Why Robert Picardo Feels Like Star Trek’s Yoda at Starfleet Academy And Why the EMH Looks Older

Robert Picardo is officially back in the Star Trek universe, and his return couldn’t feel more fitting. The actor is reprising his iconic role as the EMH, also known as The Doctor, in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which is set to arrive as part of the 2026 TV schedule.

For longtime fans of Star Trek: Voyager, this is a big deal. The Doctor has long been considered one of the franchise’s strongest characters, and Picardo is stepping back into the role with a perspective shaped by time, experience, and a surprisingly apt comparison to a certain Jedi master.

Picardo is walking onto the Starfleet Academy set as the most seasoned Star Trek veteran in the room, and he knows it. While speaking with SFX Magazine via CinemaBlend ahead of the show’s January debut on Paramount+, he was asked whether he had any hesitation about returning to such a beloved role.

His answer touched directly on the challenge of revisiting a character who technically shouldn’t age, even though the actor playing him very much has:

“Well, you always do, because Voyager is a well-loved iteration of Star Trek. There’s a question of how the fans will accept me as a character who, in theory, never changes, even though the actor playing their beloved hologram is 30 years older, a little heavier, a little shorter.”

That concern is understandable, but the writers clearly thought ahead. In Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, the EMH is explained to have added a subroutine that allows him to age.

It’s a clean bit of canon that smooths over any visual differences and fits comfortably within a franchise where characters like Q have reshaped themselves without breaking a sweat.

The more interesting part of Picardo’s return isn’t the explanation for a few extra years on the EMH’s face, though. It’s how he views the character now. The Doctor has evolved.

In the new series, he serves as an instructor at the re-established Starfleet Academy in the 32nd century, carrying nearly a thousand years of accumulated knowledge and experience. That long view informed how Picardo approached the role this time around:

“I decided that the character was a deeper version of himself, but he still had the same humour, the same disdain for people he felt were not keeping up with the discussion, but also the deeper aspect of generations of life experience. I suppose I’m the Yoda of the Star Trek franchise – except I’m not green and hopefully my ears are not quite as big.”

It’s a fun comparison. Like Yoda, the EMH now occupies that elder mentor space. He’s still sharp. Still sarcastic. Still impatient with anyone who can’t keep up. But there’s weight behind it now, earned over centuries.

Voyager even laid the groundwork for this idea years ago with an episode revealing that a copy of the Doctor was preserved in a museum far in the future, effectively turning him into a living archive of Starfleet history.

It’s easy to imagine Picardo filling that mentor role off camera too as a new generation of actors learns how to carry a Star Trek series. There’s something special about watching a franchise pass that kind of institutional knowledge forward, and it brings to mind how tightly bonded the casts from the Next Generation era eventually became.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set in the 32nd century, following the resolution of The Burn storyline introduced in Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery. The show focuses on cadets learning what it means to serve in Starfleet while also exploring how familiar species and cultures have changed over the course of a thousand years. Discovery only scratched the surface of that era, so there’s a lot of exciting world-building potential here.