“It’s the first time we have seen Janeway perplexed in a deeply emotional way,” Mulgrew explained. For the first time in the series’ history, Janeway is given a very compelling and complicated love interest - her enemy - which is in part why the episode has stuck with Mulgrew since it aired 23 years ago. The farther she takes them through this dangerous stretch of the galaxy, the harder it gets for the captain to outwit (and not fall for) the charming and cunning alien in pursuit, Kashyk (played by Mark Harelik). Writer Michael Taylor mined that dramatically exciting premise with a riveting episode where Janeway struggles to smuggle telepathic refugees through a region of space where telepaths are illegal. “It was originally pitched, I believe, to us, as The Diary of Anne Frank on a starship,” Mulgrew recalled. The episode is an underrated gem for the series, but a fan-favorite thanks to its rich character work and keep-the-plates-spinning tension. And nobody ever, ever it!” Mulgrew told SYFY WIRE at a recent NYCC event for Prodigy. But for Mulgrew, there’s one voyage that really stands out, her favorite episode of Voyager: Season 5’s “Counterpoint.” With seven seasons of Voyager and more than 25 years with the franchise under her belt, it would be easy for all of that “boldly going” to blur together for the actor. So it makes sense that fans’ bridge to this new show is a character who has a history with helping found families find themselves among and across the Final Frontier. Tonally, Prodigy is Star Trek by way of The Goonies. The first Trek aimed at kids, Prodigy - created by Dan and Kevin Hagman - finds a group of alien teens trying to evade sinister forces in the Delta Quadrant with the help of their shiny new (and recently unearthed) starship and a holographic version of Janeway. Now, she is back in animated form with a vital role in Star Trek: Prodigy, Paramount + and Nickelodeon’s new animated series. The last time fans saw Kate Mulgrew’s iconic commander of the starship Voyager was on the big screen, in a short but exciting cameo in 2003’s Star Trek: Nemesis.
Captain Janeway’s return to Star Trek feels long overdue.