8 Utterly Ridiculous TV Castings That Totally Rocked Anyway
7. Kate Mulgrew As Galina 'Red' Reznikov Orange Is The New Black
Orange is The New Black was one of the most talked about new shows of 2013, and whenever a TV series receives so much hype I always make an effort to manage my expectations instead of bowing to the mass hysteria and being disappointed with the actual product. That said, if I had to make a list of all the things I expected of the first episode, witnessing Captain Janeway dish out cafeteria-style meals in a prison jumpsuit would certainly have been right at the bottom.
For the shamefully unaware among us Kate Mulgrew is famed for playing Captain Kathryn Janeway, the commanding officer of Starship USS Voyager in the fourth instalment of the Star Trek television franchise from 1995-2001. She will always be remembered for being one of the rare female leads in the sausage-fest that was 90's television, but playing such an influential role for so long makes the actress and character inextricably linked. We watched Janeway battle the Borg and guide her crew back to Federation space for seven seasons, so to see her go from that to getting shaken down by creepy prison guards twelve years later is mind-boggling to say the least.
When I first saw Mulgrew on Orange Is the New Black, I (perhaps erroneously) took it as a fall from grace after the height of her Star Trek years, which is exactly how Red, the once-respected business owner must've felt when she was forced to trade her freedom for communal showers. Like Janeway though, Red is fiercely intelligent, leads her prison faction with an iron fist and demands respect from all members of Lichfield Correctional Facility, including the staff.
When it comes to casting, employing a transgender actress and a Broadway veteran only for her to play mute for virtually the entire series shows that the team behind Orange is The New Black aren't averse to making some pretty ballsy decisions, and including Kate Mulgrew in that mix has been one of the many triumphs in a near faultless first season. There's a lot more to see from Red in series two, and I for one cannot wait to come along for the ride.