Star Trek: 10 Things You Never Knew About Chakotay
3. He Was Originally Supposed To Be A Mentor For Harry Kim
The character bible for Chakotay stated that there would be two crew members with whom he would develop a strong, instant bond. First, and obviously, would be Captain Janeway. There was a mention of an earlier relationship between the two that was never incorporated into their relationship on screen. The other person was Harry Kim.
Chakotay's description states that he would bond with Harry, while Kim's states that it was Chakotay's sense of duty that inspires him to do better. However, between the idea and the episodes, none of this really came to fruition.
The closest that the two men came to being a true team was in the 100th episode Timeless. There, they were the sole survivors of an accident that killed the crew, working together to change the past. Arguably they operated as a team in the two-part episode Workforce, though Chakotay spends most of that time away from the ship.
It would honestly be hard to say that the two of them did much more than work alongside each other, as depicted in the show. Though there was a hope that they may be friends akin to brothers, that was clearly dropped.