10 Star Trek Re-Shoots That Totally Changed The Ending

Caretaker features some of the most extensive reshoots in all of Star Trek, which is an achievement considering there were only a few short weeks to master them. The resulting reshoots changed not only the ending of this episode, but the fate of Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Prodigy.

When Genevieve Bujold was cast as Captain Janeway, the producers went straight into filming. She, along with Robert Duncan McNeill and Garrett Wang, began filming much of the pilot early. Though the scenes were solid, Bujold abruptly quit after two days.

With their lead actress departed, the producers scrambled to find their Janeway. Kate Mulgrew was found, and Star Trek history was made. There is no way to overstate the importance of Mulgrew filming her scenes as Star Trek's first leading female captain. Janeway's speech at the end of Caretaker, describing their new search to get home, is quintessential Voyager, and could only have been delivered by Mulgrew. Janeway's relationship with Seven was based on both Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan's contentious, but professional, relationship off-screen - which leads into Seven's appearance on Star Trek: Picard as well.

Finally, Star Trek: Prodigy features the return of Mulgrew, with that voice, welcoming Trekkies of all ages home to the franchise.

All of this from reshooting two days' worth of footage almost thirty years earlier.