John de Lancie thinks Q and Janeway should have "gone down that road"

After Star Trek: The Next Generation ended, Star Trek fans didn't know if they'd see Q again, the quasi-villain and bane of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's existence on the series. He'd only be in eight episodes, but it was enough for the actor, John de Lancie, to be placed in Star Trek history. And he did return, both in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and in Star Trek: Voyager.

In Voyager, de Lancie showed up to ask Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) to be the mother of his child. She, of course, declined, but de Lancie, in an interview with Star Trek Magazine, said the powers that be were "so concerned she not play it that she was in any way tempted, infatuated, or in no way affected in a relationship/sexual level, I think they missed a big opportunity." An opportunity for a relationship, however brief, between Q and Janeway? What could that have possibly looked like?

de Lancie described it as the 800 pound gorilla in the room and thinks they should have gone down that road. He said the rug could have then been pulled out from under them or him in particular. The possibilities were endless, but both Mulgrew and de Lancie could only do what was written, which de Lancie thinks was a missed opportunity. Because of that, he didn't think the experience or the dialogue was that fulfilling.

"The Janeway situation had the potential for some romance. But they were so concerned
she not play it that she was in any way tempted, infatuated, or in no way affected in a relationship/sexual level, I think they missed a big opportunity. That was the 800-pound gorilla in the room. We should have gone down that road and then have the rug pulled out, mostly from under me. It gave us so many possibilities, but we had to turn a blind eye to it. That dialogue, that experience, was just not as fulfilling.”"

- John de Lancie

Can you imagine a romance between Janeway and Q? Honestly, I don't know that there's any way the writers could have written it to make it make sense, especially since Star Trek fans weren't exactly Q's biggest fans. To have a captain as intelligent, capable, and determined as Janeway get involved romantically with a trickster like Q would have seemed odd and out of character. Still, though, they could have had some fun with it had the producers decided to go down that road.