Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has been cancelled after two seasons, but had the series continued, fans would have been treated to a follow-up to a classic episode of Star Trek: Voyager, which would have featured double the Doctor (Robert Picardo).

Living Witness

In the fourth season of Voyager, the show jumped forward to the 31st century with an episode titled Living Witness that featured the Doctor’s backup program being activated in an alien museum. After helping shed light on war crimes supposedly committed by Voyager when they passed the planet centuries ago, he became the planet’s Surgical Chancellor for many years before leaving to return to the Alpha Quadrant.

When Star Trek: Discovery jumped to the 32nd century, fans were quick to point out that an appearance from that version of the Doctor was a very real possibility. Picardo was eager to make this happen, and he told Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating on the D-Con Chamber podcast that he pitched the concept to the producers of Starfleet Academy, who told him it would be an idea for the third season.

“I wanted to do an episode—now we can talk freely about it, because the show’s cancelled—I wanted to meet my Voyager back up, my old self, and be as I looked at 41 and play off my self at 71,” he explained. “So I wanted to play opposite my younger self and basically have my younger self ruthlessly insult my older self, saying ‘why would you possibly want to alter your appearance, why would you want to look like that?’“

Picardo added, “The two characters are technological brothers; they’re the same program, but they’ve had different experiences in the interim that changed them…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.“

It certainly would have been interesting to see (although I’m sure the producers might have balked at an episode’s worth of digital deaging), but I guess it’s not going to happen now.

Starfleet Academy

Although Starfleet Academy has been cancelled, the second season has already been shot, so fans still have ten more episodes to look forward to.

“We’re incredibly proud of the ambition, passion, and creativity that went into bringing Star Trek: Starfleet Academy to life,” CBS Studios and Paramount+ said in a joint statement. “The series introduced audiences to a bold new group of characters, welcomed familiar faces, and expanded the Star Trek universe in exciting new ways.We’re grateful to Alex Kurtzman, Noga Landau, Gaia Violo, and the entire cast and crew who pushed storytelling boundaries in the spirit of Gene Roddenberry’s vision. We look forward to sharing the upcoming second and final season with everyone, and continuing to celebrate the cast, crew, and all that was accomplished with this series.“

Along with the second season of Starfleet Academy, we’ve got two more seasons of Strange New Worlds on the way, but after that… It’s hard to say where the franchise goes next.