Could Star Trek: Prodigy Give Us More of the Janeway and Chakotay Romance?

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Prodigy’s ‘A Moral Star Part 2.’

Janeway and Chakotay. Captain and Commander. Starfleet and ex-Maquis. One of the biggest “could have been” romances in Star Trek history. The early seasons of Star Trek Voyager certainly toyed with the idea, the two getting stranded on an alien world and having to live together for three months in the episode ‘Resolutions.’ However the romance never came to fruition and Chakotay was oddly paired with Seven of Nine just before the end of Voyager’s run.

A little thing like canon has never stopped fans and even the Voyager relaunch novels in the mid 2000s quickly broke Chakotay and Seven of Nine up. Sure that isn’t canon anymore but it just proves that fans weren’t satisfied with the romance Voyager proper gave us for Chakotay. There are still people out there, hoping beyond hope, that maybe the franchise will finally get those two together.

Star Trek: Prodigy has added a little fire to that old flame, with not only the use of a holographic Janeway as a main character but a mystery surrounding Chakotay’s captaincy of the Protostar. A tank of gasoline was thrown on those flames when ‘A Moral Star Part 2’ had the real life Janeway go after Chakotay, intent on doing whatever it takes to discover what happened to her former commander.

Dan Hageman, co-showrunner of Prodigy, discusses the early conceptions of the show and that when it was decided they’d be using Janeway they zeroed in on what was important to her.

“What does she care about?” Dan Hageman says, “She cares about Chakotay. When (we) had that want, it put everything into focus.”

After ‘A Moral Star Part 2’ aired we asked both Dan and Kevin Hageman, co-showrunner of Prodigy, if the twist ending of that episode is an indication that the show could return to the Janeway/Chakotay romance. Dan Hageman remained tight lipped, simply saying “we would be shot dead if we were to answer that question” but Kevin Hageman offers a more tantalizing answer.

“Knowing our 40 episodes (we’ve written), this really does feel like the next chapter for Janeway and Chakotay. There’s an evolution from what you know from Voyager and it continues to grow and deepen.”

It’s not a yes but it’s certainly not a no. Maybe Janeway and Chakotay are the ultimate slow burn romance in all of Star Trek. We’ll find out more when Star Trek: Prodigy returns in later 2022.