Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) of Star Trek: Prodigy is the logical successor to lead a Star Trek: Picard-style spinoff series after season 3 ends. The Star Trek: The Next Generation spinoff has updated fans on the lives of the Enterprise crew decades after TNG ended, culminating in one final adventure. As attention turns to other potential Star Trek spinoff shows, Captain Janeway would be an ideal lead character for a spinoff show that would update Star Trek: Voyager's story.
Kate Mulgrew plays both Hologram and Vice Admiral Janeway in Star Trek: Prodigy. However, she's been a supporting character in that show, mentoring the young Starfleet hopefuls. Yet Prodigy has given audiences some tantalizing hints as to what the USS Voyager's bridge characters have been up to since they returned to the Alpha Quadrant. It's clear that Prodigy, combined with the inclusion of Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) in Star Trek: Picard, proves there's plenty of possibility for a Voyager follow-up series.
Star Trek: Voyager's Crew Is Underrated (Especially Janeway)
Star Trek: Voyager was a noble attempt to revitalize the Star Trek universe by seeking out new life and civilizations after stranding the crew of the titular ship millions of light years from home. This allowed Voyager to introduce new species to the Star Trek canon, and also regularly explored the complexities of following the Prime Directive in a quadrant of space that had no Federation presence. There was also a compelling conflict between Voyager's Maquis and Starfleet crews, even if the clash of ideologies between Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) was resolved fairly quickly.
The Voyager crew went to hell and back during their exploration of the Delta Quadrant. However, Kathryn Janeway proved herself to be one of Star Trek's greatest and most determined Captains. The survival of her crew overruled all other concerns, and this often led to her making difficult decisions such as entering into an uneasy peace treaty with the Borg and breaking temporal laws by altering the course of history to bring Voyager home earlier. Janeway even allowed herself and an away team to be assimilated by the Borg Collective during an attempt to steal Borg technology.
Another fascinating character aboard Voyager was the Doctor (Robert Picardo), an Emergency Medical Hologram whose journey to being recognized as a person inspired some of Voyager's best episodes. As a hologram, the Doctor often struggled to assert his own agency. In the early episodes of Voyager, he struggled with the crew ending his program without his consent. It was a fascinating update of the story of TNG's Data (Brent Spiner) and is worthy of an update.
Star Trek: Prodigy Has Revived Voyager Interest
As well as being a show aimed at creating the next generation of Star Trek fans, Prodigy is arguably a proof of concept for a Janeway-led Voyager spinoff. The arc of Prodigy season 1 concerned the fate of the USS Protostar, an experimental starship, captained by Janeway's former number one, Chakotay. Chakotay's new Star Trek ship was built as a means for Starfleet to quickly travel between the Alpha and Delta Quadrants, to undo some of the damage done by Voyager and its various conflicts. There were numerous references to Voyager episodes that have revived interest in the Star Trek show, creating an audience for further adventures for its crew.
It appears that Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 will see Admiral Janeway and her young charges team up to retrieve Chakotay from the alternate timeline in which he's stranded. This will only increase interest in Voyager and Janeway, perhaps even allowing for the appearance of other Voyager characters. It's already been revealed that Voyager engineer B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) played a role in designing Janeway's new Prodigy starship. Season 2 could even bring Torres aboard as the engineer of Janeway's new ship, which could even take the name, Voyager.
The Voyager Crew Has More Untold Stories Than TNG
Across seven seasons of TNG, four movies, and three seasons of Star Trek: Picard, plus Worf's (Michael Dorn) role in four seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the TNG crew have been well served from a storytelling perspective. The same can't be said for the Voyager crew, who haven't had the same level of attention since the show ended. This is partly due to Star Trek's dwindling popularity at the end of Enterprise and the rebooting of the universe in J.J. Abrams' Kelvin timeline movies. However, in the new Star Trek universe overseen by Alex Kurtzman, there's plenty of ground to explore with the Voyager crew.
Star Trek's robot rebellion, and Picard's revelations that the Federation put a ban on synthetic life would have had serious implications for Voyager's Doctor. Picard has offered a fascinating glimpse into the post-Voyager life of Seven of Nine, who has mentioned Admiral Janeway's desire for the reclaimed Borg to join Starfleet. Also, Star Trek: Lower Decks revealed through a cameo by Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) that the Voyager crew are living legends within Starfleet, who regularly tour starships.
Star Trek: Voyager's finale never properly explored the impact of the ship's return to the Alpha Quadrant on-screen, aside from the alternate timeline that the elder Janeway averted. Therefore, the abrupt way that Star Trek: Voyager ended leaves plenty of room to reveal how the crew readjusted to life back home after their time in the Delta Quadrant. It's clear from Seven's Starfleet problems in Picard that not everyone had an easy time of it. All of which could provide plenty of fascinating stories to tell involving the Voyager crew.
What Star Trek: Janeway Could Be About
Jean-Luc Picard's mortality, his history with the Borg, and Data's (Brent Spiner) sacrifice to save his life in Star Trek: Nemesis were crucial to the plot of Star Trek: Picard season 1. Therefore, something similarly tied to Kathryn Janeway would be a good place to start for a spinoff series. Like Picard, Star Trek: Janeway could focus on the former Voyager Captain's own legacy if she begins to question the decisions she's made during her career. Now that Prodigy has established it's easier to travel between Star Trek's Alpha and Delta Quadrants, it could be the perfect inspiration for Janeway to address some of the mistakes she believes she made on her previous visit.
Alternatively, Janeway's knowledge of the Delta Quadrant could instead see her become an important figure in the Federation's expansion. Perhaps she could become conflicted over this diplomatic mission, due in part to the Federation's poor treatment of former Borg Seven, the holographic Doctor, and the genetically augmented Dal R'El (Brett Gray). Many of the modern Star Trek shows drill down into what Gene Roddenberry's vision of a futuristic utopia means in the context of a volatile and politically divided 21st century.
Star Trek: Picard revealed Admiral Janeway almost quit Starfleet n solidarity with Seven of Nine, so it's clear that she'd be similarly supportive of Agnes Jurati's (Allison Pill) new Borg Collective joining the Federation. Perhaps a Janeway spinoff could see her continue this loose thread from Picard season 2, teaming up with Seven and recruiting some former Voyager crew members to unmask a conspiracy designed to derail the peace process. It would be the perfect way to continue Seven's Star Trek: Picard story arc, while finally providing a substantial update on the crew of Star Trek: Voyager.