Star Trek's Kate Mulgrew Has One Condition To Return As Kathryn Janeway

The last time Trekkies saw Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) in live-action was via a video call to Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) in 2002's "Star Trek: Nemesis." In animation, however, we've been spoiled with the volume of Janeway in recent years. In "Star Trek: Prodigy," a holographic version of Janeway, also played by Mulgrew, served as an ersatz mother figure for the show's teenage protagonists. The real-world Janeway also eventually became involved in the action, and she too was impressed with Dal (Brett Grey), Gwyn (Ella Purnell), and the rest of the Protostar teens, to the point where she helps them apply to Starfleet Academy. In the show's second and final season, Janeway even lead a quest to rescue her old first officer, Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran), and brought the "Prodigy" kids along.

While there are currently no plans to bring Janeway back to "Star Trek" after the end of "Prodigy," Mulgrew, 69, said that she is still open to the idea. After all, ever since 2017, Paramount has been launching new "Star Trek" shows on the regular, with many of them reviving long-moribund characters for new adventures. There was a series called "Star Trek: Picard" devoted to Picard, while "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" recast multiple characters not seen since the original "Star Trek" TV series in 1966. As such, there's not much — other than money — preventing Paramount from asking Mulgrew to step in front of the cameras again as Admiral Janeway.

In a 2022 interview with TrekMovie, Mulgrew laid out a few mandates she would require to accept the role, however. It seems she wouldn't want to come back as a supporting player. It would need to be for a legitimately grand, outsize adventure, even bigger than what Janeway has gone through before.

Mulgrew, it seems, had already talked with Alex Kurtzman, the head honcho over at "Star Trek," about the possibility of returning in live-action. At the very least, she was able to communicate her mandates clearly. It seems that Mulgrew wanted Janeway to remain clear-headed and resolute. Janeway, Mulgrew felt, shouldn't have to struggle through any petty personal angst. She should be ready to take command, and happy to do so.

Also, Mulgrew wanted a large story. It couldn't be small and personal and calm. It had to be even more impressive than her elongated quest from the Delta Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant (as dramatized in seven seasons of "Star Trek: Voyager"). And it had to have a good script. As Mulgrew put it:

"I said this to Kurtzman. The writing is going to have to be absolutely exquisite and as tight — I mean so tight. I want that language to just burst! And I want the story to be so tenuous and taut. I said, 'No languishing.' I don't want peaks and valleys. I want a Janeway that everybody can say, 'That's what she's become. I'm with her! This is great!' Right? And I think some sort of extraordinary adventure. Even greater than 'Voyager.' Even greater than the Delta Quadrant."

Whether or not Kurtzman has been brainstorming ideas for Mulgrew remains unknown. As of this writing, the series "Starfleet Academy" is in the works, while "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is the only ongoing "Star Trek" TV show without a known expiration date. There haven't been any announcements about a show that would take place in Janeway's timeline, nor any reports that she will appear on any other "Star Trek" series (likely via time-travel).

It seems that, for the time being, the grand adventure will have to wait. But if Kurtzman changes his mind, he should remember that Mulgrew is standing by.