Why Star Trek’s Original Captain Janeway Actress Quit The Series

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“Star Trek: Voyager” was a big moment for “Star Trek” as a brand, as it continued to expand in the 1990s. Some fans might not know that the original actress cast as Captain Kathryn Janeway was not Kate Mulgrew. If things had gone differently, the entire direction of the “Star Trek” franchise could have plotted a different course. Before Mulgrew stepped onto the bridge of the USS Voyager, Geneviève Bujold was slated to take the captain’s chair for the show’s launch. However, the actress stepped away very early in the process due to the realities of television production.

The move caused concern among the “Star Trek: Voyager” team, including executive producers Rick Berman, Jeri Taylor, and Michael Piller. Still, they respected Bujold’s decision to step away before the starship truly left the station. As most “Star Trek” fans know, this opened the door for Mulgrew’s debut, and the rest is history, as “Star Trek: Voyager” has a soft spot in a lot of viewers’ hearts.

It is striking how many iconic moments in TV history come down to a single choice. In this case, Bujold surveying the scene and choosing to move on has influenced so much of the larger “Star Trek” universe. As you could imagine, based on the larger 1990s climate, there were so many questions about getting a woman into the captain’s chair of a main entry in the series. Now, it’s almost impossible to imagine a world where Janeway wasn’t played by Mulgrew.

In 1994, a lot was riding on “Star Trek: Voyager,” as Paramount was preparing to debut the “United/Paramount network” at the time. Viewers would come to know the channel as UPN in the United States, and “Star Trek: Voyager” was the headlining show for the nascent broadcast project. People love Star Trek, and that hasn’t really changed over the years. However, producers in charge of the production at the time were unsure how an audience would react to a female captain.

That might seem silly now, but with the fate of an entire broadcast network resting on one program at that time, it’s easy to understand why getting the right captain into the chair was paramount. After a lengthy casting search, the producers settled on Geneviève Bujold. She was an accomplished actress who had earned acclaim for her role in 1969’s “Anne of the Thousand Days.” However, Bujold was accustomed to productions with less day-to-day rigor than a “Star Trek” series demanded. The series is known for long days of filming, sometimes 12 hours, and a rabid fan base that likes to see the prominent characters engaging in their fandom. Uncomfortable with both realities, she chose to step away after just two weeks on the job.

At the time, The New York Times reported that the “rigors of episodic television were too demanding.” Now that may seem harsh in its own way, but these kinds of long-running broadcast shows have that kind of schedule. It benefited the production team to learn this early, rather than after half a season had already been produced. This development sent the producers into overdrive to find a replacement, and they found the perfect woman for the uniform.

A clock was ticking over the heads of the “Star Trek: Voyager” creative team, as the network heads needed their flagship program to ensure the survival of UPN. Luckily, the producers found another woman to fulfil the role of Captain Janeway swiftly. Mulgrew was already a TV veteran, had auditioned for the role, and was able to step in quickly. In TV, that kind of flexibility is essential. With so much at stake, “Star Trek: Voyager” could not have asked for a better leader for the franchise’s future.

Co-creator Jeri Taylor had some time to reflect on that period of “Trek.” She shared how thankful she was in Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman’s “Captains’ Logs Supplemental: the Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages.” The swap happened so early in the run that it saved them valuable weeks in getting “Voyager” to air. If Bujold had waited, that could have really thrown the old starship into a tailspin.

“I am deeply grateful to [Bujold] that she did this after a day and a half instead of after six weeks or two months, because that would have destroyed us,” Taylor said. “She did what she knew in her heart was right, which is the way she functions as a person and as an actress, and she was right.” Perhaps, the captains’ intuition ended up saving the show in the end.