Kate Mulgrew starred as Captain Kathryn Janeway for seven years on Star Trek: Voyager, and more recently she has returned to voice multiple Janeways for the animated kids’ series Star Trek: Prodigy. And the actress is hinting there could be even more Star Trek (and more Janeways) in her future.
Mulgrew and Voyager stars ready for more Trek
In June we reported on a couple of different interviews where Kate Mulgrew teased the idea of returning to live-action Star Trek. When she was in the UK promoting the launch of Paramount+, Den of Geek followed up on her comments and she revealed that she isn’t alone in thinking about a return to live-action; in fact, she has talked about it with some of her Voyager co-stars:
We’re always talking. I mean my great friends are Robert Picardo and John de Lancie. We’re always touching down and crossing paths. And when we do talk about Star Trek, all of us are just so amazed that it constantly is reinventing itself. I think that fact only speaks to its sort of undying virtues. I know Jeri [Ryan] loves doing Picard. And I know that all of us—all of us—would love to continue and when the opportunity presents itself, we’ll always do more Star Trek.
After wrapping up seven years on Star Trek: Voyager as Captain Kathryn Janeway in 2001, Mulgrew returned as Admiral Janeway for the 2002 film Star Trek Nemesis. Since that time, she expressed skepticism about playing Janeway in live action again, telling TrekMovie in 2019 she was “surprised” Patrick Stewart had decided to return for Star Trek: Picard, adding “I don’t know what to say about Janeway. Seven years is a long time to play a character. I’m not sure that she would enjoy resuscitation.” It does appear that the launch of Picard has changed her tune and she now seems to be thinking about what comes next. Last month she teased that she was “looking at it with new eyes,” speculating about how after Picard wraps up, “Who knows what will happen to [Janeway] in the future?”
Kate Mulgrew as Vice Admiral Janeway speaking to Picard in Star Trek Nemesis
3 Janeways in Prodigy?
Of course, Kate Mulgrew has already returned as Janeway for the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy. She was introduced at the beginning of the season as Hologram Janeway, the Emergency Training Hologram of the USS Protostar, and in episode ten she voiced Admiral Janeway again, who will play a key role in the second half of the first season which debuts later this year. Den of Geek also asked her about this, resulting in the following interesting exchange:
You’re back as Admiral Janeway in Star Trek: Prodigy. It’s been 20 years since you’ve played Admiral Janeway in Star Trek Nemesis…
Yeah, that was a strange cameo. I was just alone in the studio on the sound stage. It was done very fast. I think it was immediately after Voyager, if not in the final week of Voyager.And now you’re back as two Janeways: Admiral Janeway and Hologram Janeway.
Actually, it’s three: Captain Janeway, Admiral Janeway, and Hologram Janeway. You may stand down, ensign. [Laughs.]
Assuming this wasn’t a miscommunication, and Mulgrew was still talking about Prodigy, this indicates that Captain Janeway could appear in the animated series as well. This could be done with flashbacks or maybe even some time travel where she would be voicing Captain Janeway from her time on the USS Voyager, possibly still in the Delta Quadrant before returning to Earth and being promoted to Admiral.
Kate Mulgrew as Admiral Janeway in Prodigy episode 10
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Haha interesting she specifically mentioned John de Lancie. Yeah we all know Q supposedly ended his existance in S2 of Picard, but…… the continuum was probably impressed with his selfless act and there were going to be questions, etc. I would not have a problem if Q made a comeback to torment Kathy haha!
I’d like to see Suzie Plakson and Q2.
Keegan de Lance is no longer an actor.
Nothing that a fat check probably can’t fix.
What’s Tilly got to do with this?
Not cool.
*shrug*
Eh, he’s a ranking diplomat in the State Department now, so probably not.
If the role is a positive role and not political (i.e. doesn’t violate the Hatch Act), his participation would likely be approved the State Department. He’d need to use vacation time, obviously to do the scene.
Suzie Plakston was the BEST – my God! What an incredible actress!!!!! K’Ehleyr is the Klingon female model that both formed and broke the mold, baby!
Thanks for the spoiler
Rios stays in the past. But Elnor gets brought back to life, so that’s cool.
When Captain Janeway and Admiral janeway count as different characters, what about Evil Hologram Janeway?
lol
The issue with all of this is, and I am saying this as someone who thought Voyager was the one failure of Trek (prior to 2005!) the writers of “Nu-Trek” are not worthy of playing about with these historical characters. I am going to give Voyager another chance, but it may be better not to bring these characters back unless it can be done with quality writing & material?
I guess everyone has their opinion. Mine is that everything about Voyager was top quality, the writing, acting, and directing. Janeway was the perfect combination of strength, intelligence, and humanity. The characters were unique and 3 dimensional who evolved throughout the series. I would love to see them back together as long as the writing remained as good.
Yep I always loved Voyager and love it more today. But definitely understand why others had issues with it.
I would definitely like it to be better. It’s pretty clear Kate Mulgrew isn’t interested in doing the same stuff over and over again, either. They would need to explore her character with more depth, have better/fresh stories, etc..
And I really enjoyed Voyager as a kid, but these days…so many episodes I wanted to skip and eventually I just gave up rewatching it because of the mirid issues.
But the good news is that the current creative teams *are* doing a really good job. (Some seasons of Discovery are not as up to par, but they’re still watchable for many, many fans.) All the shows may not to be to everyone’s tastes, but they are not, overall, this “unworthy” disaster that older, pressed fans perceive.
Yeah, particularly Neelix, Kes, Harry Kim…
A joke, right?
Only the Dr and 7 got real development on the show
Neelix arguably evolves more than any other Trek character.
not really but his last ep was more moving than the actual series finale.
I think his absence from the finale hurt it pretty badly. I like it, but without Neelix it lacks some of the heart it ought to have had.
the show was not true to its premise and repeated use of ‘the re set button’ meant no proper character arcs for the crew in a show that demanded that instead of standalone stories
That was a different time. If Voyager was made today it would be like Discovery…although I don’t think it would be for the better judging by how Discovery is doing it.
Hate to break it to you, but this “unworthy” production team is getting bucket loads of cash thrown their way to play about with legacy characters. Gatekeeping doesn’t seem to be your strong suit….
I’m well acquainted with a PA team that looked after a few trek vets. Apparently Picardo was only offered a measley 5 grand to return to trek in Picard. Dorn was also due to return to discovery but with derisory pay. Unless the story is centred around these characters they will be over used and under paid
What would Picardo’s role on Picard be? And Dorn on Discovery? Dorn will be on Picard’s next season.
Dorn was meant to be another ancestor of Worf, not a fan of Dorn personally but I’m glad he rejected it. Being in Picard as supporting cast was probably the better option.
I’m so over this mindless trope of actors portraying ancestors of their original characters. It’s a pointless crossover for the point of pointless crossovers.
Very interesting because Picardo had said he was in talks to appear in Season 2 of Picard way back when season 1 was still airing. Obviously it fell through, but we never heard about it again. $5K is an insult, the show must be seriously cash strapped.
Mostly due to Patrick Stewart taking up the sizeable chunk of budget as lead and exec producer. The role was small and Bob Picardo isn’t exactly loaded with money, I’m glad he stuck to his principles though and rejected it.
Picardo was on at least two episodes of The Orville (one of them with John Billingsley).
She’s also in the cast of The Man Who Fell to Earth, which recently finished its first season on Showtime. It’s an excellent show and she has a significant recurring role that’s different from Janeway (any version).
I love Kate Mulgrew, her warmth and incredible screen presence always made Janeway my favorite captain and, indeed, Voyager my favourite series.
I’ll pass on a potential Voyager reunion.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Or she could be hoping the fans will rise up and demand more Janeway, in the same way that we rose up and demanded more Pike. :-)
It would be interesting to have the full Voyager cast back in Prodigy and we could get a glimpse of events just after Voyager arrived home and events as to how Chakotay went missing and what the crew are up to now.
It would be a perfect opportunity to get them back together.
I would love for the Voyager cast to be brought back for a new show. Out of all the Berman era shows, Voyager is the one I still watch repeatedly, and it never gets old.
But…
I would be very worried what the current people in charge of Star Trek would do to ruin the legacy of the show and characters. Especially after what they did to Icheb.
Star Trek: Janeway!
Been seeing this idea pop up here and other places lately. We know there will be another 25th century show after Picard is done, this would definitely be a great replacement. Put Seven and a few other legacy characters on it too. It will get tons of fanfare if this was announced. But the biggest difference unlike Picard, this show will be good. ;)
But Prodigy itself sounds like we are getting tons of Janeways when it comes back and I’m here for it all! So if Captain Janeway is coming back we could be getting a crazier time travel story and we might meet her back on Voyager in the Delta Quadrant! Maybe Admiral Janeway will have to go back in time and (once again) talk to her past self from doing something that will have major implications in the future. I don’t think we’ve seen anything like that done recently in Star Trek.
“But the biggest difference unlike Picard, this show will be good. ;)”
Ah, but Picard IS a good show. And Mulgrew clearly agrees, so I would bet, actually, that you and your ilk would be just as frothing with whatever live action show she would come back and do.
I’m not sure why the snark at the end of your comment. Is your whole comment disingenuous, or just the end? I’m not kidding when I say it’s hard to tell.
No, I really wouldn’t mind a Star Trek: Janeway show! Not disingenuous about that. But yes it has to be muuuch better than Picard or please don’t bother!
Picard is my least liked show in the franchise and thought season 2 was horrible and the worst season of Trek to date. Like many I’m just beyond disappointed with this show when it had so much more potential. I wanted to love it and thought I would at beginning of both seasons 1 and 2. But yes, this is just my opinion only; it’s not a consensus.
But of course happy you and Kate Mulgrew enjoy it. And I’m still hoping Janeway is in season 3 which I am looking forward to! But yes very concerned now after severely disliking the first two seasons.
And I really love SNW; one of the best shows in decades along with LDS and PRO. So I only froth at the mouth occasionally! :)
I would like to see a Voyager Phase 2 series where as many as possible of the old crew reunite in their old Voyager ship and then accidentally get stranded in the Andromeda galaxy! :D
God that sounds awful.
I think he was being sarcastic.
LOL
Eureka! It would be just like the Gilligan Island films, down to Ginger being missing!
OMG I honestly never thought of Voyager as being a remake/rip-off of Gilligan’s Island
Oh, sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…
I can’t wait for more Prodigy and as for live action, if the story etc. were solid enough for the cast to WANT to come back, I would def want to try it. It seems pretty clear they’re not gasping to revisit this world for no reason, so I would be interested to see what got them back.
Not really needed in my opinion. She’s doing great in Prodigy, and we got Seven in Picard. I think that’s about right.
The one exception I would be down with is having Tuvoc show up at some point in a future series, especially given his lifespan.
Well nothing is ‘needed’. Do we need Kirk in SNW? No but here we are anyway.
And I want to see Janeway interact with others like Riker, Seven, etc in the 25th century as they build out that era post Picard. And especially for fans not big on the animated shows.
That’s kind of apples and oranges. If you want to make that comparison, then the question is do we need Kirk as a regular character in two the current TV series instead of the one series he is already in now? Not only that, Kirk is not an every week character.
By the way, I have no issue with a couple of cameo appearances given what you have suggested here. I just don’t see the need for another series where she is an every week main character given they’ve already checked that box with Prodigy.
Besides, I’d much rather they bring in a DS9 cast member given Mulgrew already got her Kurtzman-era series with Prodigy.
It doesn’t have to be her own show of course most fans just want to have her back in live action in some form. Just being able to show up if and when a story calls for it like the other legacy characters on now. But I would be OK if she got another show too. But I actually agree I don’t think she would be in two shows full time concurrently. Maybe after Prodigy went off the air though.
And they are making probably a half dozen TV shows in the next 10 years, so you can probably add everyone from all the classic shows. I want to see more DS9 characters as well. Matalas is suggesting we might get more VOY and DS9 characters in season 3 of Picard, so maybe Janeway and others will show up there. Fingers crossed!
Well said!
3 words: Deep Space Nine
Don’t worry, on new trek, everyone will get a chance to reprise their role. The writers of new trek just won’t move on from the silver age of trek.
You’re not wrong lol. At last count, they will have introduced over 40 legacy characters when you add the TNG cast coming back to Picard next season. But yes TOS and TNG characters are the most prominent between all the new shows and Voyager being the third. And who knows how many will be showing up in the next year? It’s still surprising no one from DS9 has really showed up yet but I think that’s coming soon too.
I just spent an hour counting off the top of my head the number of legacy characters in new trek. I stopped at 40. Lol. It will be 50+ soon, especially after LD S3 and PIC S3.
It’s crazy isn’t it? I was shocked too when I realized how many of them there were now. I don’t want to come off a hypocrite, a lot of them I do enjoy seeing again and wanted to see again, but I didn’t think it would be so many this soon. I been saying this awhile as well and expect basically everyone to come back at some point with so many shows on. Doesn’t mean everyone will but the door seems like it’s wide open to bring any character you want now when one-off side characters like GOF, Hugh, Maddox, Sam Kirk and freaking Sybok are all back!
Sybok is here so you can share your pain Tiger2…and gain strength from the sharing.
Granted, some of your pain probably stems from contemporary screenwriting….