Kate Mulgrew on Her Legacy as Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager
TrekMovie.com published part two of their interview with Kate Mulgrew over the weekend.
In part one, Mulgrew focused on her new memoir, How to Forget, and in this part, she focused on Captain Janeway’s legacy from Star Trek: Voyager.
As a natural segway from part one, TrekMovie first asked Mulgrew whether she would consider writing a memoir based on her time on Star Trek. While not saying yes or no, Mulgrew did point out that if she did write one, it would not be what fans expect, no juicy behind-the-scenes gossip. At the time that Star Trek: Voyager was filming, she pointed out, she was newly divorced with two young boys, and towards the end of the series, her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She said, “I don’t know that the fan base would want to know everything that I would want to share, which is the deeply private feelings of an actress under the gun.”
When asked whether she would consider coming back to explore Captain Janeway again, similar to how Sir Patrick Stewart is returning in Star Trek: Picard, she simply said, “I would have to cross that bridge when I got there. It’s nothing that I have entertained.”
TrekMovie also asked Mulgrew whether she was aware of women in politics, like Stacey Abrams and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who talk about Captain Janeway as a role model. Mulgrew relayed the story of when she surprised Ocasio-Cortez at a rally in Queens, New York. Ocasio-Cortez told her that when the TV reception would go bad while she was watching Star Trek as a child, she’d listen to it like a radio show. Mulgrew said, “And look what she’s doing. I doubt that I had anything to do with that spirit, which is a remarkable one. But there is something about her confidence, the way she is scorching that indifferent earth that makes me think, ‘I wonder… I wonder if she plucked some of this from Voyager?’ And I hope she did.”
Kate Mulgrew is currently filming the TV show Mr. Mercedes, and her memoir How to Forget is available in bookstores now.
