Actress Kate Mulgrew was known for her role as Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager before she renewed her stardom with Orange is the New Black. The actress became the first female Captain of a Starfleet ship to headling a Star Trek series and her character is nothing less of iconic.
One of the advantages and disadvantages of TV is that they are long-form. This means that the shows are designed to run for a long time and hence, the physical changes that actors go through have to be dealt with. While most costume departments have to deal with actors gaining weight, Star Trek: Voyager’s department reportedly had to work around Mulgrew’s fast metabolism.
Kate Mulgrew lost weight so quickly that the Star Trek: Voyager costume department begged her to stop
In any world, losing weight quickly is a good problem to have. But on the sets of Star Trek: Voyager it reportedly became a problem for the costume department. Like any other TV crew, the costume department reportedly had issues with some actors gaining weight and having to work around the tight schedules of the series to make it work.
According to the podcast The Delta Flyers, the costume department was reportedly particularly annoyed with actors Robert Duncan McNeill and Garret Wang. The actors were reportedly rapidly gaining weight and after a while, the costume reportedly began shaming them in various ways, including sending them a girdle along with their costumes.
However, according to Star Trek Monthly (via Giant Freaking Robot), the main issue the costume department faced was the rapid metabolism of lead actress Kate Mulgrew. The actress reportedly lost weight very quickly and hence, it became a problem for the designers to keep making it the right fit. Designer Robert Blackman reportedly said,
We have to beg [her] not to lose weight.
While anyone else would no doubt be ecstatic to have such a problem, Captain Janeway’s metabolism seemed to be a deterrent for the smooth production of Star Trek: Voyager.
Star Trek: Voyager’s pilot episode cost a whopping $23 million and Captain Janeway’s hair cost a fortune
Making a sci-fi show is no doubt expensive, especially with a show like Star Trek which explores various worlds across the universe. From costumes, sets, and make-up to VFX, it needs a large studio like Paramount to handle the production and an audience large enough to warrant such expenses.
However, Star Trek: Voyager’s pilot episode was still one of the most expensive ones in TV history. While contemporary shows like Game of Thrones and Westworld have large budgets for each episode, the two-part pilot of Voyager reportedly cost a bomb. According to Dark Horizons, the final cost of the ‘Caretaker’ was $23 million.
The biggest reason for the same was the reshoot the production had to do due to the initial lead actress Geneviève Bujold exiting the series two days after production. According to EW, the actress was not ready for a grueling 18-hour work schedule of TV programming and was promptly replaced by Kate Mulgrew.
A lot of the budget reportedly also went into crafting Mulgrew’s hair as Captain Janeway. According to ScreenRant, Mulgrew wore her hair down initially and when swept back, the studio lights would shine right through them and hence, the hair and make-up department had to spend a considerable amount of money and time to fix the issue.
Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire