An early audition note indicated a potential romance between Tom Paris and Captain Janeway

Lt. Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) had a strong bond on Star Trek: Voyager. She took him from the New Zealand Penal Colony and gave him a second chance. Though it took Paris some time to "get it together," he did become a valued member of the Voyager team and earned Janeway's pride and admiration. Their relationship seemed more family-oriented, with Janeway serving as a mother figure to the lieutenant who had disappointed his father.

But according to McNeill, an early audition note indicated that a different kind of relationship could have taken place with some sparks possibly flying between the two. [Whatculture} When you think about Paris and Janeway, it's hard not to think about Threshold, the infamous episode where a mutated Paris kidnaps Janeway and takes her away where they find reptilian love on another planet. They even have offspring together. That's one episode that will never be forgotten, and it would have been one difficult to overcome had the team behind Voyager decided they wanted to move forward with a romance between the captain and the pilot.

Fortunately, though, we already know Mulgrew would have put her foot down if such a storyline was proposed as she had no interest in the captain being involved with one of her crew members. As much as fans wanted her and her first officer, Chakotay, [Robert Beltran] to become something more than friends, it didn't happen because Mulgrew said no.

A romance between Janeway and Chakotay makes more sense, though, than one between her and Paris. There was never any indication of romantic chemistry or tension between the two of them. He looked up to her and wanted to make her proud as he did his father. Thinking back on their relationship now, it's hard to imagine them being anything more than part of the Voyager family. So we can be thankful that nothing ever became of that audition note.