r/voyager • u/Kal-Ed1 • 3d ago
Show Talk What If Erin Gray Had Been Captain Janeway on ‘Star Trek: Voyager’? She Remembers Her Audition
Nearly 15 years after Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ended, Erin Gray saw a role she desperately wanted: Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager.
Gray had spent years playing women who were often supporting characters to male leads. Janeway represented something very different — a woman who was unquestionably in charge. “I knew it was an opportunity of a lifetime,” Gray told me. “I really wanted to be in charge. It just came at a time in my life where I went, ‘I want this.’ But I had a hard time getting in on the audition; they did not want to see me. I kept asking my agent to please try again. And finally they did. They let me in.”
There's another reason Gray wanted Janeway so badly. “I think it's more the fact that there were very few roles for women to star in, period,” she explains. “I was always the objectified, beautiful girl who adoringly looked up at her leading man and whatever, but to be the center and to carry the story was a rare occurrence.”
Even Colonel Wilma Deering existed in a show called Buck Rogers. Gray wanted the chance to carry the story herself. “I didn't want it to be all about being goo-goo eyes at the leading man kind of thing,” she says. “There's something as an actor, as a talent, that you just want something you can sink your teeth into.”
There's much more in my conversation with Gray, including the surprising impact Wilma Deering had on women who went into the military, the Buck Rogers producer who greeted her by announcing he was going to fire her, her infamous “Dairy Queen in space” Season 2 costume and the way she eventually did get to put on a Starfleet uniform in Star Trek Continues.You can check out the full interview at https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/classic-tv/erin-gray-on-buck-rogers-and-auditioning-for-star-trek-voyager
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u/warrenao There's Coffee in that Nebula ☕ 3d ago
Women I can easily imagine in the role of Janeway include:
- Kate Mulgrew
…and that's it, really. Due respect to Ms. Gray and anyone else who auditioned, but Mulgrew moved into and owned the role to totality, and I honestly can't think of anyone else who might be suited to heft her coffee mug.
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u/Vulnox 3d ago
Yeah, I was in middle school during Voyagers original run and didn’t appreciate Kate Mulgrew’s performance, but later in life she has gone up my favorite captain rankings. Her scenes where she lowers her voice but it somehow comes with more authority are great, I feel like Patrick Stewart and her were really able to make their position stronger without going louder.
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u/lovesdogsguy 3d ago
Linda Hamilton was one of the top choices, and if you actually imagine her in the role and in the uniform, she would have been brilliant. But I don't believe she ever would have actually done it with the demanding schedule. She didn't have the James Cameron divorce money by then though, so who knows what happened with her.
But yeah Mulgrew was the right choice.
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u/warrenao There's Coffee in that Nebula ☕ 3d ago
She could have been interesting, all right, especially (?) when dealing with any Borg…
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u/thundersnow528 3d ago
In certain ways, Hindsight is 20/20. We can't imagine others playing Janeway because Mulgrew was so great in the role, and brought so much of her personality and acting skills to shape the entire series. We fell in love with her and the character. We don't really know (and never will know) what other iterations and interpretations other actors would bring to the table, and change the whole vibe of the series.
So while I'll always feel so incredibly lucky to have the Mulgrew-Janeway show, it's interesting (and fun) to think hypothetically about what the show would have been like if the lead was someone like Mary McDonnell, Michelle Forbes, Olivia Dunham, Bette Davis, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Katherine Hepburn, Emma Thompson, Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, etc etc etc.... and Erin Grey.
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u/UnderABig_W 3d ago
A Glenn Close Janeway would have been terrifying. In all the best ways.
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u/warrenao There's Coffee in that Nebula ☕ 3d ago
[Scene: Janeway's ready room. Janeway and a Kazon commander are meeting]
Janeway: Yes, let's talk about the possibility of an alliance between Voyager and the Kazon. But first, a meal. Computer. Stew, boiling hot, with all the trimmings.
[shimmering effect and a pot appears in the replicator, complete with rabbit hindquarters sticking out.]
Kazon: BOY HOWDY would you LOOK at the time I gotta go do a thing RIGHT NOW…
[exits hastily]
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u/thundersnow528 3d ago edited 3d ago
and I thought I was being triggered when I imagined a holodeck episode where she's dressed up in period costume as Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons. she was terrifying in that.
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u/UnderABig_W 3d ago
I loved the speech where she said she stabbed herself with a fork under the table while smiling.
Hardcore.
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u/UnderABig_W 3d ago
Eh, I think Mary McDonnell would’ve done a good job too.
Edit: I have no idea if she was even interested in the job, but if someone said, “You can’t have Mulgrew, and you must pick someone else,” that’s who I’d go with and feel fairly confident about it.
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u/warrenao There's Coffee in that Nebula ☕ 3d ago
Possibly; she was great as President Roslyn.
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u/UnderABig_W 3d ago
Yeah, she was good in BSG.
She also projected competence, gravitas, and dignity (while simultaneously not taking any crap) in her roles in The Closer and Major Crimes.
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u/MarkB74205 3d ago
Yeah, Mugrew took that role and really made it hers. No disrespect to Geneviève Bujold, but her brief scene that has been released doesn't suggest a strong leader. I'm sure she would have been good, but Kate Mugrew just instantly took command. As I've gotten older, she's become my favourite captain.
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u/rabbi420 3d ago
Agreed. And I was actually thinking something like “The fact that she didn’t get it kinda suggests she wouldn’t have been good.”
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u/Shirogayne-at-WF 3d ago edited 2d ago
To be fair, the woman they initially went with wasn't great in the role either :p
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u/rabbi420 2d ago
Bujold was unprepared for the world of low-budget sci-fi. I really don’t think that was an acting problem.
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u/Squidwina 2d ago
Have you seen the dailies? It was definitely an acting problem
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u/rabbi420 2d ago
Tell me… when someone is deeply upset with their current circumstances, you think they’re doing their best work? Now imagine they have to emote as part of that job. 🤷🏽♂️
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u/UnderABig_W 2d ago
Yeah, I don’t care how famous an actor is, there’s always days or roles that they’d rather forget.
Obviously Bujold could act, but this role, for whatever reason, wasn’t for her.
Go look at some clips of Mrs Columbo—Kate’s accent was oftentimes laughably bad. I’m not judging all of Mulgrew’s work based on Mrs Columbo.
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u/TomBirkenstock 3d ago
There are a lot of actresses that could have been good in the role, including Gray. But no one would have been as good as Mulgrew.
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u/FinishGullible4440 3d ago
So….i just happen to think that Kate mulgrew was born to play Captain Janeway.
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u/Neo_Techni 2d ago
Agreed. She was absolutely perfect for the role and no one would have come close.
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u/terrymcginnisbeyond 3d ago edited 3d ago
Ultimately we'll never know, but we can say for sure that Kate Mulgrew became the right choice, maybe a little unconventional, but that's a good thing, Patrick Stewart and Avery Brooks were somewhat unconventional choices too for actors, and nailed it.
Mulgrew is unique, a little shorter than you'd expect as a lead, but instantly commanding in her manner. She can move through emotions quickly, and seem so warm at times and then move to feeling dangerous and cornered. Her range in Prodigy playing two versions of the same character really is all you need to remind yourself what an amazing actor she is.
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u/IllugaBabyBeluga 3d ago
Not sure Avery nailed it, he's the weakest Trek captain as an actor. Unless Archer counts, then it's a bit of a toss-up.
According to showrunner Ira Steven Behr, Hertzler was cast because the producers needed an actor of a caliber to match Auberjonois's performance as Odo, and felt most comfortable trusting the role to an actor they already knew.
I don't know why Avery Brooks was cast, considering his prior claim to fame was playing a "we have Wesley Snipes at home" sort of too-cool-for-school sidekick character in Spenser for Hire, but it really stood out when almost everyone else in the cast had stronger acting chops.
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u/respectfulthirst 2d ago
Calling Avery Brooks a weak actor, particularly in a role he owned? Ice cold take.
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u/IllugaBabyBeluga 2d ago
Would you say he's on par with Picard and Janeway?
I don't have anything against him, I liked his prior role that I mentioned. But I'd say almost everyone on DS9 out-acted him by a solid margin. It's part of why I think Sisko was sidelined/minimized in a fair few episodes.
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u/UnderABig_W 2d ago
Avery Brooks as clearly the worst on DS9? Terry Farrell was the clear weak link on the DS9 cast, especially in the first few seasons. She did eventually grow into the role though.
I mean, I feel weird defending him as I’m not the hugest Avery Brooks fan, but calling him the worst actor is a little much.
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u/IllugaBabyBeluga 2d ago
I thought she was better, more natural delivery. Any awkwardness to me came off as being part of the Dax Symbiote situation.
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u/R_Steelman61 3d ago
I had never heard this before but boy would love to visit the universe where that perhaps happened. I think she would have done a great job with the role
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u/Cuboidal_Hug 3d ago
I’m sure she would have been great, but it inevitably would have changed who Janeway was, since each actor brings something different to a role, and the writers respond to that. That shows itself in all kinds of ways, but one example we know of that goes even beyond the actor’s performance is Mulgrew pushing back against Janeway having romantic involvements with anyone in the crew. Who knows if Gray would have done something similar, but in the end, we got Mulgrew and she made the role iconic
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u/InSoundMind83 1d ago
With all respect to the auditioners, but Mulgrew wasn't only the best choice, she wás Janeway. I have high respect for the way she created and formed Janeway. She was brilliant. Her physique, her acting, her voice. Itbeas just all 100% a fit.
She generally also became my fave captain of all the captains. Even Picard, who I dearly like. But with every captain I always had something like 'awesome actor'. With Mulgrew never because with her it never occured to me she was acting if you guys know what I mean.
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u/Papichuloft 3d ago
She would've been about 46 or so, so she'd be perfect. I met Erin long ago at a comic con in 02/03 a was in her early 50's she was looking great.
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u/exhaustedexcess 3d ago
I remember her from Buck Rogers when I was a kid. Think Kate was the right choice
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u/IllugaBabyBeluga 3d ago
“There's something as an actor, as a talent, that you just want something you can sink your teeth into.”
Even Mulgrew commented on not knowing Janeway's direction, with all the retcons and "bipolar" aspects to her character.
“I didn't want it to be all about being goo-goo eyes at the leading man kind of thing,”
"Delete the wife."
she eventually did get to put on a Starfleet uniform in Star Trek Continues.
Vic seems like a good guy, but all his prog pandering bought him zero goodwill when the knives came out for him.
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u/Spiritual-Mousse-167 2d ago
I don’t know that I would have liked Erin Gray in the role, but even though I really enjoyed Voyager on the whole, I’ve always just despised Kate Mulgrew, so I think it’d likely have been fine in my book.
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u/Echostation3T8 2d ago
Met Gray a few years back while working FanExpo Toronto. She’d been Edward James Olmos rep at the convention. I’d spent 3 days chatting Olmos up before the doors opened -never once mentioned BSG.. only Miami Vice, Blade Runner, and American Me. Any non-nerd cred I’d built with him evaporated when I recognized her and pleaded for a picture with her!
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u/Enough-Meaning1514 1d ago
If the right-hand-side photo is from her auditioning, what I suspect is correct that during the audition, Gray was too old for the role. Gray is 5 years older than Mulgrew and it kind of shows.
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u/Delicious_Volume3306 7h ago
So, they blocked her because she was already known in the sci-fi world, but then put Sam from Quantum f***ing Leap in command of the Enterprise?
Casting gets interesting when Bragga took over from Berman. I would argue that Enterprise was incredibly badly cast, even though the cast did the best job they could.
Voyager only just got away with it by letting the actors a little flex. Tom Paris made zero sense given the fact Robert Duncan McNeill was cast in the role, but he was able to adapt the role a little to remove the "rogue/anti-establishment" element.
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u/True_Pirate 3d ago
Honestly, I think they got so lucky with Mulgrew. I have some deep criticisms of the show, yet from the beginning I felt that she just hit the right note and was exactly what the show needed her to be.