What Happened To The Cast Of Star Trek: Voyager?

It's taken a while, but it feels like we're hitting peak "Star Trek: Voyager" nostalgia these days. It was not always like this: On the heels of "The Next Generation" movies and the sprawling war saga of "Deep Space Nine," the premise of "Voyager," which hurled a Federation ship to the other side of the universe where it presumably would encounter nothing familiar, wasn't as compelling. Initial new aliens like the Kazon were duds, and when the show tried to course-correct, it may have overdone it on the Borg storylines. For the first time, but not the last, it began to feel like there was too much "Star Trek."

However, fans have been going back to "Voyager" and discovering it more old-school charms since the streaming era kicked in — and especially during the pandemic lockdown.The animated "Star Trek: Prodigy" serves as a sequel of sorts, bringing back multiple characters from "Voyager" in CG form. Quirks like Captain Janeway's love of coffee are now more appreciated by adults who weren't old enough to drink it the first time around. Perhaps no former cast will ever get quite the same level of love as the crews of James Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard, but Janeway's motley mixed crew of Starfleet, rebels, and alien hangers-on who all worked together now feel less like the biggest mistake on "Star Trek: Voyager" and more of a cozy throwback to an era of fewer interpersonal conflicts.

So what happened to the show's cast? Let's take a look.

Kathryn Janeway, the coffee-loving, Tuvix-slaying, first female Starfleet Captain to lead a show has steadily remained part of the franchise over the years, with appearances in "Star Trek: Nemesis" (above), the "Borg Invasion 4-D" ride in Las Vegas, and a dual role on the animated "Star Trek: Prodigy." On that series, Kate Mulgrew voiced both the actual Janeway and an emergency command hologram programmed with her personality.

Between "Star Trek" appearances, however, she created another major TV character, appearing as Red on "Orange Is the New Black." The hardened Russian prison cook could be a great ally, but she doesn't suffer fools gladly; she would have metaphorically had "Voyager" chef Neelix for breakfast. In between stints at Litchfield Penitentiary and in Starfleet, Mulgrew also appeared as a regular on shows like "NTSF:SD:SUV::," "Mercy," and "The Man Who Fell to Earth." Post-"Voyager," she also moved into more voice acting, most notably as the dark witch Flemeth in the "Dragon Age" video games.

Mulgrew briefly and accidentally caused controversy when she was hired to narrate the 2014 documentary "The Principle," which advocates for a cosmic model with the Earth being at the center of the universe. She disavowed it when it became clear what the project was, revealing the filmmakers hadn't been fully honest with her or the scientists they interviewed.

Up next is the Apple TV+ crime drama "Dope Thief," in which she plays a mother figure to Brian Tyree Henry.

Prior to becoming the stereotypically stoic Native American first officer of the Voyager (in part due to a faux-Native American being the show's consultant on such things), Robert Beltran was best known as Raoul, from Paul Bartel's cult film "Eating Raoul" — the title is what we'd nowadays consider a huge spoiler. Since "Voyager," he hasn't been as visible as some cast members, but he hasn't been any less busy. As founder of the East L.A. Classic Theater Group and a member of the Classical Theater Lab, he frequently performs Shakespeare, starring in his own production of "Hamlet" in 1997.

While Beltran is actually Mexican-American, his success as Chakotay led to another significant Native American TV role. He played Jerry Flute, a Tribal business representative looking to build a casino, on HBO's "Big Love." In 2024, he returned as Chakotay on "Star Trek: Prodigy" (above), revealing that he had been the original captain of the series' central ship, the Protostar.

For his next project, he will play way against type to portray Orson Welles in the unusual Eartha Kitt biopic — or "filmic choreopoem," as it's described — "Eartha Kitt C'est Si Bon," written and directed by Shadow Dragu-Mihai and Diamond Monique Washington.

As one might expect for an actress who was brought on to "Voyager" to boost ratings, sexiest former Borg drone Jeri Ryan had no trouble scoring roles on other TV shows after "Voyager" wrapped. First, she appeared as Ronnie Cooke, a lawyer-turned-teacher, on the high school drama "Boston Public." After that came the legal drama "Stark," starring James Woods, on which she played D.A. Jessica Devlin, Stark's supervisor. Switching from legal to medical, she next played forensic anthropologist Kate Murphy on "Body of Proof," and former adult film star Veronica Allen on "Bosch."

Ryan's Seven of Nine character returned to "Star Trek," not on "Prodigy" like some of her fellow "Voyager" castmates, but on "Picard," having previously rejected a cameo in "Nemesis." Initially part of an independent peacekeeping force called the Fenris Rangers, she develops a romance with Picard's old friend Raffi. After helping Picard save the timeline in Season 2, she's given a Starfleet field commission, and by the end of Season 3 (above), she's the new Captain of the USS Enterprise-G, with Raffi as her first officer and Picard's son Jack as counselor. Fans have requested a "Star Trek: Legacy" series ever since, featuring Seven's Enterprise crew, but so far, other concepts within the "Star Trek" universe have taken priority.

She'll provide a lead voice in the upcoming animated drama "Unplugged," starring Holly Trasti as a famous musician who disappears from her tour and hides out in the wilderness. It features Ed Asner's final voice performance.

Lifelong "Star Trek" fan Tim Russ finally hit the primary-cast lottery with "Voyager," after appearances in "Star Trek: Generations," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" both pre- and post-"Voyager" (We've ranked all of Russ' different "Trek" roles.) As Janeway's second officer, head of security, and chief tactical officer, Tuvok expanded stereotypical notions of what Vulcans could be, both by being the first major Black Vulcan and by taking on a bridge position other than designated science nerd. He returned to "Star Trek" for the final season of "Picard" (above) as both Tuvok and a Changeling impersonating him. Prior to entering the "Star Trek" universe, his most notable sci-fi appearance was in Mel Brooks' "Spaceballs," as one of the troopers literally "combing" the desert.

Following "Voyager," Russ appeared regularly as Frank the doorman on the sitcom "Samantha Who?" starring Christina Applegate as an executive who becomes significantly nicer after developing amnesia.

Aside from numerous TV guest spots since, among them the Trek-ish "The Orville," Russ has had a successful career in video-game voice acting. He has been heard in such franchises as "Fallout," "Wolfenstein," "Dragon Age," "Elder Scrolls," and "Final Fantasy." He voiced War Machine in "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2." He continues to get steady work, including at least five forthcoming shows as of this writing.

Robert Picardo came to "Voyager" as a familiar face to movie and TV fans, having appeared in many of director Joe Dante's films since his big-screen debut in "The Howling." Dante tends to work with many of the same people (including Dick Miller, for instance), and Picardo could be seen in "Explorers," "Innerspace," "Gremlins 2," "Matinee," "Small Soldiers," and "Looney Tunes: Back in Action." Under layers of latex, he also portrayed the swamp witch Meg Mucklebones in Ridley Scott's "Legend," and the autonomous Johnnycab in Paul Verhoeven's "Total Recall." So "Star Trek: Voyager," while a steady paycheck, was far from his most famous gig. 

As the Emergency Medical Hologram and its inventor, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, Picardo returned to "Star Trek" with a cameo in "First Contact" (above) and an appearance on "Deep Space Nine," and most recently, he rejoined Kate Mulgrew and Robert Beltran on "Star Trek: Prodigy." He's also a regular cast member on the upcoming "Starfleet Academy" series, set in the post-"Discovery" 31st century.

Following "Voyager," Picardo became a regular in the "Stargate" universe, finally joining the cast of "Stargate Atlantis" full-time in its final season. Like Tim Russ, he also appeared on "The Orville." His movie career has since run the gamut from the Coen Brothers' "Hail, Caesar!" to the Syfy original "Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus," while his voice acting has created multiple roles across the "Call of Duty" games.

Picardo's next film will be the vampire movie "Crimson Shadows," from trans filmmaker Bears Rebecca Fonte.

Roxann Dawson was billed as Roxann Biggs-Dawson when she was on "Voyager," still bearing the name of her ex-husband Casey Biggs, a fellow "Trek" actor who played Damar on "Deep Space Nine." Her second marriage was in 1994 to Eric Dawson, a casting director she had worked with previously. Pre-"Voyager," she appeared in "A Chorus Line" and "Darkman III" (above); post-"Voyager," she dropped the hyphenation and mostly dropped out of full-time acting to focus on directing. Having caught the bug on a few episodes of "Voyager," Dawson has gone on to a lengthy directorial career on TV, helming episodes of "Charmed," "Lost," "Melrose Place," "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," "Bates Motel," "Bosch," "House of Cards," and many more.

Though she grew up in a nonreligious household, Dawson converted to Catholicism after her second marriage. When she got an opportunity to finally direct a theatrical feature, it was the faith-based "Breakthrough." The movie is based on the book "The Impossible," a nonfiction account of a teenager trapped in an icy lake for 15 minutes who was ultimately rescued — and later fully revived — supposedly due to the power of prayer and God. Under the auspices of Christian producer DeVon Franklin, it ended up being the first movie put out by 20th Century Fox after Disney purchased the company.

Dawson continues to direct episodes of the Isaac Asimov-based sci-fi series "Foundation." Her last TV acting role was on "The Closer" in 2011.

First appearing to sci-fi fans as teen musician Kevin Corrigan in 1987's "Masters of the Universe" (above), Robert Duncan McNeill memorably appeared on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as Nick Locarno, a cadet with flexible ethics. Depending on whom one asks, his subsequent character of Tom Paris on "Voyager" may at one time have been meant to be Locarno, possibly changed to avoid giving previous writers credit, or Locarno was considered too irredeemable, so a new similar-but-different character was called for. McNeill revisited the character of Locarno on "Lower Decks" as a full-on villain, in which he went out in grand style, destroyed by a Genesis device that formed a new planet that would be named after him.

Like Roxann Dawson, McNeill decided to primarily work as a director after trying it out on a few episodes of "Voyager." Aside from his animated return as Locarno, his last physical acting role was a 2012 cameo in an episode of "Chuck," which he also directed and produced. Other shows he has directed episodes of include "The O.C.," "Star Trek: Enterprise," "The Orville," "Warehouse 13," and "Samantha Who?" He has served as an executive producer on "Chuck," "The Gifted," and most recently, "Resident Alien."

McNeill and his former costar Garrett Wang (see below) also cohost the podcast "The Delta Flyers," on which they discuss every episode of "Voyager."

Garrett Wang may not have decided to direct like his co-stars, but he definitely likes to podcast. In addition to "The Delta Flyers," he used to host a regular podcast on Twitch. Hosting is a skill he has quite taken to, as he often appears as celebrity moderator at fan conventions, and he played a host in the video game "Truth."

It became a running gag among fans, and a frustration for Wang, that his character Harry Kim was never promoted from ensign, despite the length and quality of his service. Producers told him that someone had to be the ensign; this led to an episode of "Lower Decks" featuring multiple alternate-universe Harry Kims, all but one of whom were still ensigns. That one, a lieutenant, turned out to be mentally unbalanced and tried to kill the rest of them. Wang returned to voice the Kims, though he still thinks "Voyager" wasted Harry Kim's potential.

In addition to "Star Trek," Wang still continues to act, most recently appearing on the Vizio-exclusive streaming series "Phoenix" (above), about a female plane crash victim with amnesia who discovers her dark past might have been better left forgotten.

Arguably the closest main character to Jar Jar Binks that "Star Trek" has ever had, the bumbling, mugging Talaxian cook Neelix was always slightly overplayed as a comic-relief chef. Given today's standards, he was also more than a little problematic in that he was dating Kes, an alien girl with a nine-year lifespan, making him kind of a groomer. That's not actor Ethan Phillips' fault, though — he had previously gotten plenty of genuine laughs as perennially worried PR guy Pete Downey on "Benson." Since "Voyager," he has been able to show his chops in several high-quality comedies and satires, including "Bad Santa" (above), "Inside Llewyn Davis," and "The Purge: Election Year."

On TV, Phillips has most recently been seen in Armando Iannucci's sci-fi spoof "Avenue 5," for Max, with a premise not unlike that of "Voyager." The show, which also stars Hugh Laurie and Josh Gad, features a luxury space cruiser full of spoiled VIPs that gets thrown off course and has to take the long way back to Earth.

Though he still voices Neelix in "Star Trek" projects, his voice-over work in video games has taken him deep into the other big space-themed franchise — "Star Wars." For games like "Galactic Battlegrounds" and "Knights of the Old Republic," Phillips voices multiple characters, and no, Jar Jar is not one of them.

Again, it wasn't Jennifer Lien's fault that the Neelix-Kes romance was, if not unacceptable in the "Star Trek" universe, mildly creepy to viewers. But just as it seemed like the writers were figuring this out and changing course, Lien was cut from the show, with her character effectively replaced by Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine. Stories differ as to why, but a 2020 behind-the-scenes book pointed to mental health struggles and possible addiction.

Nonetheless, after "Voyager," Lien appeared in the movies "SLC Punk!" and "American History X" (above), and as a voice actress, she was heard on shows like "Duckman" and "The Critic," before landing the regular role of Agent L on the "Men in Black" animated series. She officially quit acting in 2002 when her son was born, but that wasn't the end of the story. In 2015, she got in a police car chase and was charged with indecent exposure to minors. After some court-ordered mental health treatment, charges were dismissed after she paid restitution, but then three years later came a DUI, in which she spat on a police officer.

It's notable that the book blaming her mental issues for her "Voyager" firing came out after her brushes with the law made said issues easier to scapegoat. A 1997 book suggested that Ryan joining the cast meant letting someone else go. This would have been Garrett Wang until he made People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" list.

Lien's last traffic violation was in 2019.