Although Star Trek fans haven’t seen Kate Mulgrew playing Kathryn Janeway onscreen since her cameo in the movie Star Trek: Nemesis, they have gotten to hear her vocally reprise her character thanks to Star Trek: Prodigy. The animated series, which started out on Paramount+ and is now exclusively streaming with a Netflix subscription, saw her playing both the original Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager and a hologram version of her. While there’s still no word about if Prodigy Season 3 will happen, Mulgrew has shared an update that has me excited about the prospect of her returning to this role in front of cameras again..
While taking part in ‘An Evening With…’ on Star Trek: The Cruise VIII, Mulgrew was asked by an audience member (via WhatCulture) about if her reprising Janeway in live action was in the cards, and she answered:
There is a conversation happening. It is being pursued.
Last December, Kate Mulgrew said that she had been approached about playing Kathryn Janeway in a show similar to Star Trek: Picard (which can still be accessed with a Paramount+ subscription). While she hadn’t “closed the door” on reprising the role in live action, there was “other stuff” occupying her attention. Additionally, she said at the time that revisiting the role would “have to be so good, and I’m not sure it has all of the elements that I would need to have.”
But now, just a few months later, it sounds like something more concrete is being talked out, though is by no means anywhere near a done deal. Still, a glimmer of hope is there, and ideally this will lead to Mulgrew fully inhabiting the Kathryn Janeway role like she did on Voyager from 1995 to 2001. This revelation also comes just a week after William Shatner said that he would be hearing a pitch from a writer about how he could finally reprise James T. Kirk.
As for where Kate Mulgrew could play Janeway again if a deal is worked out, two options for upcoming Star Trek TV shows come to mind. First, although nothing’s been announced yet, it’s possible that a post-Picard series, whether it’s the speculated Star Trek: Legacy or something else, is in the works. That would allow Mulgrew to revisit the character at a point in the Star Trek timeline that’s roughly the same amount of time since Voyager left the airwaves.
However, I think a likelier option is Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which finished filming its first season last month and has already been greenlit for Season 2. Now some of you might be raising an eyebrow at me because Starfleet Academy is set after the events of Discovery, i..e. in the 32nd century. Well, that show is going to see Robert Ricardo, another Voyager alum, reprising The Doctor, who’s still around during this time period because he’s a hologram. Maybe we could also see a holographic representation of Janeway from a few decades after Voyager.
For now, I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that this conversation Kate Mulgrew is happening leads to something concrete happening. Meanwhile, next up on the Star Trek front is Strange New Worlds Season 3, which will premiere sometime on the 2025 TV schedule.
