Robert Beltran turned down offer to appear on Star Trek: Picard

Robert Beltran returned to his Chakotay role on Star Trek: Prodigy but was offered another opportunity to reprise his character.

Season two of Star Trek: Picard found the characters in an alternate world where Seven of Nine was the President of the fascistic Confederation of Earth. Robert Beltran was offered the opportunity to play her husband which would have fit with how Star Trek: Voyager ended, with the pair having a romance. However, Beltran wasn’t excited about the role and ended up turning it down with no animosity toward the producers.

A fan on Twitter posted an irate tweet about being disgusted Beltran’s character was being ignored on season three of Picard, and Beltran’s response offered clarification and a confirmation that he was happy with his new role on Star Trek: Prodigy.

Robert Beltran didn’t go into any details about the role he was offered on Star Trek: Picard.

The lack of information prompted Trekmovie to reach out to showrunner Terry Matalas for clarification on Beltran’s role. Had he accepted, Beltran would have appeared in the second episode of the second season titled “Penance” as the First Magistrate who, we all know, was the villain. After Beltran turned down the role, the part was rewritten and Isa Briones father, Jon Jon Briones, took on the role where he was killed off in the third episode “Assimilation.”

Perhaps turning the character that he’d played for seven seasons into a villain didn’t entice Beltran. That’s completely understandable given how Chakotay, on Voyager, was anything but a villain. He was often the voice of reason and played intermediary in conflicts. Though Beltran has played villains in his career, the role of Chakotay is a special character that has remained an honorable one. Hopefully, we’ll get to see more of him in the upcoming second season of Star Trek: Prodigy.