Do we like Kate Mulgrew?
Our score: 8 out of 10. A clean record on the record we could find, a documented push for an LGBTQ+ character, and one old narration gig she disowned.
Kate Mulgrew grew up in a big Irish Catholic family on a sprawling property in Dubuque, Iowa, one of eight kids, and was born with teeth, which became the title of her memoir. Her mother steered her from poetry to the stage, and her breakout was the soap Ryan's Hope in the 1970s. Then came the seven years as Captain Janeway on Voyager.
The one real stoush on her record is from April 2014. She narrated the trailer for The Principle, a documentary pushing geocentrism, the idea that the sun orbits the Earth. After the backlash she said on Facebook she was not a geocentrist and had been a voice for hire, and a misinformed one, and she apologised for the confusion. The film's producer was reported to have a record of fringe views, and she said she would have avoided it had she known he was involved.
On the harm check, nothing nasty turned up in her own words. She told Collider she asked Voyager's producers for a gay character on the bridge, and that the executives felt there was no room at the time. She has said that if Trump won a second term she would leave the country, which is a political view, not a harm. We found no statements from her either way on climate, vaccines or migrants, so that gap is honest.
The recent news is a bit of a fan-service win. In February 2026 a Facebook commenter mocked Holly Hunter's Captain Ake in Starfleet Academy, and Mulgrew sent him to the brig, telling him to keep Janeway's good name out of it. It's a small thing, but it's a veteran backing a younger colleague.
On Janeway, she told TrekMovie in January 2026 that she and Alex Kurtzman are talking about a live-action return, but only if it is excellent. She was also frank that the first pitch, set in the Wild West, left her cold, and that Prodigy was cut short. RTÉ also announced in April that she leads the crime drama The Yank. That shows she is still working and choosy.
As for the good stuff, the Irish American Writers and Artists group gave her its Eugene O'Neill Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, and she has written two memoirs, including one about caring for her parents. We found no court cases, lawsuits or credible accusations against her. A different Mulgrew, a New York teachers' union boss, turned up in the search and is not her.