alternatehistory.com

- David Gerrold on the production of Star Trek: Odyssey. [1]


With the end of The Next Generation, there was going to be void in the Star Trek franchise. This was a void that Paramount intended to fill with Star Trek: Odyssey. While Deep Space Nine was successful thus far, it was shaping up to be a very different show to The Next Generation. To remedy that, Odyssey would fill that space in, being set on a ship that (albeit involuntarily) ends up on an exploratory mission.

With the departure of Rick Berman, production of the show would fall almost entirely onto David Gerrold, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor. As the first show of the “Gerrold era” of Star Trek, they were eager to show a new side of the franchise that they had been discouraged from exploring during Rick Berman’s time as the head of the franchise.

Much of the casting had been done in time for The Next Generation’s eighth and Deep Space Nine’s second seasons, meaning that certain character who would be of great importance to Odyssey could be introduced beforehand. The concept of the EMH was introduced, as were Nick Locarno and Gul Evek.


The captain-to-be of the Odyssey was also cast by this point. In the early stages of writing, the producers were unsure as to whether they wanted a male or female captain, and so decided to open the auditions to all, regardless of gender. Eventually, they narrowed their search down to two actors, one male and one female. Their choices were Nigel Havers and Claudia Christian. Though eventually the decision was made to make Captain Janeway female, Nigel Havers was offered the role of Gul Evek, the leader of the Cardassian contingent on Odyssey. [2]

Due to the set-up of three crews becoming one, the main cast of Odyssey was large, and there would be many recurring characters. With this large cast, there was a real opportunity to make it one of the most diverse on television. To this end, the writers decided to make the leader of the Maquis contingent a Native American. To help them write the character in a way that would be faithful and respectful, they hired Lakota activist Russell Means as a consultant, deciding to make the character of Chakotay Lakota, renaming him to Chatan. To remain true to his heritage, they decided to hire First Nations Canadian actor Graham Greene to fill the role. [3]


Evek was not to be the only Cardassian main character, as he would be joined by Glinn Rejal, who would be played by American Actress Tracy Scoggins. Also in the Maquis contingent was to be Kollin Torres, a half-human, half-Romulan Starfleet dropout. British-Canadian actress Kim Cattrall was cast in this role. [4]

A large portion of the main cast would be Starfleet personnel. Other than Captain Janeway, there would be Lt. Tuvok, a Vulcan played by Tim Russ, and Ensign Kim, played by Garrett Wang. The character of Nick Locarno, introduced in “The First Duty”, was a disgraced but highly talented Starfleet cadet that would be played by Robert Duncan McNeill.

Two other main characters would be natives of the Delta Quadrant, Falox and Kes. Falox would be a seedy Talaxian who the crew takes on as an expert on the local powers, while Kes, his companion, would act as a scout for the ship. They would, respectively, be portrayed by Ethan Phillips and Jennifer Gatti. [5]

The size of the cast was of some concern to Paramount, but after reassurances that not all cast members would appear in all stories, and reminding the executives of how many characters on Deep Space Nine were being brought back for the second season and likely beyond, these concerns were diminished somewhat. Nonetheless, the large cast for Odyssey would attract some attention.


Cast of Season One of Star Trek: Odyssey: [6]

• Captain Katherine Janeway – Claudia Christian
• Commander Chatan – Graham Greene
• Commander (Gul) Evek – Nigel Havers
• Lt. Tuvok – Tim Russ
• Lt. (Glinn) Rejal – Tracy Scoggins
• Lt. (j.g.) Kollin Torres – Kim Cattrall
• Ensign Harry Kim – Garrett Wang
• Ensign Nick Locarno – Robert Duncan McNeill
• The Doctor – Robert Picardo
• Falox – Ethan Phillips
• Kes – Jennifer Gatti

To deal with the larger cast, while all would be credited in the opening credits, not all would appear in every story, and the cast would be paid on a by-story basis. There would be some recurring characters throughout the show in addition to the main cast, but due to the main cast’s size, these recurring characters would generally receive less attention than their counterparts on Deep Space Nine.

Much like its predecessor The Next Generation, Odyssey would enter first-run syndication, rather than making the move to network television that Deep Space Nine was making for its second season. The initial plan called for the show to run for eight seasons, in the vein of The Next Generation. [7]

The first, shorter, season would begin airing in January 1996, partway through Deep Space Nine’s third season.


[1] Odyssey, despite the near identical premise, will be very different to Voyager.
[2] As you can tell, the cast is pretty different. With Claudia Christian, we will have a different Janeway.
[3] Chakotay IOTL is a somewhat problematic character, especially when you read into the development. So, I've taken an opportunity to both fix that and fulfil my fascination with Lakota culture here. Now you know why I brought in the Lakota in DS9.
[4] Rejal is basically a rewrite of Scoggins' character in "Destiny" from DS9. She will be the chief engineer, rather than Torres. Speaking of which, I wanted to explore Romulan culture somewhat, rather than retread Klingon culture.
[5] Their characters more closely resemble their original design, Falox isn't a hugely likeable character by design, but the crew tolerates him because he's useful.
[6] A handy list for you (and me) to consult.
[7] TNG has set a precedent here.