Why Admiral Janeway wasn't included in Star Trek: Picard's final season

Star Trek: Picard showrunner, Terry Matalas, had said before that he wanted to include Kate Mulgrew in the finale when Seven of Nine got promoted to captain. Having Seven of Nine's first captain present would have been the icing on the cake for many fans. And the possibility of having Mulgrew in the finale was discussed several times, Matalas said in a a Master Replicas Collectors Club Zoom chat in February [via Trekmovie].

There was concern, though, that had Admiral Janeway been the one to give Seven of Nine her promotion, the former captain would have overwhelmed the scene. This makes perfect sense since Mulgrew tends to stand out in any scene she does. So having her return as her Star Trek: Voyager/Star Trek: Prodigy character would have inevitably put the focus on her.

"“We had talked about Janeway, obviously, because her name got dropped a bunch of times. But mostly just because she’s the admiral everybody knew. It would have felt like if we had put Janeway in the in the finale—specifically in the last scene where [Seven] is promoted—that was the original idea, she gets a promotion from Janeway, it might have overwhelmed the scene and made it more about Janeway and less about Seven of Nine. And we couldn’t afford Kate [Mulgrew] even if we wanted to. So it all worked out as it was supposed to.”"

- Terry Matalas

That was one of the main considerations for not including Mulgrew. Well, that, and the series couldn't afford to have her on the show, according to Matalas, even if they really wanted to. With all the other Star Trek talent the series had in its finale, that's no wonder. We can only imagine the cost of that final episode. But, overall, leaving out Admiral Janeway turned into a good decision because, as much as we would have loved to have seen her together with Seven of Nine again, there's no way all eyes wouldn't have been on her, especially since that would have been her first time appearing as the live action character since 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis.