Kathryn Janeway is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. She was the Captain of the Starfleet starship USS Voyager (on Star Trek: Voyager) while it was lost in the Delta Quadrant on the other side of the galaxy. After returning home to the Alpha Quadrant, she is promoted to Vice-Admiral and briefly appears in the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis. She is seen again commanding the USS Dauntless in Star Trek: Prodigy, searching for the missing USS Protostar which was being commanded by Captain Chakotay, her former first officer on Voyager, at the time of its disappearance. Although other female captains had appeared in previous Star Trek episodes and other media, Janeway was the only one to serve as the central character of a live-action Star Trek TV series. She has also appeared in other media including books and video games. In all of her screen appearances, she was played by Kate Mulgrew. Casting Star Trek: Voyager During development, one of the actors considered for Captain before it was decided it would be a woman, was Gary Graham. Some of the actresses who had been considered in the first time around besides Bujold and Mulgrew, included Erin Gray, Patty Duke, and Susan Gibney. The character was originally named Elizabeth Janeway, after the noted writer of the same name. However, after Geneviève Bujold was cast, she requested the character to be renamed "Nicole Janeway". Bujold was initially very positive, saying in an interview, "This role is a challenge but it feels right." Bujold, whose experience was mainly in feature films, was unprepared for the schedule demanded by the television series, was unwilling to do news interviews, and dropped out on the second day of filming for the pilot episode "Caretaker". Kate Mulgrew, who had previously auditioned for the role, was brought in. She suggested that the name be changed to "Kathryn", to which the producers agreed. Actresses Erin Gray and Chelsea Field (wife of future Star Trek captain Scott Bakula) also auditioned for the role. When Bujold left on September 8, 1994, some of the other actresses who had been (re)considered were Joanna Cassidy, Susan Gibney, Elizabeth Dennehy, Tracy Scoggins, and Lindsay Crouse according to Entertainment Weekly. The pressure to find a new person for the role was extraordinary. Not only was shooting already behind schedule, but the launch feature also had to be ready by January 1995. It