Somehow Star Trek: Picard fumbled the potential return for Chakotay

We've already talked about the news that Robert Beltran was allegedly set to return to Star Trek in a live-action setting. To recap, according to the former Star Trek: Voyager star, Beltra was set to return to the franchise in Star Trek: Picard's second season. Before he was set to return in Star Trek: Prodigy, he was asked about reprising his role for Picard.

This would have seen him back as Chakotay once again but with a twist. He would be a villain. Luckily for fans, this wouldn't have been Prime Chakotay, the soft-spoken, earnest man who was Kathryne Janeway's dutiful number two for seven years. No this would've been an evil, more Mirror Universe version. He would have been married to Seven of Nine and would have been a vile man.

Beltran, luckily, saw how bad this idea was and turned them down. Opening up his return to the franchise with the much more beloved series, Prodigy. In Prodigy, he's the catalyst for Kathryne Janeway to run into the crew of the Protostar, as she's searching for her dear friend Chakoktay, who is lost to time and space.

Eventually, in season two, we get far more of his backstory and what led to him ending up lost, but it was a journey to get there. Fans loved how he was used in the animated series and even Beltran seems to enjoy this turn much better, telling fans on Twitter (via Slashfilms and Redshirts)

"Star Trek: Prodigy' offers a Chakotay that I AM enthusiastic about."""

And to this end, all one has to say is; of course he'd prefer his turn on Prodigy! Why wouldn't he? He gets to play a character written by fans of the series who want to introduce the brand to a wider array of viewers. All Picard seemed to want to do was tell more or fewer stories fit for season one of The Next Generation, without any of the charm, love, or devotion that we had back then.

In fact, most of the characters that did cameo or even star were mishandled and misused, with their entire identities being torn away for cheap heat and even cheaper resolutions. The amount of B and C characters that held a special place in fans' hearts that were bastardized and killed off in Picard is numerous and not worth getting into. There's no doubt that Beltran's turn as Chakotay would've likely ended the same way.

After all, it was the show's modus operandi, so why would we expect it to be different for Beltran and Chakotay?

We're glad he turned down Picard and said yes to Prodigy, as the character of Chakotay is getting a much-deserved second arc that we're all excited to see play out in a potential third season.