Star Trek: 10 Things You Never Knew About Chakotay

10. He Was The First

The character who became Chakotay was one of the first sketched ideas for the then-unnamed Star Trek: Voyager. He was inspired by the positive response to the character of Uhura in the Original Series and more specifically the positive representation for African-American people that came with the character.

'Chakotay' was to serve in this same role for Native American people, though it took quite a while to settle on exactly how best to depict him. Initially, the Tribe from which he originated wasn't chosen, and he was a far more 'mystical' man. He was also written to have a prior connection with Captain Janeway.

That element was dropped, as was much of his mysticism. The character bible switched the word 'mystic' to 'complex' instead. It also changed another aspect, namely in that it hadn't been him specifically that chose to abandon Earth, but his people as a whole. That way, his return to Starfleet was, for a time, a means of differentiating himself from his Tribe.

The writers settled on Chakotay's people being descendants of the Rubber Tree People, which was later explored in the episode Tattoo.