Posted in: NBC, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, star trek: voyager

Star Trek: Erin Gray Reflects on Her Janeway Audition for "Voyager"

Erin Gray (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century) on her Star Trek: Voyager audition and losing the role of Capt. Kathryn Janeway to Kate Mulgrew.

Erin Gray is already an icon in science fiction, originally playing Colonel Wilma Deering, the female lead in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century opposite star Gil Gerard, who played the titular character. The actress had loftier goals for her career than just being second to her male co-star; a prime opportunity arose when she was in the running for top billing as Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager, before the part went to Kate Mulgrew. Unfortunately, as things didn't go as planned, the actress has taken it in stride and spoken with Woman's World about what could have been.

Star Trek: Erin Gray Reflects on Losing Kathryn Janeway to Kate Mulgrew on Voyager

At first, the UPN series originally cast French actress Geneviève Bujold as Janeway to film the pilot, but when she grew disinterested due to being overwhelmed by the pacing and heavy workload of episodic television, producers recast the role, and the rest is history. "I knew it was an opportunity of a lifetime. I really wanted to be in charge," Gray said. "It just came at a time in my life where I went, 'I want this.' But I had a hard time getting in on the audition; they did not want to see me. I kept asking my agent to please try again. And finally they did. They let me in. I went into the audition really memorizing that monologue—and memorization is not easy for me. I get nervous, and my mind blanks out or whatever, but I worked really hard on it. And I get in there, and I'm about to say the opening line, and I hear a voice off to my right saying, 'So you don't remember me, huh? We only spent three weeks together in Hawaii.' I'm looking at the person, and I don't recognize him. I think, 'Wow, I did three movies in Hawaii, and who is…?' Talk about throwing me off my center. Well, that did it. I got through it, but not to that place as an actor where you know you nailed it. You feel good about it. You were flowing. This was not that. I did it, but it wasn't the best."

Gray continued, "I knew that the role for Captain Janeway was important to the producers and the director because they wanted somebody who could do a lot of dialogue and memorize it and do it quickly. They'd had problems with another actress who hadn't been able to do that and didn't like working at the speed that television requires, so she left, and they were looking for a replacement. So I knew how important that was going in, but I did not know that the same director who did 'Magnum, P.I.' would be the same director of that episode. I was so humiliated. It was one of those moments. But it turned out to be for the best. My father did wisely say that all things conform to the right way, and he's right."

While Gray, whose last on-screen role was the 2022 LMN TV movie It's Beginning to Look Like Murder, acknowledged how Col Deering inspired more women to join the military, the struggle on the Glen A. Larson and Leslie Stevens-created NBC series became an uphill battle for visibility and to elevate her character, "I think it's more the fact that there were very few roles for women to star in, period. I was always the objectified, beautiful girl who adoringly looked up at her leading man and whatever, but to be the center and to carry the story was a rare occurrence," she said. "The only time I did that was on (episode 102) 'Vampire in Space,' the one episode on Buck Rogers [where] the storyline went through my character. So to be in something where I could be pivotal to that storyline was very appealing to me as an actress. I did one movie called 'Born Beautiful' that I was the lead in, and it was a great experience. I wanted to do that again. I didn't want it to be all about being goo-goo eyes at the leading man kind of thing. I did a lot of that in the '80s, which is fine. I mean, I love men, so I had no problem with that. But there's something as an actor, as a talent, that you just want something you can sink your teeth into."

While Gray did appear in a fan series called Star Trek Continues, she's still yet to be introduced in the Paramount canon. Hopefully, that changes someday. For more, including the actress reflecting on her time on Buck Rogers, the shared experience she and Mulgrew had of long, grueling hours on set on their respective shows, and more, you can check out the full interview.

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