Tuvix Would Have Become A Star Trek Captain If Janeway Didn’t Kill Him

Star Trek: Prodigy reveals that Tuvix (Tom Wright) could have become a Starfleet captain if he hadn't been murdered by Star Trek: Voyager's Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). Voyager season 2, episode 24, "Tuvix" remains one of the show's most controversial episodes, due to Janeway's decision to kill a brand-new life form to save the lives of her crew. Tuvix was, of course, a hybrid of two Star Trek: Voyager characters, Lt. Tuvok (Tim Russ) and Neelix (Ethan Phillips), and some Mylean orchids.

For years, Star Trek fans have pondered whether there was another way to deal with the Tuvix situation aboard the USS Voyager. For example, Star Trek: Lower Decks repeated Tuvix by taking the situation to extremes to suggest that maybe Janeway was right to murder the Vulcan-Talaxian-Mylean hybrid after all. Now, Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, episode 14, "Cracked Mirror" subtly provides a counter-argument to this by presenting an alternate reality where Tuvix lived to assume command of the USS Voyager-A.

Star Trek: Prodigy Reveals Alternate Starfleet Captain Future For Tuvix

“I was just getting used to Captain Tuvix’s Vulcan-Talaxian fusion cuisine.”

In Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, episode 14, "Cracked Mirror", the USS Voyager-A is caught in an interdimensional rift that splits the ship between multiple timelines. To free Voyager, and get back to the prime Star Trek timeline, Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran) and the young crew of the USS Protostar split up. While Chakotay and his team get trapped in the Mirror Universe, Zero (Angus Imrie) and Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui) visit an alternate reality where the USS Voyager-A is commanded by Captain Tuvix. Clearly, in this timeline, Captain Janeway chose not to kill Tuvix, allowing him to rise up the Starfleet ranks.

Interestingly, Captain Tuvix's USS Voyager-A is also staffed by the Enderprizians from Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 13, "All the World's a Stage". In contrast to the Mirror Universe and maybe even the prime timeline, the Captain Tuvix reality seems like a pretty happy place to live. Not only is it a timeline where Captain Janeway never murdered Tuvix, it's a reality where the Starfleet superfan race, the Enderprizians get to live out their dreams of serving aboard a starship and exploring the universe. Perhaps the prime Star Trek timeline could have been a much happier place with Tuvix in it, after all?

Tuvix & Voyager Made A Comeback In Star Trek: Lower Decks

The USS Cerritos had its own Tuvix situation in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 1, "Twovix", when it was assigned to escort the USS Voyager back to Earth for an exhibition. While Janeway may have got rid of Tuvix, it's revealed that Voyager still had Mylean orchids aboard, causing chaos for the Cerritos crew. When a stray petal attaches itself to Lt. Commander Andy Billups (Paul Scheer) as he enters the transporter with Dr. T'Ana (Gillian Vigman), T'illups is born. Fearing they'll be murdered like Tuvix, T'illups begins hybridizing with the rest of the Cerritos crew, until they're one giant mass.

The Cerritos' solution to Janeway's Tuvix dilemma still effectively kills the hybrid creature. However, Ensign D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) and T'Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) are able to identify personality traits that allow them to separate each member of the hybridized mass of flesh and reconstitute them. This implies that Tuvix was less of an individual and more the sum of his parts, meaning that Janeway was probably right to let Tuvok and Neelix live in Star Trek: Voyager, even if her brutally blunt method still rankles with fans.