Exclusive: Star Trek Voyager Revival In Development
We've learned a Star Trek: Voyager revival series is in active development at Paramount.
As of today, there are only two episodes left of Star Trek: Picard, and Paramount is ready to give fans another show to sate their nostalgia. Our trusted and proven sources tell us a Star Trek: Voyager revival series is in active development at Paramount. Presumably this would bring back Kate Mulgrew to her iconic live-action role of Kathryn Janeway, as well as other cast members from the 1990s series.
This news shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, particularly considering that — in one form or another — most of Star Trek: Voyager‘s lead cast has already returned to the franchise. Mulgrew voices both a holographic version of Voyager’s former captain and the actual Admiral Janeway in the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy, and she’s joined by Robert Beltran as her old first officer Chakotay. Likewise, Robert Duncan McNeill reprised an animated version of Tom Paris in an episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks.
In the meantime both Jeri Ryan and Tim Russ have made live-action returns to their fan-favorite Star Trek: Voyager roles. Ryan has been playing Seven of Nine since the first season of Picard — initially in a recurring role that turned regular in Season 2 — and Russ surprised fans by returning not as the Vulcan Tuvok, but as a Changeling disguised as Tuvok, in Episode 7 of Picard‘s final season. The day “Dominion” aired, Russ took to Twitter and confirmed he would be in one more episode of the series (hopefully as the real Tuvok next time).
Speaking of Jeri Ryan, she represents one of the biggest question marks about this Star Trek: Voyager revival. On one hand, having already appeared prominently in three seasons of Picard, she might be seen as having already had her shot at a return. On the other, Mulgrew infamously mistreated Ryan on the set of Voyager, and other cast members have since — while disagreeing with the mistreatment Ryan endured (including Mulgrew, who has since taken responsibility — expressed the sentiment they felt their characters’ stories were forgotten for the sake of Seven of Nine.
Because of the events of Picard, there also remain a lot of questions about the fate of Robert Picardo‘s Star Trek: Voyager character, The Doctor. Season 1 of Picard reveals all forms of AI have been banned for years because of a cataclysmic event on Mars. What might that mean for the fate of Picardo’s arrogant, but nevertheless caring, hero?
As for whether or not Kate Mulgrew will be on board for the Star Trek: Voyager revival, it’s something she’s made clear she’s open to. Since early last year, and on multiple occasions, Mulgrew has publicly talked about Picard helping her see the potential of a live-action return. Her chief requirement, she said at a fan Q&A back in November, is good writing:
“The writing is going to have to be absolutely exquisite and as tight—I mean so tight. I want that language to just burst! And I want the story to be so tenuous and taut. I said, ‘No languishing.’ I don’t want peaks and valleys. I want a Janeway that everybody can say, ‘That’s what she’s become. I’m with her! This is great!'”
-Kate Mulgrew
Speaking of story, the Star Trek: Voyager revival will clearly need a very different premise than that of the original. To base the new series on the older heroes getting lost a second time in the Delta Quadrant or anywhere else would simply be laughable. We don’t know what that story will be just yet, but when we know, we’ll make sure you know.
