Star Trek: Voyager had a plan to get out of the Delta Quadrant earlier, but it wasn't used

When Star Trek: Voyager began, the studio and producers had no way of knowing if fans would embrace a ship lost in the Delta Quadrant. So there was, according to Screenrant, a plan to bring the crew out of the Delta Quadrant in season two just in case things weren't flowing with viewers who preferred a more Star Trek; The Next Generation type of show.

The plan was for the crew to find Suspiria, the Caretaker's mate, and her abilities would be able to send them back home. Possibly, that could have been the premise for season two. The crew would have spent the entire season looking for their ticket home. Instead, though, Suspiria showed up in episode ten of the season, and being as hostile as she was, she made it perfectly clear she wasn't interested in helping Voyager go anywhere near home.

So with the crew's exit plan scrapped, the series forged on with more stories set in the Delta Quadrant, and it worked. Voyager took a big risk with leaving the ship stuck 70,000 light years away from home, but that risk paid off quite well, especially as the series began to find its footing.

How the series would have continued if the ship had been brought home is unknown. Perhaps as a series similar to The Next Generation but only with a woman for the ship's captain. But would that have been enough to sustain it? Voyager certainly couldn't have had the adventures it had if it wasn't stuck in the Delta Quadrant. The crew wouldn't have met the alien races it met, battled for their lives with ones like the Hirogen, or rescued a Borg drone who would later go on to become captain of the new Enterprise in Star Trek: Picard season three.

The producers of Voyager made a wise decision leaving the crew so far away from home as the series was able to delve into topics and situations that most likely would not have worked on a series set in a familiar quadrant. Voyager's distance away from home helped it become the successful series that it was for seven seasons.