Kate Mulgrew Interview

Fandom.com has posted the first half of an in-depth interview with Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) conducted by Anna L. Kaplan. In the interview, the actress again about killing off her character – which she seems to be less keen on ("I've been told by my advisors that it would be very bad if Janeway died. They pointed out to me why it would be so. I had to ruminate on those reasons, and then I came full circle again. I don't quite know how I feel about that anymore), the ending she would chose for Voyager (epic, tough and "not [...] wrapped up in a pink bow") and next week's special telemovie, 'Flesh and Blood', how she as herself wasn't quite happy with the ending, thinking the consequences should have been greater for the Doctor, and reveals a couple of plot details.

"What we discover in 'Flesh and Blood' is a training center full of dead Hirogen. It seems that they have been killed by Starfleet people that we have never seen before. The Hirogen have taken the technology that Voyager gave them, and the database, and they have created prey for themselves to hunt. In their efforts to create more and more sophisticated prey, and more and more challenging hunts—more realistic hunts—they have continued to tweak and refine these holograms, giving them the ability to feel pain, and a certain amount of self awareness.

"They've made them smarter and smarter, and more sophisticated, to the point where the prey, the holograms, have revolted, and said, 'We are not going to be hunted down and killed and slaughtered anymore.' They are fighting back. The Doctor is a kind of seminal figure to them, because they know that a lot of their programming is based on his programming. They end up trying to recruit him into their cause. In the process, he betrays the Captain."

The Captain then has to decide on appropriate punishment for him at the end. "I did suffer a huge dilemma in that," says Mulgrew, "and they resolved it in a rather controversial way, I think. I am not sure that would have been my choice. It was provocative. In the end, Janeway understood it. I'm not sure Mulgrew did. I think I probably would have reamed him. But they tried to take it to another level, and I committed myself to it. I think how the Captain really feels is left up to the audience. I played it very deep and very quietly, and I just didn't take my eyes off his face. I did not punish him in any kind of predictable way. It was great fun to play the scene, but I am not sure that I agree with that resolution."

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