Live-Action Captain Janeway Returning To Star Trek?
Alex Kurtzman says there may "be an idea in play" to bring the live-action Captain Janeway back to Star Trek.
Over the weekend, franchise head Alex Kurtzman said “[t]here might be an idea in play” to bring a live-action Captain Janeway back to Star Trek. As reported by ComicBook.com, Kurtzman’s words came over the weekend during a panel at New York Comic Con, in response to a fan question about fan hopes regarding Kate Mulgrew’s return beyond her voice work on Star Trek: Prodigy. The former lead of Star Trek: Voyager has been vocal since June about her interest in a Janeway revival.
Kurtzman’s entire quote on Captain Janeway returning to live-action Star Trek doesn’t reveal any details, other than strongly hinting that something is in the works. “Here’s what I’m going to say: Things have been talked about; that’s all I’m going to say.”
“But nothing would make me happier than to bring Janeway back,” Kurtzman continued. “I think it would be an incredible, incredible thing to do. There might be an idea in play. Who knows? But I would love it to happen.”
Mulgrew first started talking about a potential return over the summer, saying that Trek’s “tremendous resurgence here, a rather vital one” had inspired her to look at the possibility of returning to the role of Captain Janeway for Star Trek with “new eyes.” She also commented about being affected by her voice work for Prodigy, as well as hearing about the former Star Trek: The Next Generation cast adoring their experience filming the upcoming final season of Star Trek: Picard.
Mulgrew’s involvement in Prodigy brings up a potential hazard Kurtzman and co. will have to face if they bring Captain Janeway back to Star Trek, which they didn’t have to deal with in the case of Picard. Unlike the case of Patrick Stewart’s character, there is now established canon involving Janeway between the end of Voyager and the beginning of any potential revival series. In fact, Prodigy is set only 4 years after the events of 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis, which was the last time we saw Mulgrew as a live-action version of Janeway.
Of course, that’s far from an insurmountable challenge. While we know the real Janeway will appear as an antagonist in the second half of Star Trek: Prodigy‘s Season 1, there’s no word on whether or not that character will continue in future seasons. If it’s only the holographic Janeway mentoring the heroes of the Protostar for the rest of the series, that’s a lot less continuity for Kurtzman and co. to navigate.
In a September op-ed, I argued that any live-action Captain Janeway return to Star Trek has the potential to surpass Picard, if a Mulgrew-led revival avoids some of the other show’s mistakes. For example, I argued more of Voyager‘s other cast members need to be brought in earlier and have more narrative weight. Thankfully, Mulgrew has confirmed she’s been discussing the possible revival with her old Voyager co-workers.
While we’re all still waiting to learn whether or not there will be a live-action Captain Janeway in a new Star Trek project, you can at least hear Mulgrew voicing two versions of the character in the second half of Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1. Prodigy‘s mid-season break ends with a new episode streaming on Paramount+ on Thursday, October 27.
