How a Star Trek: Janeway series could work without the Voyager crew

With recent talks of a potential Star Trek: Janeway series, fans are wondering what the premise would be. 

A Star Trek: Janeway series could be on the way. As of right now, there are talks, according to Kate Mulgrew, but one could see it happening as they did Star Trek: Picard. Who knows? They may get around to the other captains as well to catch up on their lives post Starfleet. That’s not what we want for Captain Janeway, of course. We want her to still be wearing the uniform of command and standing on a bridge as the captain of a starship.

Some fans might think Janeway doesn’t work without the Voyager crew, and while I can understand the sentiment, I don’t believe that to be the case. While we did watch Star Trek: Voyager for all of the characters, the fans that started watching Star Trek: Picard did so because of Patrick Stewart and his character. They wanted to watch a series about the captain. So a series that just includes Janeway as the only character from Voyager could work.

A really good Star Trek: Janeway series without Voyager wouldn’t be difficult to create.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a HUGE fan of the entire Voyager crew, and I would love to see them back on the screen. However, if done right, a series that revolves around Captain Janeway could work on its own.

A story about Janeway’s life after her time on the bridge of Voyager could focus on her new command on the USS Dauntless, which has already been established in Star Trek: Prodigy. She would have a new crew, possibly even some fresh out of the Academy or even some seasoned officers who have recently lost their captain and have a difficult time serving under a new one which is why an admiral has to take the bridge.

Another possibility would be having Admiral Janeway as a training officer for new captains. She could go from ship to ship with a homebase that includes friends and fellow officers as other characters. Or she could be the deciding factor as to whether or not a captain gets to keep their ship. If there’s a problematic captain, she joins them on their bridge and assesses the situation with her own eyes.

Prodigy has already established that Janeway is a good teacher, but then, we knew that already from watching Voyager. So new Starfleet officers could learn from her in the classroom, but grounding Janeway wouldn’t be exciting enough. Besides that, Star Trek: Picard already played the card of a grounded captain/admiral who is forced to take to the skies again.

As a proven leader, Janeway could take on some of the most dangerous missions in the galaxy with a set crew of her own, maintaining her rank as Admiral due to the classified nature of the missions.

There are so many possibilities for a series that includes only Kate Mulgrew from the Voyager crew. Yes, I would love to see them together again, and she could possibly interact with one or all of them throughout the series as Picard has done. But a new show doesn’t need the entire crew. There is so much about Admiral Janeway we don’t know. This could be our chance to learn more about her life and watch her career soar even higher.