Kathryn Janeway

Geneviève Bujold as Nicole Janeway

The character was originally named Elizabeth Janeway, after the noted writer of the same name. However, after Geneviève Bujold was cast, she requested the character to be renamed "Nicole Janeway". Bujold, whose experience was mainly in feature films, was unprepared for the schedule demanded by the television series, was unwilling to do news interviews, and dropped out on the second day of filming for the pilot episode "Caretaker".[1] Kate Mulgrew, who had previously auditioned for the role, was brought in. She suggested that the name be changed to "Kathryn", to which the producers agreed.[2] Actresses Erin Gray and Chelsea Field also auditioned for the role.[3] Field's husband Scott Bakula would later play Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise.

In 2018, Mulgrew said she would like to be cast in a movie with William Shatner (playing Kirk) and Patrick Stewart (Picard).[4]

Kathryn Janeway was born on May 20,[5] in Bloomington, Indiana on Earth.[6] She was the daughter of Vice Admiral Janeway and has a sister named Phoebe, who is the artist in the family. Phoebe never chose to join Starfleet and stayed close to home with her mother, Gretchen Janeway. Kathryn Janeway was very close to her father, who taught her to look at the universe with a scientist's eye; she was devastated by his death.[7] Her first mission after graduating the academy was as a science officer on the USS Al-Batani, where she served as Chief Science Officer during the Arias mission.[8]

Captain Janeway takes command of the Intrepid-class USS Voyager in 2371. Their first mission is to locate and capture a Maquis vessel last seen in the area of space known as the Badlands. While there, the Maquis ship and Voyager are transported against their will into the Delta Quadrant, 70,000 light-years away, by a massive displacement wave. The Maquis ship is destroyed while fighting the Kazon-Ogla, and although Voyager survives, there are numerous casualties. In order to protect the Ocampa, who live on a planet Voyager visits, Janeway destroys the Caretaker Array, the space station that transported the two ships to the Delta Quadrant, which provides energy to the Ocampa's planet, despite the fact that the Array may be the two ships' only chance to return home. In doing this, Janeway strands her ship and crew seven decades' travel from home.[9]

Her first major task is integrating the surviving Maquis and Voyager crews. Chakotay, captain of the Maquis ship, succeeds the deceased Lieutenant Commander Cavit as her first officer. Janeway also grants convicted criminal, former Starfleet officer, and accomplished pilot Tom Paris a field commission, and makes him Voyager's helmsman.[9]

Janeway's other interactions with her crew include helping the de-assimilated Borg Seven of Nine reclaim her individuality and humanity and advocating for the Doctor's status as a sentient being.[9]

During the course of the TV series, Voyager has contact with the Q Continuum on three occasions, and repeated contact with the Borg. With the intervention of a future/alternate version of herself, Janeway leads her crew in using one of the Borg's transwarp conduits to return her ship to Federation space after having traveled through the Delta Quadrant for seven years.[9]

In a cameo in the film Star Trek: Nemesis, now-Admiral Janeway instructs Captain Jean-Luc Picard to travel to Romulus at the invitation of the film's antagonist.[10]

In 2019, it was reported that both Stacey Abrams, former candidate for Governor of Georgia, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district, had drawn inspiration from the character of Janeway.[14]

In 2019, Vulture.com ranked Captain Kathryn Janeway as the number one Star Trek captain by their selection criterion, a combination of competency and managerial style.[15] In particular, they note her ability to overcome great challenges despite being on the other side of the Galaxy and commanding a crew in large part consisting of non-Starfleet personnel.[15] One of her interesting relationships is noted as with the Former Maquis B'Elanna Torres (played by Roxann Dawson), and the Former Borg Seven of Nine (played by Jeri Ryan).[16][17] Space.com rated Janeway as the number three best captain of Star Trek.[17] In 2017, The Washington Post ranked Janeway as the third best Captain of Star Trek.[18][19]

Screen Rant rated her the fifth best captain of the franchise, noting her ability to command in adverse situations; two praises were that she does not give up easily and tries to maintain crew morale.[20] In a review of female characters from science fiction television and film, Janeway was in the top ten.[21] Captain Janeway was ranked as the 18th best character of all Star Trek by IGN in 2009.[22] In 2016, Captain Janeway was ranked as the 8th most important character of Starfleet within the Star Trek science fiction universe by Wired magazine.[23]

The romance between Janeway and Kashyk in "Counterpoint" was praised by Screen Rant, which they rated as one of the ten best episodes of Star Trek: Voyager.[24] In 2018, CBR ranked Janeway as the 4th best Starfleet character of Star Trek.[25] In 2017, Screen Rant ranked Kathryn Janeway as the 18th most attractive person in the Star Trek universe.[26]

In 2018, The Gamer ranked Janeway as one of the top fifteen starship captains of the Star Trek franchise.[27]

Captain Janeway was rated as one of the top seven time travelers, in the whole Star Trek franchise by Nerdist in 2019, for her exploits in "Endgame".[28]

In July 2019, Screen Rant ranked Janeway the 4th smartest character of Star Trek.[29]

• List of female action heroes

• Kathryn Janeway at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)