Garrett Wang on his original role in PIC S3.

[FederationHistorian]

Garrett Wang confirmed that Harry Kim was going to be in the Admiral Shelby role.

Interview: Garrett Wang On The Joy Of Harry Kims In ‘Lower Decks,’ And Anger Being Written Out Of ‘Picard’

The 'Star Trek: Voyager' actor returned to the franchise for the penultimate episode of 'Lower Decks.'

trekmovie.com

As I understand it, the original plan was that Captain Kim was going to be kind of like Admiral Shelby [Elizabeth Deneny], that was going to be you.

Correct.

So, I was wondering how far down the road did they go with you on that?

It went all the way to my manager saying, “You’ve been cast.” It was originally a three episode arc, which then changed to two, then then changed to one. But I was told by my manager that I needed to be in the LA area in January for a fitting for Picard. So it was there. It had progressed fairly far actually having Harry on that show, pretty darn far. The script was written. Harry’s name was in there… Jeri Ryan said to me, “It’s so funny because we got sent a script, and Harry was in there, and all sudden, the revisions, Harry wasn’t in there.” I was like, “Oh, wow.” So, it went pretty darn far. And I’ll be perfectly honest, being a sci-fi fan, I was depressed for months after that when it didn’t happen. I was literally crying into my own sleeve. [laughs]

Considering what happened to Shelby, maybe it was not a bad thing that Harry Kim did not appear in the season. To appear promoted as captain, only to be unceremoniously killed off moments later, would not have been received well by the fanbase. Though it would have been in line with the ‘Harry Kim must suffer’ trope.

Your thoughts, TBBS?

 

[Firebird]

Garrett Wang confirmed that Harry Kim was going to be in the Admiral Shelby role.

Interview: Garrett Wang On The Joy Of Harry Kims In ‘Lower Decks,’ And Anger Being Written Out Of ‘Picard’

The 'Star Trek: Voyager' actor returned to the franchise for the penultimate episode of 'Lower Decks.'

trekmovie.com

Considering what happened to Shelby, maybe it was not a bad thing that Harry Kim did not appear in the season. To appear promoted as captain, only to be unceremoniously killed off moments later, would not have been received well by the fanbase. Though it would have been in line with the ‘Harry Kim must suffer’ trope.

Your thoughts, TBBS?

Agreed. Harry Kim not being promoted has been treated as a communal joke for so long that to bring him back as a captain just to kill him off in a short cameo doesn’t sit well with me.

It still surprises me how quickly the shape of the season was changing so close to production, honestly. That explains a lot towards why the timeline… and many other details of season 3 are a bit more than shaky.

 

[Tuskin38]

We don't know if he was going to be killed off.

 

[NCC-73515]

Going from eternal Ensign to Fleet Admiral would've been funny

 

[Akiraprise]

Agreed. Harry Kim not being promoted has been treated as a communal joke for so long that to bring him back as a captain just to kill him off in a short cameo doesn’t sit well with me.

That would have been really shitty of them to do to Wang and the character. Icheb all over again. PIC, with the exception of Seven, would have been known as the VOY character maimer. Murder Icheb, murder Kim, and torture Tuvok.

 

[Dukhat]

We don't know if he was going to be killed off.

Why else would he have been there?

 

[DonIago]

I admit I would have found a certain morbid humor in Kim finally showing up with a promotion only to be killed off without ceremony, but it would certainly have been mean-spirited as well.

I don't like that they did it to Shelby either. :|

 

[Daedalus]

We don't know if he was going to be killed off.

Yeah, I don't think he would've been killed in all honesty. That's reserved for occasionals, one-offs and short-termers.

 

[Tosk]

Yeah, I don't think he would've been killed in all honesty. That's reserved for occasionals, one-offs and short-termers.

Picard and Data both died in season one.

 

[Daedalus]

Picard and Data both died in season one.

Yes, and a hefty amount of asterisks next to word "died".

 

[Tosk]

Who's to say Kim wouldn't have gotten his own asterisk?
Just like his buddy Tuvok.

 

[Mage]

We don't know if he was going to be killed off.

Why else would he have been there?

I am with Tuskin on this. Just because Shelby had a cameo and got killed, doesn't mean that Kim's original three story arc had the same ending.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Didn't Tezza decide Shelby was only injured and not killed? Just like Ro survived but he had to scrap that reveal at the end? So one can assume Kim would have been fine too because there are no risks or consequences.

 

[Oddish]

Obviously, mixed feelings here. While I agree that killing Harry off would have been a cruel joke, it still galls me that Lower Decks...

Spoiler

supported the "forever ensign" theory the way they did.

 

[Tuskin38]

Obviously, mixed feelings here. While I agree that killing Harry off would have been a cruel joke, it still galls me that Lower Decks...

Spoiler

supported the "forever ensign" theory the way they did.

It was a funny joke

 

[David cgc]

Obviously, mixed feelings here. While I agree that killing Harry off would have been a cruel joke, it still galls me that Lower Decks...

Spoiler

supported the "forever ensign" theory the way they did.

We don't know what rank the "real"* Kim is, and those people were from different time-periods as well as universes, so it was pretty much purely a meta-joke for the audience and not something that really happened.

*Ours is the only reality of consequence.

 

[DonIago]

Didn't Tezza decide Shelby was only injured and not killed? Just like Ro survived but he had to scrap that reveal at the end? So one can assume Kim would have been fine too because there are no risks or consequences.

...I can't tell whether you're joking or not...

 

[Danlav05]

Didn't Tezza decide Shelby was only injured and not killed? Just like Ro survived but he had to scrap that reveal at the end? So one can assume Kim would have been fine too because there are no risks or consequences.

In the 25th Century EVERYBODY has an emergency split second last minute transport to safety button on their wrist!

 

[Oddish]

We don't know what rank the "real"* Kim is, and those people were from different time-periods as well as universes, so it was pretty much purely a meta-joke for the audience and not something that really happened.

In any universe that makes any sort of sense, Harry would cease to be an ensign as soon as Voyager returned home. Even assuming that Tuvok's promotion was strictly to shore up the command structure and Tom's demotion was never meant to be permanent (two very big assumptions), any halfway competent officer should expect a promotion once Voyager is home. The fact that some of those Ensign Kims presumably did get home and were still ensigns takes the "Harry was an ensign forever" theory from ludicrous to plausible.

 

[Tomalak]

Given that it was largely a TNG reunion show, Shelby made more sense than Kim and was a better deep cut for TNG fans. I guess he could have been a fit for the Tuvok role if Tim Russ was unavailable for whatever reason, but realistically that character was probably originally intended to be Janeway.