An ex-Borg moves to Boston. A half-Klingon moves behind
the camera. A Starfleet captain goes to prison. Where did the cast of Star Trek:
Voyager end up once they returned from the far reaches of the galaxy?
Kate Mulgrew wasn't the first choice to play Captain Janeway in Star Trek:
Voyager. Academy Award-nominee Geneviève Bujold was famously cast first, but filmed only a few
scenes before quitting the show during the series pilot. Today it's difficult
to imagine anyone else in the role, though it's hardly Mulgrew's only iconic TV series.
Following Voyager's conclusion in 2001, Mulgrew took a few years off from acting,
returning with a small role in the 2005 film Perception. After a guest appearance on
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Mulgrew snagged a recurring role on The Black Donnellys in 2007,
and another in the short-lived NBC medical drama Mercy in 2009. Her return to a main cast, however,
came in the Adult Swim series NTSF:SD:SUV::, where she played an eye patch-wearing leader
of an anti-terrorism task force alongside future Star Trek star Rebecca Romijn.
Mulgrew found a major career resurgence in 2013, starring in one of Netflix's earliest
forays into original programming, Orange is the New Black. In the series she stars as Red,
an inmate at a women's prison. The role that would earn her an Emmy nomination. Mulgrew returned to
Star Trek in 2021, voicing Kathryn Janeway in the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy.
"Captain Janeway?"
"I prefer Vice Admiral Janeway."
Sitting in the chair next to Captain Janeway for seven seasons was Robert
Beltran as Commander Chakotay, a former member of the anti-Federation, freedom-fighting Maquis.
Though Beltran counts his heritage as Latino, Chakotay was the first Native American regular
character in the franchise, but was sadly under-used. Following Voyager, Beltran's
work on the small screen was mostly limited to guest appearances, popping up in episodes of CSI:
Miami and Medium in the 2000s, while filling roles in movies like Fire Serpent and Manticore.
Beltran's first recurring part on TV after Voyager was in the series Big Love, playing Jerry Flute,
another Native American character, who has plans to construct a casino on a reservation.
Over the next decade, Beltran moved away from acting, with a sparse handful of minor roles.
He revealed on Twitter that he turned down a chance to play Chakotay one more time in the
revival series Star Trek: Picard, as he was unhappy with the part they'd written for him.
Nevertheless, Beltran did come back to join Kate
Mulgrew for Prodigy. Voicing Chakotay in his triumphant return to the franchise,
the series sees the character lost in space and his former captain on a mission to find him.
Actor Tim Russ had already made a few guest appearances in the Star
Trek franchise before joining the main cast of
Voyager in 1995. But perhaps his most notable pre-Trek role was this one.
"What about you guys?"
"We ain't found s–t!"
Russ became a fan-favorite as the Vulcan Lt. Tuvok. After seven seasons playing the stoic,
emotionless Tuvok, Russ kept busy with a variety of different roles,
mostly guest-starring in popular TV hits.
This included guest spots in everything from ER and Law & Order:
Criminal Intent to episodes of Hannah Montana and Without a Trace,
and a multi-episode appearance on the hit soap General Hospital. That same year,
Russ joined the main cast of the Christina Applegate comedy Samantha Who? and later
began working in video games, providing voice work for Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and others.
Since then, Russ has kept busy with countless roles in a huge variety of other TV shows.
More recently, Russ turned up in an episode of Seth MacFarlane's Star Trek homage The Orville,
and in 2023 voiced Lucius Fox in the animated film Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham.
On Voyager, the role of chief engineer was filled by the half-Klingon/half-human B'Elanna Torres,
played by Roxann Dawson. Starting out as a Maquis rebel, she eventually becomes one of the
most important members of the crew, as well as a wife and mother. Following her run on the series,
Dawson had just a handful of on-screen roles, which included single episodes of The Closer
and Without a Trace. That's because, like her franchise cohort Jonathan Frakes,
Dawson moved behind the camera to become a full-time director.
Getting her start overseeing episodes of Voyager, Dawson moved on to helm
entries of the Star Trek spin-off Enterprise before broadening to other shows. Since 2005,
Dawson has directed episodes of some of the biggest hits on TV, including Lost
and The O.C. in 2006, eight episodes of Cold Case, and a trio of Heroes episodes.
Among her most notable shows might be the David Simon HBO series Treme in 2011,
Hell on Wheels with future starship captain Anson Mount and Deep Space Nine engineer Colm Meaney,
and modern masterpieces like Bates Motel, The Americans, and This is Us. Her most recent
work saw her return to sci-fi, helming two episodes of the Apple TV+ series Foundation.
Despite perpetually remaining a low-level ensign, Harry Kim, played by Garrett Wang, often played
a crucial role in defeating many of the enemies the crew would face in the Delta Quadrant. When
Voyager left TV, Wang bounced around in smaller roles. He's continued embracing his role as Ensign
Kim by appearing at many fan conventions, where he found an entirely new calling.
Beginning in 2010, Kim embarked on a career as an event moderator, serving as the Master of
Ceremonies at that year's FedCon, a science fiction convention held in Germany. Later,
he was the Trek Track Director at the celebrated Dragon Con, held annually in Atlanta, Georgia.
Over the course of his new career, Wang has held moderating duties and
hosted panels and events at major pop culture conventions in Montreal, Edmonton, Phoenix,
and Denver. According to Wang, his biggest role as a moderator came at the Calgary Comic
and Entertainment Expo in 2012, where he interviewed the legendary Stan Lee.
In 2020, Wang joined forces with co-star Robert Duncan McNeill to
launch "The Delta Flyers," a podcast that discusses classic episodes of Voyager.
Robert Duncan McNeill guest-starred in an episode of Star Trek:
The Next Generation as a hotshot pilot who broke the rules and wound up booted
from Starfleet. So when producers developed a similar character,
they brought in McNeill to play him, resulting in brash, cavalier helm officer Tom Paris.
After Voyager ended, McNeill starred in an episode of The Outer Limits revival and a few more small
roles. However, like Roxann Dawson, McNeill left acting not long after the series ended
to become a director and producer, starting with four episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Into the 2000s, McNeill helmed episodes of Dawson's Creek and
One Tree Hill before becoming an executive producer on the action-comedy series Chuck,
where he'd direct 21 episodes across its five seasons. From there, McNeill went on
to sit behind the camera for installments of other shows, like The Orville and Suits.
Since the 2010s, McNeill has served as an executive producer on further shows that included
The Gifted, the Disney+ reboot of Turner & Hooch, and the SyFy series Resident Alien. In addition to
hosting "The Delta Flyers" podcast with co-star Garrett Wang, McNeill came back to Star Trek in
2022 when he voiced the character of Tom Paris on the animated comedy Star Trek: Lower Decks.
"This is how we kick ass in the Delta Quadrant!"
Another actor to appear on Star Trek before taking a leading role on Voyager, Ethan Phillips played
the quirky alien chef Neelix for all seven seasons of the show's run. A well-established TV veteran,
his roles prior had included dramas like NYPD Blue and family hits like Doogie Howser,
M.D. After his role on Voyager, he went back to his former career as a character actor.
In the ensuing years, Phillips could be seen all over the dial and beyond,
with parts in shows like Touched by an Angel and 8 Simple Rules,
and even a guest-starring role in an episode of Enterprise in 2002.
Later he did a three-episode run on Boston Legal, a legal drama from David E. Kelley starring Star
Trek legend William Shatner and Deep Space Nine alum René Auberjonois. One of his episodes just
happened to also feature Deep Space Nine's Armin Shimerman. Some of the biggest shows he's found
work on during the 2010s include Better Call Saul and a recurring role in Lena Dunham's Girls. He's
also had roles in major movies, showing up in Inside Llewyn Davis and The Purge: Election Year.
Though he hasn't come back to Star Trek, Phillips did return to sci-fi in 2020,
joining the main cast of the HBO space comedy Avenue 5.
Though she didn't arrive on Voyager until Season 4, Jeri Ryan arguably became the
series' biggest star, joining the cast as a former Borg drone named Seven of
Nine. It proved to be just what the series needed and a career-defining role for Ryan.
One of the few cast members of Voyager to parlay her role into bigger success,
Ryan immediately joined the David E. Kelley drama Boston Public after the series ended.
In 2006, she secured another starring role in the James Woods series Shark. Smaller recurring roles
came after, including multi-episode stints on Law & Order: SVU, Two and a Half Men, and Leverage,
before Ryan returned to a main cast with her co-starring role in Body of Proof in 2011.
More recurring roles over the years lead right up to her return to Star Trek: Picard in 2020.
Returning to the role of Seven of Nine, she supported series lead Patrick Stewart by
appearing in all three seasons, and rumor has it she may even star in a spin-off.
Joining the crew of Voyager was Kes, a young alien woman with mild telepathic powers and
a nine-year lifespan, played by Jennifer Lien. Unfortunately, her character never quite seemed
to fit, and in Season 4 Lien was written out to make way for Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine.
Leaving the series in 1997, Lien's career stalled in front of the camera, though she did play a role
in American History X alongside Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star Avery Brooks. However, most of her
subsequent work came in animation, with voice work in Superman: The Animated Series, where she played
Inza, the wife of Doctor Fate, and a starring role as Agent L in Men in Black: The Series.
Lien pretty much left acting shortly after that.
She married filmmaker Phil Hwang and started a family,
but has faced personal problems along the way. While struggling to deal with her mental health,
Lien was arrested in 2015 for indecent exposure and again in 2018 for driving without a license.
Actor Robert Picardo, already known for antagonistic roles in Gremlins 2 and InnerSpace,
starred on Voyager as the Doctor, the nameless holographic chief medical officer whose program
was left running far longer than it was designed to. Known for his offbeat humor and cantankerous
attitude, he was played to perfection by Picardo, and it would become the actor's signature role,
though his film history as weird aliens and monsters is iconic as well.
"I watched four episodes of Lassie before I figured out why the little hairy kid never spoke!"
Still, even after leaving sickbay as the Doctor, Picardo had a healthy career,
moving quickly into a role in The Lyon's Den in 2003. A year later he joined another iconic
sci-fi franchise when he secured a recurring part in Stargate SG-1 as Richard Woolsey,
a grumpy U.S. official who opposed the Stargate program.
Following a string of appearances on the flagship series, Picardo joined the main cast of Stargate:
Atlantis in 2006. A few years later, Picardo had another repeat role, this time as Jason Cooper
on The Mentalist, and he later enjoyed a stint on the Apple TV+ drama Dickinson.
In 2023, the actor made a guest appearance on the Quantum Leap revival playing Doctor Woolsey,
whose name is a clear tribute to his two biggest TV roles.
Late in Season 6 of Voyager, a storyline saw the ship rescue a stranded vessel commanded by
a group of wayward Borg children. At the conclusion of the story,
four young drones join the crew, becoming a surrogate family of sorts to Seven of
Nine. The eldest of them is Icheb, a teenager played by actor Manu Intiraymi,
who went on to make 11 appearances across the final two seasons of the show.
When Voyager ended in 2001, Intiraymi continued acting,
with his largest role coming in One Tree Hill, where he played Billy, a local drug dealer,
in a recurring role in 2012. Further projects were mostly independent films like 5th Passenger
in 2017 alongside a number of other Star Trek stars, and the 2019 western Hell on the Border.
In 2017, Intiraymi came under fire for criticizing fellow Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp,
who'd made accusations of sexual assault against Kevin Spacey. A few years later,
fans speculated those comments may have been why he wasn't asked to return to the role of
Icheb in Picard, with a new actor playing the part in a scene that killed off the character.