Starfleet Academy Season 3: Robert Picardo Pitched "Voyager" Follow-Up

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Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek, star trek: voyager, Starfleet Academy

Starfleet Academy Season 3: Robert Picardo Pitched "Voyager" Follow-Up

Robert Picardo reflects on a Starfleet Academy Season 3 episode pitch that would have tied a Voyager storyline with his Doctor "doppelganger."

Published Sun, 05 Apr 2026 11:37:06 -0500
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

  • Robert Picardo revealed his pitched Starfleet Academy Season 3 episode tying back to Voyager’s “Living Witness.”
  • The story involved The Doctor encountering his EMH backup, exploring their relationship and creator legacy.
  • Picardo’s concept would have showcased both an aging and youthful version of The Doctor meeting at Starfleet Academy.
  • Season 1 focused on The Doctor mentoring a malfunctioning AI, fulfilling her childhood in “The Life of the Stars.”

As streaming expanded the possibilities of TV in the 21st century, networks and conglomerates began to tap into their biggest IPs for storytelling potential, and Paramount's certainly no exception with the slate of Star Trek shows on its streaming outlet, Paramount+. As time went on, perhaps a naivety grew to think that such a sci-fi institution of 60 years would get some leeway to grow, but unfortunately, as we found out with two of the shows, Prodigy and Starfleet Academy, it wasn't to be. They're certainly not alone, as some IPs that have thrived in their original incarnation might not work in the current era. As we try to make sense of the future of the Gene Roddenberry franchise, which still hasn't quite figured out what to do on the film side, much less the TV side, but at the very least, the TV side has three more seasons split between Strange New Worlds (2) and Starfleet Academy (1) to sort things out. In the meantime, we're left to wonder what could have been and Starfleet Academy star and Voyager alum Robert Picardo revealed a Season 3 story that could have tapped into his character, The Doctor and his past, concerning a copy of his program that would have picked up the events of the Voyager season four episode "Living Witness," appearing on the D-Con Chamber podcast, hosted by Enterprise stars Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating.

Robert Picardo in season 1 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streaming on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Miller Mobley/Paramount+

Starfleet Academy Season 3 Could Have Picardo's Two Doctors Meet Up from 'Voyager'

To set this up, fans have originally theorized that Starfleet Academy Doctor could have been the one who is teaching students in the series, as the events "Living Witness" see a copy of the Emergency Medical Hologram activated, discovered by an alien race that told a revisionist history of the U.S.S. Voyager's (rebranded as the "Warship Voyager") interaction in the conflict between the Vaskans and Kyrians in the 31st century with the episode ending with the Doctor heading back to Earth. Picardo responded on social media, saying the Doctor in the Gaia Violo, Alex Kurztman, and Noga Landau series is the one who served his entire time on Voyager. Starfleet Academy would have been an opportunity to bridge the two EMHs.

Robert Picardo in Star Trek: Voyager. Image courtesy of Paramount

"I wanted to do an episode—now we can talk freely about it, because the show's canceled […] I wanted to meet my Voyager backup, my old self, and be as I looked at 41 and play off myself," Picardo told Trinneer and Keating at the 28-minute mark. He continued that his "Living Witness" counterpart, who retained the actor's more youthful look during the UPN series, would have criticized the main program for programming aging subroutines. Both would eventually bond over their creator, Lewis Zimmerman, also played by Picardo. "The Doctor and his backup program are two children of the same parent; one has resolved the issues, the other hasn't, and after 800 years, those daddy issues, those parental conflicts, they don't go away if you don't deal with them," Picardo added.

As the bulk of the series focused on the main A-plot point between Ake (Holly Hunter) and Caleb (Sandro Rosta) and the greater cadet class, Picardo's Doctor came to embrace Kerrice Brook's SAM, who was malfunctioning because her programming wasn't able to handle her existing input, and the Makers neglected to program a fuller life before joining the Academy. The Doctor stepped in and adopted her as a new father, fulfilling 17 years of that childhood within two weeks, in the episode "The Life of the Stars." For more, you can check out the video.

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