updated: 22/03/2005
In ‘State of Flux’ the crew learns that there is a traitor passing information to the Kazon; Ensign Seska (Martha Hackett) is discovered not to be a Bajoran but a Cardassian spy, surgically altered to infiltrate the Maquis. Seska escaped but returned to torment the crew of Voyager throughout the second series.
Seska was killed off in a late change to ‘Basics Part 2’, the season opener for the third series, when Jeri Taylor took over as executive producer from Michael Piller: this was probably one of the worst two character decisions made on ‘Voyager’ (the other being to create Kes as effectively sexless).
Such a waste – she was a sexy, strong and vindictive recurring villain. There was so much potential to develop her relationships with Janeway and Chakotay. No wonder Martha Hackett said: ‘I was always grouchy about the way they killed me off . . . For Seska to die that way was like rolling over.’
Then in ‘Worst Case Scenario’ they brought her back – as a holograph: the real Seska had left a little surprise in the holodeck program.