While characters like Picard were, at the start of filming, concreted in the actors playing them, Janeway was slightly different. Today, it’s hard to imagine the shiny black shoes filled by anyone other than Kate Mulgrew, who did a fabulous job on a show that has received a lot of criticism over the years. The original actress for the role, however, was Geneviève Bujold, French Canadian actress who was famous for her role as Anne Boleyn in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969). She was the producers’ first chose for the role, which at this point was to be Captain Nicole Janeway. But after two episodes were filmed, Bujold left the show. Producers then had to refilm the episodes with their second choice, TV veteran Mulgrew, who stepped up and delivered a wonderful performance. She suggested the name change the Kathryn and the rest is history. So why exactly did Bujold leave?
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There are two reasons, one from the crew and one from a much more personal perspective. Rick Berman, executive producer at the time, has gone on record saying that Bujold was not a good fit for the role. She was not up to the hectic and fast-paced nature of television filming; she was much more used to movies where everyone was much slower, and often obsessed over small, time-consuming details. In the world of TV, episodes needed to be filed as quickly as possible, not allowing for a gentle introduction into the role. Rather, she was thrown in at the deep end. Berman has also talked about some of the issues he had with her on set, such as Bujold finding it difficult to memorize the needed seven pages of dialogue a day. He also noted that she took issue with having her hair redone multiple times during takes, another necessity for the quick shooting environment of television
There are clips from the first two episodes that can be found on YouTube, and while it’s jarring to see someone who isn’t Mulgrew as the morally ambiguous Janeway, that’s not the only reason it doesn’t feel right. There is an uncomfortableness and meanness to Bujold’s performance that seems off, awkward, and just unaccustomed to the environment she is acting in. In addition to everything else, it was also rumored that she took issue with working with a director she didn’t know. Instead of jumping onboard on the day with the director’s needs and instructions, she did so begrudgingly. After the second day of filming, Bujold stormed off set in tears, upon which Berman and the director both agreed that she was to go home.
Of course, this is all largely Hollywood gossip. It’s a very impersonal version of the struggles and events that took place for Bujold to leave the role of Janeway, and one that did not fully take into account personal issues the actress faced. When talking about his time on the iconic ship, Garrett Wang, who played the forever un-promotable ensign Harry Kim, was asked about whether the rumors about her being fired were true. He cleared up the situation somewhat, clarifying that she quit. He continued to talk about how she acted strangely on set for the short time she was there, never wanting to socialize with the rest of the crew, instead running off set the moment she was not needed. One day he stopped her, and asked if she was okay, to which she replied, rather cryptically, that she didn’t trust anyone there.
Dramatics aside, it’s said that when Bujold agreed to play the role, it was going to be all about ‘Captain first, woman second’ a fanatically progressive position she felt honored to play. When she started, however, the crew kept fussing over making her hair perfect, and putting lots of makeup on, something she never truly felt comfortable with. Instead of playing this powerful captain, she felt they were trying to dress her up, and give the character sex appeal (something the shows did a lot) rather than show her to be a strong leader who just happens to be a woman. All this made her feel instantly lied to, and that she didn’t truly understand where she stood. The character she was so keen to play was objectified and diminished before her eyes. Wang did confirm, however, there was also truth to Berman’s words. Bujold was not truly prepared for the toll filming would take on her, and she was becoming increasingly aware that she would be away from her two young children for large portions of time.
At the end of the day. Bujold could have made a fantastic captain. While her performance in the first two episodes left much to be desired, this is true of the majority of the main protagonist captains in the franchise. Sisko didn’t get good until he grew the beard, and Picard was uncomfortably strict in the first few episodes. If she could have struck at it, audiences might have grown to love her, but now Mulgrew is so iconically Janeway it’s impossible to imagine anyone else.
No matter what the issues with her character are, it’s amazing she existed in the first place. With Bujold leaving there were serious talks of making Janeway a man - a decision that thankfully never materialized.
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