Star Trek: Voyager showrunner says a relationship between Janeway and Chakotay would've been "stupid"

It's the relationship that never happened but was wanted by millions of fans of Star Trek: Voyager—a romance between Captain Kathryn Janeway and her second-in-command, Commander Chakotay. There was plenty of chemistry, and the romantic tension was there, but Kate Mulgrew hadn't wanted the romance. And, as it turns out, neither did showrunner Jeri Taylor.

In Peter Holmstrom'sThe Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek. [via Screenrant] Taylor said she wrote some of the episode that sparked the tension between Janeway and Chakotay because it was very tempting for a relationship to happen between the pair. Taylor said Chakotay was an attractive man and had depth and quality which would have made him a perfect match for Captain Janeway. But she didn't think a captain having a relationship with one of her subordinates was a good idea.

"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."

- Jeri Taylor

Of course viewers didn't see it that way as most understood that relationships can happen anywhere and with anyone. Janeway and Chakotay were two people who could have made it work despite the differences in their command status. And Star Trek: The Next Generation had already put two characters together who were of different rank—Commander William T. Riker and Counselor Troi. Though that was a different situation, Troi was still under Riker's command. And their romance ultimately resulted in a marriage that has lasted decades.

A romance between Janeway and Chakotay still has a chance to happen on Star Trek: Prodigy now that we know a reunion between the pair is definite. Janeway is now a vice admiral, and Chakotay a captain, which still keeps her command above him. But sometimes, you have to go with destiny, and many Voyager fans believe a Janeway/Chakotay romance is destined to be.