While fans anxiously await more news about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, as well as news of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Section 31, they may be enjoying the final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks. Maybe they’re also re-watching older episodes of Trek like Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, or Voyager. If they’re looking for something in the middle, the more recent, Star Trek: Picard, created a mesh of throwbacks for older Trekkies while bringing something new to the table. But could that kind of lightning strike twice?
At FanExpo: San Francisco, Collider’s Taylor Gates talked with Captain Kathryn Janeway herself: Kate Mulgrew on a panel about her legacy in the world of Star Trek. When the conversation shifted to fan questions, someone asked Mulgrew if she would ever consider a Star Trek: Picard-style show featuring Kathryn Janeway. “[Alex] Kurtzman has talked to me about this, of course he has. Janeway is beloved… I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know,” she explained. “I can’t answer quite frankly.” Mulgrew’s middle-of-the-road answer softened the blow of the unlikelihood of a show like that. She says when it came to her time on Star Trek: Voyager, “I gave Janeway everything I had, back then, everything I had.” She explains that in order to have a successful Janeway show, “It would have to be so good. And I’m not sure it has all of the elements I need it to have.”
Kate Mulgrew Hasn’t “Closed the Door” On a Live-Action Janeway Appearance
Mulgrew starred as Captain Kathryn Janeway in all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager. The show was seen as groundbreaking in the 90’s with a female captain. After being stranded in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway and her crew must find a way (that’s hopefully shorter than the 75 years originally estimated) back to the Alpha Quadrant and back home. Mulgrew would go on to reprise her role as Janeway in Star Trek: Nemesis and also lend her voice as Janeway in Star Trek: Prodigy. Introducing herself to a new generation of Trekkies with Star Trek: Prodigy is seen as a part of what keeps Janeway’s legacy so profound and beloved. She says:
“I haven’t closed the door,” in terms of a live-action appearance of Janeway, but she quantifies it by saying “I think there’s lots of other stuff, I mean I’m trying to finish my novel. I just did this play, which reminded me of how much I loved to act. I am an actress to the core of my being .”
She continued to soften the blow of not-so-hopeful news of a return, saying, “I don’t know, guys. You’d all watch, you’d all support it, and it would do very good.” Many tuned into the final season of Picard for the nostalgia train that barreled through, bringing in several members from Star Trek: The Next Generation to help finish out Picard’s story. Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is already a part of the plot of Picard and the end leaves it open for what’s been nicked by fans as Star Trek: Legacy. That could mean an avenue for Janeway’s own story as well.
Mulgrew concludes her answer with, “Sorry to be so lame.” But we know she is the farthest from that. You can catch up on episodes of Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway now with Star Trek: Voyager on Paramount+. You can also catch her appearances on the animated show Star Trek: Prodigy, streaming on Netflix. Stay with Collider for the latest updates.
