Star Trek: Voyager's original ending had a surprise for the Borg

The ending of Star Trek: Voyager didn't completely satisfy fans as we didn't get to see Voyager actually back on Earth nor did we see the crew reuniting with their friends and families. Instead, we see Voyager heading toward Earth, which wasn't exactly epic. But the original finale, according to Bryan Fuller [via Giant Freakin Robot], would have been a grand finale like no other with Captain Janeway taking on the Borg in an epic showdown.

According to Fuller, originally, because Kate Mulgrew wanted the captain to "go down with the ship but not at the full cost of her being," Captain Janeway was going to surrender Voyager to the Borg. But there was a nasty surprise waiting for the Collective—a reverse assimilation virus which would have destroyed the Borg from the inside out. The Voyager crew would have been able to use a transwarp conduit to make it back to Earth.

As Voyager escaped, an armada of Borg cubes would have followed, and the end result would have been quite the finale.

"“This great final image of the Borg armada approaching Earth, and then out of the belly of the beast of the lead ship came Voyager, destroying all of the other Borg in its trail.”"

- Bryan Fuller

Fuller thought this would have been the right way to end Janeway's journey with the Borg and would have given Seven of Nine complete freedom. Whether or not Janeway would have died in this version of the finale was still up in the air, but, like the hologram Janeway aboard the Protostar, it's a sacrifice she would have made either way.

Though this could have resulted in a finale that really resonated with fans, it could have essentially cost us Captain Janeway. With the powers-that-be unsure of whether or not she would have survived, this is a risk I'm glad they didn't take. The death of Janeway would have been traumatic, not only for her crew, but for those fans who would have gladly joined her crew. And since Voyager ended differently, Janeway has now returned as an admiral in the animated series, Star Trek: Prodigy. And most of us fans are holding out hope for a live-action return of the admiral. With so much Star Trek going on, there are plenty of places for her to pop up!