A Kathryn Janeway series would only work with the entire Voyager cast
By Chad Porto
Kathryn Janeway getting her own Star Trek show only works if the whole cast returns with her.
Star Trek: Picard showed that there’s a demand for retro Trek again. Maybe not the overly dark, insanely myopic version Picard gave us, but fans want to keep in touch and reunite with their favorite characters. The problem with Picard is that we had to wait years for that to happen, to the point that most fans have given up on the show.
Sure, some fans will return just to see their favorite characters once again but you have to realize that Picard ruined a lot of goodwill it had with the fanbase by being so bleak and uninspiring.
So with talks of Kate Mulgrew getting her own show featuring her Kathryn Janeway character, they have to make sure they don’t fall into the same pitfalls as Picard. The show is only in the conversational stage, but according to Mulgrew at the 56-Year Mission Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, those talks are happening (via TrekMovie.com);
"There are talks. There are conversations. Have I been offered anything directly? No. I think they are looking at Picard and looking at the reaction to Picard… I don’t know, but I think Janeway was one of a kind. Right? But I do think it is up to you as much as it is up to me."
A Kathryn Janeway series needs to start with the Star Trek: Voyager crew
It’s fair to say that no one wanted to see Picard without the crew of the Enterprise. No one wants to see Janeway without her crew. We didn’t fall in love with these captains or characters, we fell in love with these families. You can’t do a series about Picard and not include the Next Generation cast. No one cares that much about the character to warrant sitting through an entire series for him.
We care about how he, and his crew, interact with one another. The same goes for Janeway. She has to come in with Chakotay, Tuvoc, Tom Paris, B’Elanna, Neelix, and Captain Harry Kim (DO IT). While Seven of Nine would be nice, the shine is off the character after her horrible handling in Picard.
It’d be best to either leave her out of the get-together or keep her involvement minimal.
The rest of the crew has to be involved somehow and in what way is anyone’s guess. One last ride? A hunt to find a killer? Maybe it’s a slice-of-life series and we get to see how everyone is living these days?
Any of those ideas could work. Whatever it is, it just has to include just about the entire cast in order to make it worth our time.