Kate Mulgrew Becoming A Star Trek Villain?
Is Janeway becoming a bad guy?
This article is more than 2 years old
Usually you have to take a trip to the Mirror Universe to see the heroes of Star Trek becoming villains, but apparently we’re going to see Kate Mulgrew’s Admiral Kathryn Janeway as an antagonist fairly soon with no universe-jumping required. Though we don’t have a specific premiere date yet, season 2 of the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy is expected to stream before the end of 2022. And apparently when it does, one of the villains of the show’s sophomore season will be Janeway.
In a story posted over the weekend, Prodigy co-creator Dan Hageman spoke to Comic Book about what to expect from the upcoming season, including all the ways Kate Mulgrew continues to contribute. The actress has already provided the voice to a mostly holographic version of herself aboard the USS Protostar, but Hageman confirmed the new season will see the actual flesh-and-bone Janeway as one of the chief antagonists. “In the first 10, the threat very much is the Diviner and what we established at the end of 10 is you have the threat of the actual Starfleet and Adm. Janeway on their tail to stop who she believes to be people who have stolen Capt. Chakotay’s ship,” Hageman said. “So that’s a very formidable foe. I wouldn’t want to face her.”
In the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy, the young heroes discover Starfleet’s USS Protostar and take the helm in search of adventure. Kate Mulgrew provides the voice of the holographic Admiral Janeway, who is meant to be the crew’s adviser. Throughout the course of the season, she becomes the young aliens’ mentor, something Hageman compares to the relationship between the iconic Mary Poppins and the children she cares for. In terms of the now very real Janeway becoming an antagonist, Hageman said, “how cool would a movie be if you Mary Poppins is hunting you down?”
If you’ve seen the first season of Prodigy, then you know why Janeway would be hunting down the Protostar. We ultimately learn that the Protostar isn’t just any other Starfleet ship. The ship was captained by Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran) before it was taken over by hostile aliens. We know Chakotay and his crew managed to escape though so far that’s just about all we know. That, in fact, is more than Janeway knows when we see her at the end of the two-part season 1 finale “A Moral Star.” The character Kate Mulgrew voices has no idea the people operating the Protostar are children and understandably assumes they’re the ones who stole it from her former first officer.
Along with becoming the antagonist of Star Trek: Prodigy‘s season 2, Kate Mulgrew recently made some comments to the effect of being open to returning to the role in live-action. While promoting the Showtime series The Man Who Fell to Earth, Mulgrew mused, “There seems to be… a tremendous resurgence here, a rather vital one. So for the first time, I’m actually looking at it with new eyes. I wonder what would happen if Janeway were to come back to live-action.” That’s far from a confirmation but with five Trek series running concurrently for the first time — not to mention Star Trek 4 on the way and the hopefully still alive Star Trek: Section 31 potentially on the way — Paramount certainly seems ready and willing to bring us as much Trek as we can stand. When Star Trek: Picard concludes with its third season, maybe it will be time for Star Trek: Janeway?
