Star Trek's Seven Of Nine Wasn't The Only One Who Almost Died In The Voyager Finale
The "Star Trek" universe is never a completely safe one. While characters don't die in enormous swathes, when they do, it's always done in an impactful way. For an example, look no further than the final episode of "Star Trek: Voyager," "Endgame."
During a flash-forward, Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) goes back in time to change her life and ameliorate some of the regret looming over her during a reunion with her fellow crewmembers. Her wish to change the past only results in more tumult for her friends; while trying to get a younger version of herself and her team out of the Delta Quadrant 16 years earlier than they did in the older Janeway's timeline, her younger self comes to realize that if she follows the admiral's plans to the letter, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and several other crewmembers will perish.
Interestingly, Seven of Nine wasn't the only character who was threatened with a permanent end in this episode. Per an interview with series co-creator Rick Berman conducted for the "Star Trek" franchise history tome "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years," other characters might have died as well. "When ending the show, we considered everything. We considered having Janeway die, we considered having Seven of Nine give up her life, we considered so many things," he admitted.
The crew does indeed make it home safely by the end of "Endgame." And it turns out that a version of Janeway does die in the episode — but not the version that fans have become so familiar with.
Kathryn Janeway survived to live another day -- in the past
The prospect of permanent death looms large over "Endgame," yet ultimately, the only character who dies is the older version of Janeway. She chooses to use the transwarp technology to take down the Borg instead of using it as a method to bring the entire crew home early.
Janeway arrives at a Borg hive, pretending to offer up a technological trade in exchange for becoming a part of the cluster. The queen accepts this offer. However, allowing Kathryn to be assimilated into the collective results in their downfall. A virus the admiral carries in her bloodstream kills off the entire assemblage instead, and the admiral goes with it.
It's no surprise that she chooses to go out in a blaze of glory, but it's a controlled fate for a very in-control woman. Though Janeway's story has been continued within the "Star Trek" universe thanks to her appearance in "Star Trek: Prodigy," it's still an incredibly heartfelt way for the older version to meet her fate — and it's one that betters both the galaxy and the universe that she leaves behind.