Janeway Never Softened, Says Mulgrew

On the eve of her TV departure as Janeway, Kate Mulgrew, was adamant about the ways the journey has changed her character.

"She deepened. I wouldn't say softened," she told Star Trek.com. "That is not a route she would take. She wouldn't necessarily take the soft route. Her mission was a crucial one, which was to get these people home."

While the actress did not think Janeway had an easy time as captain of Voyager, she realised that Janeway dealing with strife created powerful drama. "I love it whenever she's put up against her own self-righteousness, her arrogance. Which are her trademarks," she commented. "The converse of those trademarks are her courage and her moral diplomacy. But, when pushed to the wall she can also become very difficult. I love it when she's taken down."

Now that no new episodes will be seen on TV and Voyager heads off to the syndication shipyard in the sky, Mulgrew is confident that the series will have a lasting effect. "I think its most resounding legacy will probably be the female captain, and that she endured — constitutionally, psychologically and emotionally — seven years!" she said.

"I think it was a great and bold move on the part of the studio heads to ask a female to assume this position, since we know it's all about numbers in Hollywood. I think they were, in fact, taking a more philosophical, if not political, risk. And I think it paid off. It may be ground breaking, it may not, but my hope is that it would be. I've worked hard to ensure that."

With the focus of fans now switching to the next Trek series, Enterprise, Mulgrew had a piece of advice for actors new to the genre. "I would say, find out what your principles are and adhere to them," she said.

The full interview with Kate Mulgrew, in which she talks about her post-Voyager plans, the Janeway action figure and the reaction of her family to Janeway, can be found here at the official Star Trek site.

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