Was Harry Kim replaced by a copy after dying in Voyager season 2? Robert Duncan McNeill and Garrett Wang weigh in with their “official position.”

Lieutenant Tom Paris actor Robert Duncan McNeill and Ensign Harry Kim actor Garrett Wang give their “official position” on whether Star Trek: Voyager‘s Harry Kim is an original or a duplicate. In Voyager season 3, episode 21 “Deadlock”, the USS Voyager encounters a subspace divergence field that causes two copies of Voyager to exist simultaneously. The only catch is that ships’ antimatter supplies can’t be duplicated, so both ships are drawing on the same source, and one must be destroyed. One Voyager loses Harry Kim and Newborn Naomi Wildman (Emily Leibovitch), so Harry and Naomi are sent through a rift to the other Voyager, thereby completing the starship’s full crew complement.

On McNeill and Wang’s podcast, The Delta Flyers, the actors give their personal commentary while reviewing Star Trek: Voyager one episode at a time. “Deadlock” has been the subject of debate, with a popular theory positing that the Voyager retaining most of its crew is the original ship, and the Harry Kim that came over from the other Voyager must therefore be a copy. The episode itself never designates either version of Voyager as an original or a copy, but McNeill and Wang have come to a definitive position as Voyager insiders. Read their quotes below, and listen to The Delta Flyers starting at 17:51:

Garrett Wang: I’ve struggled with this for many years, because at the various conventions I’ve attended worldwide, I’ve often experienced interactions with fans worldwide who say the same thing: ‘How’s it feel being the duplicate?'”

Robert Duncan McNeill: I don’t think Harry is a copy. I think he’s just as original as the other crew. But if you had to make an argument, he’s the original, and everyone else is the copy, because the antimatter didn’t duplicate.

Garrett Wang: I’ve been the brunt of many jokes. People say that’s the reason [Kim was] never promoted, because [he was] the duplicate. The real one gets promoted, and he’s dead. But now we’ve come to a decision.

Robert Duncan McNeill: The Delta Flyers’ position is, if we have to pick duplicates or originals, Harry’s the only original. That’s the Delta Flyers’ official position as an organization.

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Both Copies of Voyager Were Real In “Deadlock”

If both Voyagers are real, so are both Harry Kims.

Star Trek: Voyager season 2, episode 21 “Deadlock” presents an interesting sci-fi premise with its duplicated starships and crew, and never suggests that one USS Voyager is an inferior copy or an original. The subspace divergence field creates a situation where there are two identical Voyagers with identical crews that occupy the same space and time until they drift apart and become two distinct physical entities. Neither Voyager simply sprang into existence out of nothing, and neither split off from an original Voyager. Both Voyagers are the same Voyager that the audience has followed since the beginning, and therefore “real”.

Because neither USS Voyager is actually a copy, it stands to reason that Ensign Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager from late season 2 onwards isn’t a copy, either. The Harry Kim that died in “Deadlock” wasn’t replaced by an alternate version of Harry from another universe, now forced to join a crew that isn’t actually his own. The other Harry is the same Ensign Kim that he’s always been, but the rest of Voyager’s crew aren’t duplicates, either. That means that The Delta Flyers’ “official position”, while imprecise, is at least partly true: Harry Kim after “Deadlock” is, in fact, an original.