Brannon Braga on Star Trek: Voyager’s legacy, 25 years on
The crew of Star Trek: Voyager. (L-R) Garret Wang as Ensign Harry Kim, Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, Robert Picardo as the Doctor, Ethan Phillips as Neelix, Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway, Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay, Roxann Dawson as B’Elanna Torres, Robert Duncan McNeill as Lt. Tom Paris and Tim Russ as Lt. Tuvok
As Star Trek: Voyager continues to celebrate its 25th anniversary, the series still enjoys immense popularity. Executive producer Brannon Braga is well known for having served as a producer and writer on three Star Trek series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise. With all of his experience helping audiences to “explore strange new worlds”, Braga spoke to TrekMovie.com this week, sharing his view on what makes Star Trek: Voyager live on in the hearts of fans so many years later.
When asked about the “legacy” of Voyager, Braga said, “I think most people are going to point to Captain Janeway. The best characters on the show were women. A woman was the lead and the leader. It was not something we were calling attention to, it just was what Star Trek did.” He went on to describe how the idea of diversity is nothing new to Star Trek, saying, “it is just part of the concept that the crews were diverse [...] and I think it’s one important part of the legacy of Star Trek: the depiction of diversity and equality.”
Star Trek has been pushing boundaries on screen since the 1960s, and Voyager is no exception. “First of all, I think we did take risks on Voyager,” Braga said in the interview. One of the risks he referred to was the introduction of Seven of Nine, played by Jeri Ryan. ”There are some really powerful themes explored. I think bringing in Seven of Nine was a gamble,” Braga said, adding, “Personally, I think it paid off and helped the show and helped Janeway.”
It seems that Seven of Nine has also been helping to build up Voyager’s legacy, with Ryan’s character coming back to screens in Star Trek: Picard and furthering a storyline which began in the mid-90s. Braga told TrekMovie, “It’s thrilling to see a character live on and I’m really happy to see Jeri step back into the role. And obviously, the character that they’re depicting is still very traumatized from her experience.”
“But at the end of the day,” Braga said, “I’m really happy that her character continues, and people are interested in her. She is a great character, mainly because of Jeri [Ryan]. Jeri brought that one to life.”
You can check out the full legacy of Star Trek: Voyager, and Jeri Ryan’s return as Seven of Nine in season one of Star Trek: Picard. Both series are available to stream now on CBS All Access.