Many supposed Star Trek fans are celebrating the fact that Starfleet Academy season 2 will now be the show's final effort. However, one of the project's biggest returning stars has just revealed a huge reason why those celebrations should actually be a collective period of mourning. While Starfleet Academy season 1 referenced multiple Voyager episodes, paying homage to Picardo's time on the classic-era show, there was one iconic installment that felt confusingly ignored.
At first, I figured that season 2 would pay off the glaringly obvious 1998 Voyager episode that season 1 sidestepped. Then, Picardo himself revealed that this would not be the case. Instead, the long-awaited sequel was actually part of season 3's roadmap. Now that season 3 isn't happening, it doesn't look like we'll ever get the closure we were looking for in this respect. It sounds like it would have been great, too.
Picardo shares details of what Starfleet Academy's "Living Witness" sequel would have looked like
Speaking on The D-Con Chamber, a Star Trek podcast hosted by two members of the Enterprise cast, Picardo talked about Starfleet Academy's cancellation. He revealed that the fans made him hyper-aware of how perfect "Living Witness" could be when considering Voyager episodes to reference in Starfleet Academy. He liked the idea and used it as the basis of a pitch, which he delivered to one of the showrunners, Noga Landau. The idea was softly approved, but only if the show made it to season 3. Presumably, Landau wanted to get the new cadets more firmly established first before making such a landmark episode. Picardo's pitch revolved around the idea of the actor appearing opposite a digitally de-aged version of himself — the backup EMH we last saw in "Living Witness."
"The idea is that because we both had a conflict-laden relationship with Daddy, who was our programmer, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, my character on Starfleet Academy resolved that. Because we did a Voyager episode that was very much where The Doctor tries to save his programmer, who [was] dying."Robert Picardo on The D-Con Chamber
The full interview can be viewed in the embedded video above, but the quote I've included ^up there^ provides a brief summary of Picardo's pitch. It would have been a fascinating angle, and not one I would have expected to be explored. Instead, I figured the focus would have been on how much the backup Doctor had changed during his time away from Earth. He did, after all, have a very different life from the main Doctor after they diverged near the end of Voyager season 4. Bringing the subject of Zimmerman into the mix, who was also played by Picardo, would have been a masterstroke of sci-fi storytelling that would also have felt surprisingly grounded.
Starfleet Academy's cancellation puts Robert Picardo's Star Trek character in an especially unfortunate position
The Doctor was one of Voyager's best characters. His holographic nature allowed him to have some pretty high-concept storylines, and watching him transform from a cookie-cutter medical program into a sentient being was one of the show's best arcs. Even when Voyager arrived back at Earth in the series finale, it felt like there was still so much of the Doctor's story to tell. The franchise has clearly realized this untapped potential since, and more than once.
Picardo wasn't just asked to reprise his role in Starfleet Academy, but he also voiced the Doctor when he returned for Star Trek: Prodigy season 2. Both projects have revealed a lot about key moments in the Doctor's vast timeline, paying off (at least in part) the potential of such a long-living character. Sadly, with Prodigy abandoned for no apparent reason and Starfleet Academy's cancellation, two of the Doctor's three Star Trek shows will have ended unceremoniously, and through no fault of Picardo's.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 2 has wrapped and is expected to land in 2027. Season 1 is available to stream now on Paramount+