Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: kate mulgrew, star trek

Star Trek: Kate Mulgrew on Janeway Spinoff Series Becoming a Reality

Kate Mulgrew (Prodigy) reveals she has been in ongoing talks with Alex Kurtzman about a proposed Janeway live-action Star Trek series sequel.

The legacy of Voyager is deeply rooted in Paramount's current Star Trek canon with the live-action Picard (with Jeri Ryan and Tim Russ), the animated Lower Decks (Robert Duncan McNeill and Garrett Wang), Short Treks (Ethan Phillips), and Prodigy (Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, and Robert Picardo), and now the upcoming Starfleet Academy (Picardo). Like her peers, Mulgrew was more than happy to return to the franchise to reprise her role as Kathryn Janeway, whether it's as captain, hologram, or admiral for the Dan and Kevin Hageman-created animated series. The series had a tumultuous run on streaming on Paramount+ and Netflix for its two seasons, but earned a dedicated and committed fanbase along the way.

In light of the interest in expanding other Trek characters similar to Patrick Stewart's return in Picard, like the various proposals in Terry Matalas' Picard sequel series Legacy, Michael Sussman's Enterprise Archer-centric sequel series United; and Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers' pre-The Original Series, post-Strange New Worlds series Year One; Mulgrew has an update about the future of her character in terms of a live-action Janeway series, speaking to TrekMovie.com at the Starfleet Academy premiere.

Star Trek: Kate Mulgrew Provides Update on Janeway Series

"Alex [Kurtzman] and I are talking," Mulgrew said as far as a possibility of a Janeway series. "That's right. If it's good. It's possible. But it has to be something pretty great." For context, Prodigy took place long after the events of Voyager when the crew flew home via a Borg transwarp conduit with the captain now promoted to vice admiral, but on the trail of her former first officer-promoted-to-captain in Chakotay (Beltran), who we discover is the captain of the U.S.S. Protostar, an experimental Starfleet ship, when in the wrong hands, could spell doom for the Federation. With the help of a ragtag group of curious aliens, along with the assistance of an emergency command hologram, Hologram Janeway (Mulgrew), the uncommissioned officers take flight on their adventures.

With Season 2 completed, Prodigy struggled to find a new home until Netflix picked up the series, running off the remaining episodes without any plans to renew. As Paramount+ removed the series, which also features the voices of Rylee Alazraqui, Dee Bradley Baker, Brett Gray, Angus Imrie, Ella Purnell, Jason Mantzoukas, John Noble, Bonnie Gordon, Jimmi Simpson, Daveed Diggs, and Jason Alexander, from its lineup and Netflix let its license expire, the only way fans can check out the series is on physical media on Blu-ray. As far as what Mulgrew recalled of her standalone series pitch, "I think it was something… in the Wild West or something. I didn't quite get it. I didn't understand it. And I'm not that difficult to penetrate," she told TrekMovie in 2024. When it comes to being protective of Janeway, The Bad Guys: Breaking In star discussed what needs to be there, "I just think that it's very, very important to adhere to what we're doing here, which is the message of hope, the mission of promise, excitement, danger. And Janeway's mind is the mind of somebody who can go anywhere at any moment, on a dime. And I'd like to go back to that, but only if it's excellent."

Janeway did reunite with the Doctor for season two of Prodigy, as he acted as a guide to the young crew while traveling with the admiral, who took them in as honorary Starfleet cadets. Picardo will reprise his role as the Doctor for Starfleet Academy, but canonically, he will be 900 years older than his original Voyager counterpart. The first two episodes of Starfleet Academy premiere on Paramount+ on January 15th, with new episodes dropping on Thursdays through March 12th. Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.

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