‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ Star Tried to Play Janeway on ‘Voyager’ at the Same Time

One Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star wanted to pull double duty as Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager as well.

Nana Visitor was a guest on The Alpha Quadrant where she reflected on her days playing Kira Nerys on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She was already a few seasons into Deep Space Nine when Star Trek: Voyager began filming. Visitor heard that the show’s captain had quit and decided that she’d make a good replacement.

“Can you believe I had the nerve?” Visitor said. “I accosted Rick Berman in the street right in front of Stage 4 at Paramount and said, ‘Why not? Why? Why can’t I?’ Because you know, they had the mix-up, and they fired the person they hired, and all of that stuff. And I said, ‘I can do both!’ … I don’t know what I was thinking. And he was like – he practically patted me on the head, and said, ‘No, we’re gonna get a whole other actress for that.’”

That actress, of course, ended up being Kate Mulgrew who came to define Janeway over the course of seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager.

The original actress hired to play Janeway, Genviève Bujold, left the show after just two days of filming. Though Visitor had heard that Bujold was fired, The Alpha Quadrant co-host and former Star Trek: Voyager star Garrett Wang claims that Bujold quit.

“So she quit the second day, and she realized that the shooting schedule would be crazy, and she had two very young children at home, maybe ages three and five, and she thought, ‘I’m never going to see these kids grow up, I’m not gonna be around. The shooting schedule is nutty, they didn’t do the things they promised me in the beginning,’ and thank god she quit before we aired one episode, right?” Wang recalled.

Do you think Visitor would have made a good Captain Janeway? Do you prefer her as just Major Kira? Let us know what you think in the comments!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager are both available to stream on Netflix, CBS All Access, and Amazon Prime.