As Captain Kathryn Janeway, Kate Mulgrew has won the hearts of Star Trek fans. Her portrayal on the spaceship Voyager was what the fan community hoped for from a Starfleet captain and is still one of many favorites to this day. But originally it was supposed to French-Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold take on the role. This is what her Janeway that didn’t make it into the series looked like:
She left the project during the second day of filming.
That’s why Bujold angrily left the set of Starship Voyager
In the podcast The Delta Flyers, Voyager actors Garrett Wang (Harry Kim) and Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris) talk about their series and its background. In the first episode, which aired in 2020, Wang told his colleague how he experienced the situation with Geneviève Bujold.
So he noticed that she She immediately left the set between her takes. She didn’t talk to anyone and didn’t let anyone get close to her. At some point, Wang decided to ask how she was doing. She replied that she felt she couldn’t trust anyone. When he asked, she explained her problem:
Yes, when I agreed to take on the role of Janeway, I told the producers that I didn’t want to do any nonsense with my hair. I want to wear my hair down, I don’t want it pinned up. I don’t want a lot of makeup… I want her to be a captain first and a woman second.
Bujold had a very clear picture of who Janeway is. And the producers had originally promised her that she could do the role exactly that way. But They changed everything shortly before filming began again. Wang summarized her feelings from his perspective in the podcast.
So she felt like she was given some leeway to do what she needed to do to prepare for her role as Captain Janeway and then this leeway was taken away from her again.
It is very understandable that such behavior on the part of the producers spoiled Geneviève Bujold’s interest in the role.
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Bujold would certainly have been an outstanding captain. At least the fans didn’t have to suffer because they got a fantastic Captain Janeway in Kate Mulgrew, whose impact can still be felt in the Star Trek universe today.