Janeway’s Complete Star Trek Timeline Explained

Star Trek: Voyager made Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) the first female captain to lead a Star Trek TV series. Known for a fierce protective streak, loose interpretation of Starfleet's Prime Directive, and a penchant for coffee (black), Kathryn Janeway cut a bold path through the Delta Quadrant as Captain of the USS Voyager. After the USS Voyager and Maquis raider ValJean were flung across the galaxy, Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) combined their Starfleet and Maquis crews into a single crew that worked together to survive the 70,000 light-year journey back to the Alpha Quadrant.

Captain Janeway's guiding principle as a leader was the promise to return the USS Voyager crew back home to Earth, and protect them at all costs on the projected 75-year trek. With a background as a science officer, Janeway encouraged exploration of the Delta Quadrant's truly strange new worlds and never-before-seen anomalies. Captain Janeway's leading Starfleet principles of cooperation and communication helped her crew uncover their full potential, from Maquis officers like Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), or ex-Borg drone Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). Later, Admiral Janeway's firm but thoughtful leadership made her a great mentor to young cadets.

Kathryn Janeway’s Life Before Star Trek: Voyager (Before 2370)

Kathryn Janeway Was A Science Officer On The USS Al-Batani

Kathryn Janeway was born May 20, in Bloomington, Indiana, sometime between 2328 and 2344. Kathryn had an active childhood growing up on her family's farm, with hobbies that included hiking, swimming, tennis, ballet, and gardening. Young Kathryn was close with her father, Starfleet Vice Admiral Edward Janeway (Len Cariou), who encouraged her to stay curious and ask questions. At Starfleet Academy, Kathryn Janeway was bright, determined, and fueled by coffee—qualities that would follow Janeway throughout her Starfleet career. Like other cadets before her, Janeway befriended Groundskeeper Boothby (Ray Walston). Cadet Janeway met Lieutenant Tuvok (Tim Russ) in 2356.

After graduating from Starfleet Academy in 2357, Ensign Janeway served as a science officer on the USS Al-Batani, under the command of Captain Owen Paris (Richard Herd). Janeway's early Starfleet career was not without mishaps, but Kathryn took each mistake as a new learning experience. By the 2360s, Janeway considered Lieutenant Tuvok a valued friend and kept in contact with him while Tuvok was posted to Jupiter Station. The 2360s also saw Janeway's promotion to Commander, along with a transfer to the USS Billings, where Commander Janeway was responsible for leading away missions.

Captain Janeway Led USS Voyager Through The Delta Quadrant (2371-2378)

Captain Janeway's Unprecedented Delta Quadrant Journey Faced Numerous Challenges

In 2371, Captain Kathryn Janeway's first command was the Intrepid-class USS Voyager, a science vessel designed for short-term exploration. Voyager's first mission was supposed to be the quick recovery of Chakotay's Maquis raider, but both starships were swept to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker, a sporocystian lifeform seeking a mate. To protect the Caretaker's charges, the Ocampa, Janeway destroyed the Caretaker's array, their only ticket back to the Alpha Quadrant. Captain Janeway allowed the adventurous Ocampa Kes (Jennifer Lien) and Talaxian chef Neelix (Ethan Phillips) to be guides to the unknown Delta Quadrant.

In 2373, Captain Janeway formed an alliance with the Borg, facilitated by Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) after Janeway refused to be assimilated as part of the agreement. In exchange for safe passage across Borg space, Captain Janeway helped the Borg defeat Species 8472, a species native to fluidic space who were resistant to assimilation. After liberating Seven of Nine from the Collective, Janeway became a positive influence on Seven, despite Janeway and Seven's fraught relationship indicating otherwise. Janeway's defiance and protective instincts made the Borg Queen (Susanna Thompson) Janeway's biggest adversary in the Delta Quadrant.

Janeway's mission to bring the USS Voyager home got a huge boost in 2374, when Voyager made contact with Starfleet Command using an abandoned Hirogen subspace relay station. Although this attracted the attention of the predatory Hirogen, letters from the Alpha Quadrant boosted morale among most of Voyager's crew. In one message from home, Janeway learned that her fiancé, Mark, had moved on when the USS Voyager was lost. That same year, Starfleet supposedly sent the experimental USS Dauntless to bring Voyager back home. The Dauntless was an alien ruse, but its quantum slipstream drive helped advance Federation transwarp technology.

In 2378, the USS Voyager arrived back in the Alpha Quadrant, and Kathryn Janeway was promoted to Admiral. Besides cutting a 75-year journey down to just 7 years, Captain Kathryn Janeway was responsible for Starfleet's first contact with more alien species than any other captain since James T. Kirk (William Shatner). Even without the support of Starfleet Command, Captain Janeway was stubbornly committed to upholding Federation ideals and making command choices that prioritized protecting her crew, even when the alternative would have been easier.

Future Admiral Janeway’s Timeline In Star Trek: Voyager’s Finale (2404)

Admiral Janeway Gets The USS Voyager Home In 2378 And Beats The Borg Queen

Star Trek: Voyager's finale, "Endgame", takes place in 2404, in one of Star Trek's alternate timelines where the USS Voyager took 32 years to get back to the Alpha Quadrant. In this timeline, Harry Kim (Garret Wang) is a captain, but Chakotay and Seven of Nine both die, and Tuvok succumbs to a Vulcan mind disease. Admiral Janeway discovers that using a Borg Transwarp Hub in 2378 would get the USS Voyager back home sooner, with the added benefit of avoiding heavy losses and destroying the Borg Queen (Alice Krige).

Rather than seeking permission to undertake this risky mission, which would undo the current timeline, Admiral Kathryn Janeway travels back in time to 2378, and enlists her past self to complete the mission. Once aboard the Borg Transwarp Hub, Admiral Janeway injects herself with a neurolytic pathogen and allows herself to be assimilated, which infects the Borg Collective. Both parts of Admiral Janeway's plan are successful: the Borg Collective is rendered inert for over 20 years, and Captain Janeway's USS Voyager returns to the Alpha Quadrant in 2378.

Admiral Janeway In Star Trek: Prodigy (2383-2385)

Admiral Janeway Searches For Captain Chakotay's Missing USS Protostar

In 2383, Admiral Janeway is the commanding officer of the USS Dauntless' mission to find Captain Chakotay's missing USS Protostar, which was lost on Starfleet's first mission back to the Delta Quadrant. When Admiral Janeway finds the Protostar, however, the experimental starship is crewed not by Chakotay, but by a group of Delta Quadrant teens led by genetic hybrid Dal R'El (Brett Gray), and Vau N'Akat Gwyndala (Ella Purnell). Admiral Janeway sponsors the young Protostar crew's admission to Starfleet Academy, but instead of being fast-tracked as cadets, all except Gwyn join Janeway's USS Voyager-A crew as warrant officers in training.

Only half of Admiral Janeway's mission is completed after the recovery and subsequent destruction of the USS Protostar because Captain Chakotay is still missing. Admiral Janeway openly defies Admiral Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox) to continue searching for Chakotay and solve the temporal paradox that Dal accidentally created. Admiral Janeway and Captain Chakotay finally reunite in 2384. Together, Janeway and Chakotay encourage their young charges to victory in the Solum Civil War—a conflict that the Prime Directive prevents the Starfleet officers from actively participating in.

In 2385, the Mars synth attack in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 destroys 20,000 starships destined to help Admiral Jean-Luc Picard's Romulan rescue mission, so Admiral Janeway comes out of retirement to help bolster Starfleet's numbers. Starfleet's thinning resources leave fewer starships available for its primary mission of exploration, so Admiral Janeway responds by sending the USS Prodigy, crewed by the former Protostar crew, to the Delta Quadrant to fulfill the USS Protostar's original mission: fixing the problems that Voyager left behind.

Janeway Is Still Admiral In Star Trek: Picard (2399-2402)

Admiral Janeway Is A Trusted Contact For Admiral Jean-Luc Picard

Admiral Kathryn Janeway does not appear directly in Star Trek: Picard, but dialogue between other characters indicates that Admiral Janeway stayed active as a Starfleet Admiral through 2402 instead of returning to retired life. In 2401, Admiral Janeway joins forces with Admiral Picard to convince Seven of Nine to join Starfleet, even though Seven's original Janeway-sponsored application was rejected in 2378. Picard names Janeway as a trusted Admiral at Starfleet Command, who might be able to help thwart the Borg-Changeling alliance in Picard season 3.

While Admiral Janeway can't help with Picard's problem in 2401, the Borg are hardly the threat that they once were, thanks to Kathryn Janeway. Over 20 years after future Admiral Janeway's neurolytic pathogen infected the Borg Collective, the Borg Queen (Jane Edwina Seymour) is still suffering the debilitating effects of the pathogen. Star Trek: Picard's burnt-out Borg husk is the result of the Borg Queen being forced to cannibalize energy from thousands of drones to survive after Janeway's successful plan in Star Trek: Voyager's series finale.