Kate Mulgrew says no romance between Janeway and Chakotay

Kate Mulgrew plays Admiral Janeway and Hologram Janeway on Star Trek: Prodigy.

In the second half of season one of Star Trek: Prodigy, Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) is aboard the USS Dauntless hot on the trail of the Protostar as she’s looking for her friend, Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran). Chakotay faithfully served as her second-in-command aboard Voyager on Star Trek: Voyager, and he and Janeway shared a strong friendship, one which many fans wanted to segue into something more. So when it was revealed that Chakotay would be popping up in Prodigy, fans began asking if something romantic had developed between the pair after Voyager ended.

At New York Comic Con, Screen Rant asked that question of Mulgrew, and as sad as it is for some fans, she denied that the pair were involved in any type of relationship short of friendship. In fact, she said what existed between the couple was deep love, deep fidelity, but romantically, they never came together, and that was Janeway’s choice.

"Deep love, deep fidelity. She could not have done it without Chakotay. Chakotay defected from the Maquis. He made a great, great sacrifice personal sacrifice for which Janeway could never really completely thank him enough. It’s a friendship of great depths, almost expressively deep. Romantically, they never came together. And that was Janeway’s choice. She, after all, had a starship in space that was lost in the Delta Quadrant, and had to get them home. And she needed Chakotay to have her back. So that’s what happened between these two very different people who came together to lead this starship home, and her feeling about him is very deep."

Kate Mulgrew wasn’t asked if a romance could develop on Star Trek: Prodigy.

Since this is a series directed at children, the odds of a romance taking place probably aren’t all that high. However, a live-action Janeway series is being discussed, and there is always a possibilty Robert Beltran could return to his character there. That would open the door to something fans have wanted for twenty-seven years. Or the pair could maintain one of the strongest friendships between a man and a woman in practically all of Star Trek history.