Kate Mulgrew has portrayed Kathryn Janeway for nearly 30 years — first as the captain of the intrepid starship Voyager, and now as the animated Admiral responsible for guiding the young cadets of Star Trek: Prodigy through their first days in Starfleet service.
 
We had the chance to catch up with Mulgrew after the Star Trek: Prodigy San Diego Comic Con panel at the end of July to chat about Janeway continues to inspire young women, watching the show with kids, and more.
 

TREKCORE: After so many years and going from live-action to voice acting for animation, what was it like trying to find Janeway’s voice again?

KATE MULGREW: Yeah, I was a little bit on the back foot when the offer came or the conversation opened. Alex Kurtzman called me and said, “What do you think about this?” And I said, “Let me think. Let me think,” because I was holding to myself, very close, my Janeway, right. My Voyager Janeway of seven years. And what that cost me, what that meant to me, how that deepened me and what I learned from that. And it was singular and very, very important to Kate Mulgrew.

So I said, “Alex, would you give me a few days to think about this?” And I went to my pals who I really respect. The Bob Picardos of the world and the John de Lancies of the world, and they said, “You’re out of your mind if you don’t do it. This is the audience that needs you more than anybody. Bring it to the children, and then you will have gone full circle. Nothing could be better or more gratifying.” And, in fact, that is exactly what’s happened.

TREKCORE: Right! On Voyager, you inspired a whole generation of young women in particular, including myself. I’m an engineer now.

MULGREW: Are you? Oh, great! You know, whenever B’Elanna Torres invited me into engineering because of some incident, I always found that particularly thrilling because that’s where the real science was brought into the conversation. I love it.

TREKCORE: Janeway and B’Elanna putting their scientific minds together was always a highlight.

MULGREW: It was great fun. Well, Janeway was a scientist. Yes, she loved all that.

TREKCORE: And now a whole new generation of young women and young people in general, get to benefit from having you as an example again. How does that feel? What advice do you have for the next generation of young people that see Admiral Janeway now on Prodigy?

MULGREW: Well, I think I’m talking about a very young audience. My advice is only come along and use your wonderful sense of adventure, imagination, and acceptance that adults sometimes calcify — you know, as we grow older, we become a little more rigid. The ego is unforgiving, but the five-year-old has not yet developed that hubris. The five-year-old looks at it and says, “Oh, I could do that. I wanna do that. I wanna be like that.” That’s a good lesson. That’s what I want this adventure to be all about.

And as far as I’m concerned, two seasons is not enough. It’s just the beginning of this adventure. So we have to go on, we have to get this thing optioned for a third season and a fourth and a fifth and on and on, because I think it’s gonna be a trip they will never forget.

TREKCORE: I agree. And my kids said the same thing at the very end of the season. They’re like, “They set it up perfectly. They have to make more now!” 

MULGREW: Yes, they do. They do. They do.

TREKCORE: My kids and I love Prodigy. We watched it all together.

MULGREW: How great. And do they ask you questions, or do they seem to understand?

TREKCORE: They had no problem understanding it!

MULGREW: Which is my thing about kids. Smart-smart. They just get it. You know, they don’t put the obfuscations in front of themselves. They don’t confuse it. They’re just wide open to it. A five-year-old can grasp the concept of time travel better than any 50-year-old physicist can. It’s amazing.

TREKCORE: And it sparked conversation, too.

MULGREW: And it also lifts them up. Don’t you think? 

TREKCORE: It does. It also sparks their minds. 

MULGREW: And their imaginations. Right. How much of this is possible? Well, we’re finding out, aren’t we? It’s infinitely possible.

TREKCORE: I think you mentioned, too, that your grandchildren watch Prodigy?

MULGREW: I have not yet met my grandson! When I finish this interview with you, I’m gonna get in the car and go up there, and I’m gonna take Jack Bear into my arms and I’m gonna take Miro into the other arm. She’s three. And we’ll turn on Prodigy. Yeah. I’m pretty lucky.

TREKCORE: Congratulations. That’s so exciting!

MULGREW: Thank you very, very much. Yeah, life is good.

TREKCORE: Life is good! What messages do you want your grandchildren to take from Prodigy, once they’re old enough to dig in?

MULGREW: You know, I think, of course, it depends on the way the kid is being brought up, but I trust my son and my daughter-in-law. They’re very good parents. But I encourage the dignity of the imagination. Always listen to the child’s imagination. And that will take them, I think, only to a hopeful place and a place of love and warmth and friendship and camaraderie. The truly valuable things. So I think that’s what I’m longing for regarding Prodigy.

TREKCORE: That’s great parenting advice, too! That’s how we create the next generation of explorers.

MULGREW: Right. And I’m encouraging every parent to put their children in little chairs in front of the TV and turn it on!

TREKCORE: A little screen time never hurt anyone.

MULGREW: It’s okay. Janeway says it’s okay. It’s okay. (Laughs)

TREKCORE: What do you think motivates Janeway at this stage of her life? What do you think’s changed since the last time you played her?

MULGREW: Well, of course, life teaches us many things. Sacrifice is one of them, but I think what Janeway knows, which maybe is unusual or specific to her character, is sacrifice leads you to love. Sacrifice teaches you to love. And just underneath that ideology in Janeway, or recognition in Janeway, is her ardent love of space and science. Her curiosity has done nothing but grow and expand in her life.

So now she’s at an age where… let the devil take the hindmost. I wanna see it all. I wanna touch it all. I wanna go where I’ve not gone before. So as long as that is still there, I think anything can happen, and it will, on Prodigy.

TREKCORE: I did ask my kids if they had any questions for their Admiral. Now, they had taken exception to the character of Admiral Jellico. The first time we saw him in Prodigy, my youngest said, “Who is this guy who thinks he can tell Admiral Janeway what to do?!” So their question is, why isn’t Admiral Janeway in charge of everything? Shouldn’t she be in charge of everything, because she’s so awesome?

MULGREW: Well, she is. She is essentially, but tell them, there’s no story if there’s no conflict. Tell them that there has to be the darkness meeting the light. And that Janeway will persevere. Everything is a dance in Star Trek in space, do you know? So let’s just see what develops here.

TREKCORE: Yes, and her decision to come back from her early retirement because they need her, right?

MULGREW: Well, she was doing nothing. She was languishing. You know, she was sitting in her garden thinking, “What am I gonna do?” No, this is wonderful. This is what she’s built for, made for, and I want to infuse it with that. I wanna imbue it with that sense of adventure, excitement, intrigue, courage. This, I think, will teach children that kind of wonderful courage. Physical, mental, moral courage. Those are the protocols that I think I’d like to teach them more than anything else.

TREKCORE: You’ve made some really interesting choices this time around with Admiral Janeway. You could see how she’s changed and grown as a character. And I love some of your deliveries. I was wondering if you had a favorite line or scene from Prodigy, from getting to be Janeway again?

MULGREW: Do I have a favorite? Do you know I can’t think of a favorite because it’s so many of them. Well, in every episode they have me saying something that just resonates, and that I find profoundly moving, so to pick one, no, but probably something that’s funny.

TREKCORE: One of my favorites is when Admiral Jellico gave you the order to close the wormhole and Janeway knew that this was her last shot at finding Chakotay. And, you know, we’ve heard Janeway say “Fire” many, many times and you do it always with authority, very succinctly, but in this instance, you let your voice quiver a little bit, you know? Like to meet the gravity of knowing that this was your shot at finding Chakotay, and it just disappeared.

MULGREW: It’s intensely important. And then when they’re finally reunited. I mean, it’s a killer. It’s great.

TREKCORE: Janeway and Chakotay’s relationship… I think it was pretty obvious in both Voyager and Prodigy how Chakotay feels about Kathryn. There’s less there about how Janeway feels in return.

MULGREW: Well, I think you get an intimation in Prodigy in how Janeway feels. She feels very, very deeply. This man is so important to her. I mean, think of the history. Think of what they’ve been through together. He was a Maquis. He was my enemy.

We’ve transcended every possible conflict and obfuscation that they could’ve come up with. This is a deeply significant and, I think, transformative relationship. In a way, she doesn’t want to live without him, and he doesn’t want to live without her.

And there you have it.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is available to stream now on Netflix globally (excluding-Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus, and Mainland China). The show can also be viewed on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Central and Eastern Europe.