Kate Mulgrew became the face of Star Trek: Voyager as Captain Kathryn Janeway, the captain of the estranged USS Voyager. Captain Janeway became a symbol of diplomacy and leadership, with Mulgrew’s performance being largely credited with having made the character all the more immortal in pop culture.
While it is impossible to see anyone other than Mulgrew in the role, the actress was reportedly not the first choice. In fact, the role was already cast and the pilot was in production for three days before the original actress left the role due to creative differences. Mulgrew then reportedly replaced her and owned the role.
Original Star Trek: Voyager lead left the show three days into production for a bizarre reason
When one looks at the most iconic characters in pop culture, it is impossible to imagine anyone else other than one actor who becomes synonymous with it. Characters like Spider-Man and Batman have been privileged to have more than one star nail the performance but several icons had to be found to make it work.
Star Trek: Voyager’s Kate Mulgrew was perfect as Captain Kathryn Janeway in the show. Despite some issues with her hair and weight throughout the show, Mulgrew was reportedly great to work with and she realized Captain Janeway like no other actress could. It is tough to imagine someone else in that uniform but Mulgrew was actually a replacement.
The original choice for the first female captain as the lead was reportedly actress Geneviève Bujold, who left three days after production. While she had her fans, producer Rick Berman mentioned that the actress quickly became a pain to work with and the creatives had several arguments with her regarding the character.
He said in the all-encompassing behind-the-scenes novel of the Star Trek franchise, The Fifty-Year Mission (via Looper),
On the first day, I got calls from [pilot director Winrich] Kolbe … saying that [Bujold] was having trouble with her lines. She felt that she couldn’t memorize seven pages a day.
Berman, who was reportedly not a fan of the actress from the beginning, reportedly got to tell Bujold that she would not be a part of the series from then. Kate Mulgrew was then brought on to replace her.
Creative differences and false promises reportedly led Geneviève Bujold to leave Star Trek: Voyager
While Rick Berman cited Geneviève Bujold’s disinterest in learning lines as a reason for her dismissal from Star Trek: Voyager, several other stories have surfaced over the years. Some actors, who were part of the shoot before Kate Mulgrew came on board, mentioned that Bujold used to head to the creatives to argue several times during filming.
Garrett Wang, who played Ensign Harry Kim in the show reportedly mentioned that he had confronted Bujold once about it and she revealed that she had been assured by producers a certain level of creative control over the character but when it came to filming, she was being held back. He said on The Delta Flyers podcast (via ScreenRant),
She looks at me and… in her French-Canadian accent, she said, ‘I feel as if I cannot trust anybody.’ And I said, ‘What? You can’t trust anybody?’ ‘Yes, when I first agreed to take the role of Janeway, I tell the producers that I want to have no-nonsense with my hair. I want my hair down, I don’t want it up. I don’t want a lot of makeup… I want her to be Captain first and a woman second.’
Wang mentioned that Bujold told him the producers had agreed to her conditions before while casting her but then went back on their promises while filming.
Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.
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