later in 2024, it’s a good time for a refresher on Chakotay’s command of the USS Protostar, and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.
6 Ways Star Trek: Voyager Failed Chakotay (But Prodigy Won’t)
Star Trek: Voyager resoundingly failed Chakotay as a character, but despite his story issues, Prodigy has a chance to turn Chakotay around.
Captain Chakotay & Protostar’s Original Delta Quadrant Mission
Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 11, “Asylum” opened with a flashback to the launching of the USS Protostar, under the command of Captain Chakotay. Equipped with a revolutionary proto-drive, the Protostar was able to traverse vast distances in record times. This new technology would allow Chakotay to return to the Delta Quadrant, where Admiral Janeway hoped he could fix some of the problems caused by the USS Voyager. Although Janeway harbored no desire to return to the Delta Quadrant, she was represented aboard the USS Protostar by a training hologram which could also assume command of the ship in an emergency.
The USS Protostar was a prototype, so the original Delta Quadrant mission was also a means to prove the new starship’s abilities. Unfortunately, the Protostar’s mission to the Delta Quadrant was quickly derailed when they encountered a temporal anomaly. Before the start of Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, the USS Protostar fell into the temporal anomaly and went missing, triggering a search and rescue mission led by Vice Admiral Janeway.
How Chakotay & Protostar Get Trapped On Vau N’Akat’s Homeworld
After it fell through a temporal anomaly, the USS Protostar found itself in orbit above the planet Solum at some point in the 25th century. Solum is the home planet of the Vau N’Akat, a species that endured a bitter and devastating civil war. The Vau N’Akat, including the Diviner (John Noble) blamed Starfleet for the civil war, as first contact between their species and the wider galaxy created a huge gulf between those who wished to be part of a larger universe and those who wanted Solum to remain isolated. When the USS Protostar arrived above Solum, the Vau N’Akat saw a way to change their tragic past.
A boarding party led by the cybernetic Drednoks boarded the USS Protostar, overwhelming Captain Chakotay and his crew. The Vau N’Akat wished to use the USS Protostar as a trojan horse to destroy Starfleet before they could make first contact with Solum. The crew of the Protostar were all captured by the Drednoks and a sentient weapon called the Living Construct was fitted aboard the ship. Once the Protostar made contact with another Starfleet ship, it would turn the entire armada against each other, as seen in the Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 finale.
Captain Chakotay and his first officer, Commander Adreek-Hu (Tommie Earl Jenkins) broke free from their imprisonment and attempted to deactivate the Living Construct. Unfortunately, they were unable to do so, and so Chakotay conceived an alternative plan. He made the decision to send the unmanned USS Protostar back through the anomaly, hoping that it would remain lost forever. The Vau N’Akat set off in pursuit of the USS Protostar, sending 100 Drednoks after the remotely piloted starship. With no means of returning to the 24th century, Captain Chakotay and the USS Protostar crew were stranded on the Vau N’Akat home world.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Is About Janeway Saving Chakotay
Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 will see Admiral Janeway lead the search for Captain Chakotay and his missing crew. Although the stable temporal wormhole that allowed the USS Protostar to travel to the 25th century was closed, Hologram Janeway was able to create another. Using this new wormhole, and the distress signal sent by Captain Chakotay, Admiral Janeway hopes to be able to travel into the alternate future and save her former Number One. Given that Janeway rescuing Chakotay is basically how their relationship started, the Admiral has chosen an appropriate starship for the rescue mission – the USS Voyager-A.
She’ll be accompanied on this mission by Star Trek: Voyager‘s EMH Doctor (Robert Picardo), who will fulfill the mentor role of Hologram Janeway from Star Trek: Prodigy season 1. The Doctor will be mentoring the young Star Trek: Prodigy cast through what will likely be a dangerous mission into the unknown. The Protostar was immediately seized by the Vau N’Akat on arrival over Solum, but this time, the USS Voyager-A will be prepared for this eventuality.
At this stage, it’s unclear whether Chakotay and the Protostar crew made it off Solum. Voyager may arrive above the Vau N’Akat home world to discover that Chakotay and Adreek-Hu have already rescued their fellow crew mates and are looking for a way back to the 24th century. This seems like the most likely outcome for Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, as it will allow the show to further expand the mystery of what happened to Chakotay after Star Trek: Voyager ended.
Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.
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.
