3 times Kate Mulgrew has shined as a voice actress post-Star Trek
By Mike Poteet
Kate Mulgrew has focused on voice work in sci-fi and fantasy after Voyager.
Kate Mulgrew’s performance as Hologram Janeway on Star Trek Prodigy is delighting those who were already fans of her portrayal of Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek Voyager. It’s also winning new ones!
The Prodigy creative team made a great choice when they decided the Protostar’s training hologram would be based on Captain Janeway. Of all the starship commanding officers we’ve seen in the franchise to this point, Janeway is arguably the one who took the most active interest in her crew’s ongoing development as not only officers but also individuals.
And choosing to bring back Janeway—or, at least, a holographic version of Janeway—in an animated Star Trek series made great sense from a real-world, production p.o.v., as well. Kate Mulgrew is an experienced and accomplished voice actor. Even before she took Voyager’s center seat as Janeway, she’d been heard in Batman: The Animated Series and Gargoyles. Since Voyager ended, Mulgrew has kept expanding her voice acting resume.
Join us for a quick tour of where Kate Mulgrew has been heard—and, occasionally, seen—in sci-fi and fantasy since Voyager made it back to the Alpha Quadrant.
Kate Mulgrew gets promoted in post-Voyager Star Trek
Star Trek Prodigy is Kate Mulgrew’s highest-profile return to the franchise since Voyager, but it’s hardly her first.
Fans will remember she made a quick, viewscreen-only cameo in Star Trek Nemesis (2002). The scene revealed Starfleet had promoted Janeway to the rank of admiral. We only hope Janeway didn’t become one of those desk-bound, rule-bound, paper-pushing top brass we’ve seen in Starfleet too many times!
Kate Mulgrew also played Admiral Janeway in two post-Nemesis productions.
She appeared as Janeway in Star Trek: The Experience – Borg Invasion 4D (2004), an immersive, interactive ride at the Las Vegas Hilton, part of the Star Trek attraction that shuttered in 2008.
She also voiced the role in the Star Trek Legacy space combat video game (2006). Despite being the first project in which all the franchise’s captains (to that point) participated, the game generally failed to impress reviewers.
Recently, news broke that Mulgrew is joining Star Trek Online as a Mirror Universe version of Kathryn Janeway who teams up with “our” Admiral Janeway. Mirror Janeway doesn’t sport a goatee, but she is wearing a Borg implant!
Given the cruel, calculating, sinister nature of the Terran Empire, we can only shudder with anticipation as we wait to see how much Janeway’s Terran counterpart differs from the Janeway we already know and love.