what happened to kes from voyager

Star Trek Voyager: Why Kes Actress Jennifer Lien Left The Series

Childhood [ ]

Kes as an infant

Kes was born on Ocampa in 2369 . She belonged to a species that had telepathic abilities and a normal lifespan of only nine years. Kes' father , to whom she was very close and whom she considered the greatest inspiration in her life, died not long after her first birthday. She still thought about him and often felt his presence when she needed guidance. ( VOY : " Caretaker ", " Elogium ", " Dreadnought ", " Before and After ")

When she was born, her mother expressed a wish that she would one day see the sun . Like most Ocampa, Kes was brought up underground, as her planet's surface had became a barren wasteland due to a catastrophic event and was unsuitable for habitation. ( VOY : " Caretaker ", " Before and After ")

Kes as a child in 2370

About 500 generations ago, a race of explorers from a distant galaxy , called the Nacene , had inadvertently damaged the atmosphere of the planet so badly that all nucleogenic particles were lost, thus rendering the atmosphere incapable of producing rain . The Nacene deeply regretted what they had done and left two of their kind behind to protect and provide for the Ocampa. While the female Nacene settler left in order to further explore the galaxy, the male Nacene, known as the Caretaker , stayed. He built a vast underground city, provided the Ocampa with food, entertainment and water from subterranean sources, as well as energy from the Array in space. The Ocampa civilization was sealed in by the Caretaker with a force barrier, and the ruling Elders were subsequently charged with discerning the wishes of the Caretaker, who had attained an almost godlike status among the Ocampa. The Ocampa remained in this state for five hundred generations.

Over the years, some had found a way to circumvent the energy barrier and reach the surface. They were part of a rebellious minority who wanted to explore other possibilities, and no longer wished to remain dependent on the Caretaker. Among them was Kes. She was frustrated that the Ocampa had been dependent on the Caretaker for so long that they couldn't even think for themselves anymore. She knew that before they had given up their independence for comfort and security, they had been a people with full command of their minds' abilities, abilities they had lost because they stopped using them and began to just take what they were given. Kes did not want to walk the path the Caretaker had set for her and other Ocampa anymore; she believed her people needed to evolve, and that they could only do so by learning to survive on their own and on their own terms.

Kes in 2371 , after having been tortured by the Kazon

Her yearning to see the outside world led her to leave the city in 2371 through some ancient tunnels. However, upon reaching the surface, she was captured by members of the Kazon-Ogla sect, who had established a camp near the city. There, she was mistreated and tortured for information regarding the entrance to the city. The Kazon were a crude and rather technologically deficient race and finding a way to the fruitful underground oasis of the Ocampa city would have provided them with abundant resources.

During her time with the Ogla, she met the Talaxian Neelix and the two fell in love. Neelix promised to rescue her. He managed this with the aid of Captain Janeway 's USS Voyager and Chakotay 's Maquis crew that had been transported to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker's Array. In return, Kes agreed to help them retrieve crewmembers that had been sent to the Ocampa city for care, after the experiments the Caretaker had done on them.

Kes after joining Voyager

After the Array – which could have taken Voyager back to the Alpha Quadrant – had to be destroyed by Janeway so that the Ocampa would not fall victim to the ruthless Kazon, Kes and Neelix asked to join the Voyager crew on their journey, promising to serve the ship and its crew as valuable crewmembers. ( VOY : " Caretaker ")

Aboard Voyager [ ]

The first year [ ].

As one of her first acts on Voyager , Kes volunteered to establish a hydroponics garden in cargo bay two in order to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to allow for more variety in meals for the crew. Her requirement of nitrogenated soil for her garden from sickbay started her friendship and sympathy with The Doctor . ( VOY : " Parallax ")

Kes, in the midst of her first expression of mental ability

Shortly after joining the crew , Kes began to exhibit some of the mental powers her species had long since lost. She experienced a telepathic vision of the devastation of a nearby planet by a polaric ion explosion. She also started to exhibit temporal telepathy while investigating the disaster, eventually locating the exact spot where Captain Janeway died. Even after the explosion was averted and the timeline containing the disaster completely unraveled, her vision not only remained, but became more vivid. ( VOY : " Time and Again ")

Kes quickly settled in to life aboard Voyager and began growing vegetables in her hydroponics bay. She also began to study medicine under The Doctor in order to become The Doctor's nurse . When Neelix was attacked by the Vidiians and they removed his lungs, she donated one of her own to save his life. After the operation, The Doctor allowed her to commence training to become his medical assistant . ( VOY : " Phage ")

Soon Kes started to help The Doctor in sickbay. She was shocked at the way The Doctor was treated by the crew. After explaining the situation to Captain Janeway , the captain agreed with her. Janeway told The Doctor that he was a member of the crew and she gave him control of the deactivation of his program. The Doctor found Kes' intellectual curiosity intriguing, and in the course of instructing her in her medical studies, he postulated that Kes had an eidetic memory . ( VOY : " Eye of the Needle ") With Kes acting as his medical assistant, this gave Voyager a physician that could act as a medic in cases where patients couldn't be immediately transferred to sickbay, also allowing The Doctor to be kept offline rather than be constantly activated to deal with any minor injuries. Despite her respect for his lessons, Kes also lectured The Doctor on his bedside manner; when The Doctor programmed a holographic "flu" to better his bedside manner, Kes secretly modified it to last longer than the expected duration, telling him that "it wouldn't be an effective lesson" if he knew when his illness would end. ( VOY : " Tattoo ")

Kes realizes she has been eating the spawn beetles in her airponics bay

In late 2371 , Voyager encountered a swarm of space-dwelling lifeforms whose presence resulted in increased electrophoretic activity in the atmosphere. At the same time, Kes began exhibiting strange behavior, such as developing a big appetite and eating copious amounts of food – from mashed potatoes , flowers , to the dirt from soil and even the bugs she used in her airponics bay for cross-pollination. Neelix caught her devouring a combination of these foods and was worried that she might have poisoned herself. She resisted being taken to sickbay , stating that she just couldn't stop eating. The Doctor examined her and discovered that she had an elevated temperature and increased electrophoretic activity. However, he was unsure as to what exactly was causing her symptoms.

Kes goes through the Elogium

Before long, Kes barricaded herself behind a force field in The Doctor's office, running a dangerously high fever and developing a growth on her back. Captain Janeway, whom Kes trusted the most, was called in. She explained to her that the growth on her back was the sac where her child would grow. She revealed that she was going through the Elogium , a time of change, during which her body prepared for fertilization. Janeway tried to explain to her that Humans go through a similar process called puberty , but Kes was panicking because she was simply too young for the Elogium, as it usually happened between the ages of four and five and she wasn't even two years old yet. As Janeway tried to console her, Kes pointed out that the Elogium only occurred once – and if she was ever going to have a child, it had to be now. This left Kes and Neelix with the tough decision of deciding whether to have a child. Neelix in particular was unsure whether he was ready to be a father, which in turn left Kes somewhat disappointed because she wanted to mate with him. Even though Kes later decided to not conceive, The Doctor believed that the Elogium was a false alarm, probably set in motion by the swarm they encountered, and that she was still able to conceive again at the right age. ( VOY : " Elogium ")

The second year [ ]

In 2372, the Bothans attacked Voyager with a bio-electric field that caused the crew to experience hallucinations. It put the crew under some kind of psychoactive trance which disabled the ship. Kes' telepathic abilities allow her to resist the Bothans and to restore the crew to normal. ( VOY : " Persistence of Vision ")

Later that year, Voyager found a second Ocampa colony in a second array under the guidance of Suspiria , the Caretaker's female counterpart. These Ocampa had advanced telepathic abilities and their leader, Tanis , tutored her while secretly plotting with Suspiria to take Voyager . When she demonstrated her new skills to Tuvok, she accidentally boiled the water in his body and he was severely injured. Nevertheless, he said she should continue her training under Tanis, who told Kes to join them. Tanis encouraged her to pursue destructive abilities, inducing her to incinerate the plants in hydroponics. When Suspiria attacked the crew in revenge for the Caretaker's death, Kes attacked Tanis telepathically and Janeway deployed a non-lethal toxin to disable her. Being shown mercy caused Suspiria to leave with Tanis; his departure caused Kes' power to return to its previous level. She was disturbed by the harm she did with her enhanced abilities; Tuvok told her that she must learn to control, rather than fear, such impulses. ( VOY : " Cold Fire ")

Voyager passed through a divergence field that caused all sensor readings to double and every particle on the ship, except antimatter, to duplicate forming a second Voyager and crew. The field caused extensive damage to the first Voyager . Kes vanished in a mysterious void, Harry Kim was sucked out into space and Samantha Wildman 's baby died. Kes led Janeway back to the void to take her back to her ship. When the Vidiians attacked, they killed the duplicate Kes and they themselves were destroyed when the duplicate Voyager self-destructed, but not before Kim returned with Wildman's baby to the other Voyager . ( VOY : " Deadlock ")

Kes, along with the rest of the crew, was marooned on Hanon IV after the Kazon had captured the ship. She was captured by the primitive tribe on the planet who were amazed at her blond hair and light skin. Chakotay later rescued her. ( VOY : " Basics, Part II ")

The last year on Voyager [ ]

On a visit to the Nechani homeworld, Kes was struck by an energy burst that put her into a coma . She had wandered into a sanctuary into which only monks were allowed. She was saved by Janeway, who went through a series of tests of faith. ( VOY : " Sacred Ground ")

Tieran, as he appeared in his mental confrontation with Kes

One of the most troubling episodes in Kes' life occurred in 2373, when her body was taken over by the Ilari Tieran . Although he found her physically weak, he discovered that he was able to put her budding psychokinetic abilities to dangerous uses and grew fond of her body. For the first few days, he concealed his presence and even ended Kes' relationship with Neelix.

After killing the Autarch 's representative and Ensign Martin , he returned to Ilari and staged a coup , killing the ruling autarch. During the next few days, Kes fought him mentally, causing increasingly erratic behavior. She even surfaced at one point, with the help of Tuvok, but she was unable to remove Tieran's influence.

Kes-Tieran slowly getting to Tuvok

As a civil war broke out on the planet, the crew of Voyager rescued Kes but failed to prevent Tieran from taking Ameron as a new host, although he was driven out of Ameron and destroyed a short time later. Kes found the experience difficult to comprehend and blamed herself for the high death toll. It was clear that her time with Tieran had shaken her badly. ( VOY : " Warlord ")

Possibly as a result of her experience with Tieran, Kes began to question her continued presence on Voyager . She chose not to restart her relationship with Neelix and began to pursue other relationships instead. The first of these was with a Mikhal Traveler named Zahir . She fell in love with Zahir during a stay at one of their outposts , and seriously considered his offer to explore space with him rather than stay on Voyager . Meanwhile, The Doctor, who was experimenting with his matrix, caused an evil side to emerge. He became jealous of her suitor, attacked Zahir, and kidnapped Kes. During their time together, Kes realized that the "dark Doctor" was not truly evil; despite his claims that all organics were pathetic, he seemed to care for Kes in a twisted manner. Despite this, when cornered by an away team searching for them, rather than be captured, the 'dark Doctor' jumped off a cliff with Kes. They were saved by the transporter beam as the dark subroutines in The Doctor's program finally collapsed, resulting in him being back to normal when he returned to Voyager . Eventually, she decided to remain with her friends. ( VOY : " Darkling ")

Leaving the ship [ ]

A few weeks later, Voyager entered the core space of the Borg and stumbled across the Borg-Species 8472 War . As a result of the telepathic nature of Species 8472 , Kes began to experience visions of the future, and later began to communicate with the race. When they realized her nature, Species 8472 began reading Kes' memories. The communications ceased when the species retreated from the Delta Quadrant. ( VOY : " Scorpion ")

Kes becomes non-corporeal

Only a few days later, Kes began to undergo a massive surge in her mental powers. Although it was theorized that the exposure to Species 8472 caused these changes, there was little evidence for this. For whatever reason, Kes became telekinetic and was able to carry out delicate surgical procedures using only her mind. Unfortunately, she rapidly started to destabilize at the subatomic level and was causing massive damage to Voyager as a result. Taking a Class 2 shuttle , she left the ship to explore her new condition and, as she left the corporeal world behind, pushed Voyager out of Borg space, 9,500 light years closer to Earth , as a parting gift. ( VOY : " The Gift ")

Return to Voyager [ ]

Kes in 2376

In the original sequence of events in 2376 , Voyager received a distress call from a small ship . Sensors revealed that the ship had one Ocampan lifeform on board. It was an aged Kes, who requested to be beamed aboard Voyager . When Janeway questioned her motives, Kes responded by ramming Voyager with her ship and boarding the Starfleet vessel. In her old age, Kes had forgotten she had chosen to leave Voyager and thought the crew had abandoned her when she had become too troublesome. Subsequently, she hunted down Voyager , seeking revenge. She made her way to engineering , using her powers to cause extensive damage along the way. When she reached engineering, Kes murdered B'Elanna Torres and used the warp core 's energy to enhance her powers and travel back to 2371, shortly after Voyager had become trapped in the Delta Quadrant. She attempted to prevent her younger self from developing her powers, making a deal with the Vidiians to attack and capture the ship, while taking the younger Kes back to Ocampa. This attempt was thwarted by Captain Janeway, who had been alerted to the possibility of time travel as Tuvok had been experiencing 'flash-forwards' due to exposure to tachyon particles caused by the presence of the future Kes, ranging from mentioning the Delta Flyer around four years before its construction or witnessing Naomi Wildman before her mother announced her pregnancy. In a confrontation in the airoponics bay, Janeway was forced to kill the older Kes when she was knocked off-balance during a Vidiian attack. She and Tuvok subsequently explained the situation to Kes of the present, who recorded a hologram that would dissuade the Kes of 2376 from making the time jump.

Kes returns to Ocampa

In the new version of 2376, Kes once again assaulted the ship, but Janeway was able to divert the crew from Kes's path, minimizing the damage she inflicted on the ship. When she reached engineering, she found the warp core off-line. A hologram that Kes had recorded of herself before leaving Voyager was activated. The holographic image reminded her that she was responsible for her own fate. Kes responded emotionally and ceased hostilities. Janeway offered her a place on the crew but she refused, opting instead to return to her homeworld. ( VOY : " Fury ")

Telepathic abilities [ ]

Tuvok and Chakotay were attacked by an alien while returning from an away mission . After the two were beamed aboard, strange things started happening to the ship, with different crewmembers implicated as the culprits. Kes informed Janeway that she sensed an alien on board. Tuvok attempted a mind meld with her to help with her telepathic abilities in order to find the alien. It ended in failure when both were disabled by an energy surge like the one that hit Tuvok and Chakotay (although, this was later revealed to be a lie; in reality, Kes had been knocked out by Tuvok, who was possessed by an alien being at the time). ( VOY : " Cathexis ")

Kes marvels at the Ocampan-accelerated growth rate of her plants in the airponics bay

Kes' native telepathic powers continued to grow during her time in space, and she received training from Tuvok to control her powers. When Voyager encountered another group of Ocampa and the entity Suspiria , Kes' powers increased so fast that she began to lose control of them, incinerating the hydroponics bay and nearly killing Tuvok due to her new power of pyrokinesis. Fortunately, she saw how twisted these Ocampa had become and used her powers to fight them off. With the escape of Suspiria, her powers returned to their normal levels. ( VOY : " Cold Fire ")

In an artificially-created hallucination, it was Kes who telepathically sensed that Janeway's spirit was still present on Voyager , but attempts by Tuvok and Kes to make contact with her failed. Janeway soon learned that she was simply being pursued by an alien who was trying to convince her that she was dead and wanted her energy to feed off. ( VOY : " Coda ")

At the end of the year during the battle with the Borg and Species 8472 , she could sense Species 8472. She warned an away team that they are about to be attacked by the aliens, and was able to determine that Species 8472 was planning an invasion of the Delta Quadrant . ( VOY : " Scorpion ")

Personal relationships [ ]

Romance [ ].

Although initially her relationship with Neelix was a romantic one, it seemed to cool during the trip on Voyager . Neelix was the first non-Ocampa that Kes met and she was enthralled with the stories he told about his adventures.

Her friendly behavior with Paris initially caused a confrontation between Neelix and Paris, the former being driven by a somewhat irrational jealousy towards the latter. While stranded together on a planet termed " Planet Hell " after a shuttle crash, they resolved their differences and began a solid friendship. Kes was aggravated by Neelix' jealousy and hurt by the implication that he didn't trust her or would suspect her friends of getting between them. ( VOY : " Parturition ")

During late 2372 , Kes suffered a major personal loss after a transporter accident claimed the lives of Neelix and Tuvok. In their place was a new combined entity that called himself Tuvix and declared his love for Kes. Though deeply troubled by the loss and by this declaration of love, she worked hard to become friends with Tuvix. When Captain Janeway and The Doctor found a method of separating him, Tuvix asked Kes to intercede in an effort to save his own existence. Ultimately, Kes asked the opposite, giving in to her desperation to have Neelix and Tuvok back. ( VOY : " Tuvix ")

Alien creatures that attached to Voyager had strange effects on Kes. She became prematurely fertile, which Ocampa do only once in a lifetime. If she ever wanted a baby she had to conceive while she was in this cycle. Neelix's reluctance to start a family upset Kes because she had always assumed she would have a child someday; Neelix, with his itinerant lifestyle, had never seriously considered the possibility. However, Kes began questioning her own readiness to become a parent even as Neelix came around to the idea. The elogium ended when the creatures were returned to their mother and The Doctor hypothesized that Kes would be able to reenter the elogium at the normal time. ( VOY : " Elogium ")

Following her possession by Tieran , Kes and Neelix broke up; although this was initially caused by Tieran, it has been speculated that Tieran was partially motivated by Kes' own subconscious desires, explaining why she never got back together with the Talaxian. Despite this, the two remained close friends. Neelix later joked that Kes broke up with him because of his cooking. ( VOY : " Warlord ", " The Gift ")

Kes encountered Zahir , one of the Mikhal Travelers , while visiting their outpost in 2373. Clearly attracted by his youthful good looks, intelligence, sensitivity and bravery, she spent much time with him – including a moonlit walk and at least one shared kiss – to the detriment of her duties aboard Voyager .

Zahir was equally attracted to Kes and invited her to travel with him aboard his ship for a few weeks, and initially she accepted his offer despite concerns on the part of Captain Janeway, who reminded Kes of her obligations as Voyager' s assistant medical officer, and Lieutenant Tuvok, who questioned Zahir's choice of route and his apparently reckless approach towards travel. Zahir assured Tuvok that, having fallen in love with Kes, he considered her safety on the trip to be of paramount importance.

The trip was postponed when Zahir was attacked and seriously injured by The Doctor's evil alter ego. Kes remained at Zahir's side throughout his initial convalescence, showing great concern; shortly afterwards, when she was kidnapped by the malfunctioning Doctor, Zahir assisted Chakotay and Tuvok in their rescue efforts. Having been rescued, Kes decided to remain with Voyager as it continued on its journey home. ( VOY : " Darkling ")

Friendships [ ]

The doctor [ ].

From the start, Kes treated The Doctor as an individual rather than a tool and encouraged others to do the same. She volunteered to be his assistant after he performed a lifesaving procedure on Neelix and was quickly disturbed by the way the rest of the crew treated him. She did much to improve his ability to relate to the crew and advocated on his behalf to Captain Janeway. At times, her help could be devious; when he gave himself a 29-hour Levodian flu , she secretly extended the length of the subroutine to give him empathy for the sense of helplessness and anxiety that real patients have. ( VOY : " Eye of the Needle ", " Tattoo ")

Kes' efforts evidently had a powerful effect on him; when his program suffered damage and he began to hallucinate that he was his creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman , his hallucination included a Human Kes as his wife. Only the real Kes was aware of this, deciding to keep it between the two of them in case Neelix became jealous. ( VOY : " Projections ")

The Doctor massages Kes' feet during her Elogium

Over time, The Doctor and Kes gradually settled into an almost father-daughter role, with The Doctor teaching Kes as a medical assistant. Kes also trusted The Doctor enough to perform the role of her father in the rolissisin , a foot massage that was a precursor to the mating ritual, commonly marking the change in relationship between father and child as the child became a parent herself. ( VOY : " Elogium ")

When a Vidiian scientist , Danara Pel , was beamed onto Voyager dying from the Phage , he transferred her synaptic pattern to a holobuffer and created a holographic body for her without the ravages of the Phage. Kes encouraged The Doctor to tell Pel about his feelings for her, and she subsequently worked with Tom Paris to set The Doctor and Pel up on a date in the holodeck. ( VOY : " Lifesigns ")

The next year Kes helped save The Doctor's matrix when, due to his program having been active for far longer than it was designed for, he began to lose his memories and skills as a doctor. After Torres activated a hologram of Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, he explained that The Doctor had been online too long and was deteriorating. Kes persuaded Dr. Zimmerman to graft his matrix onto The Doctor, restoring his mental capabilities. ( VOY : " The Swarm ") Although Kes served as The Doctor's mentor in becoming an individual, he also considered her to be in need of guidance and could be resentful when her attention was distracted from helping him. When she became distracted by her mutual attraction with Zahir , The Doctor was rude and abrupt out of a fear that she would abandon him. When The Doctor's program developed a secondary, evil personality, the 'Dark Doctor' still appeared to care for Kes in a twisted fashion. He tried to kill Zahir because he wanted Kes to remain on the ship, but he also claimed, when he kidnapped her, that she needed his help due to her naiveté. ( VOY : " The Swarm ", " Darkling ")

Tom Paris [ ]

Tom Paris with Kes

As Kes' role on the crew developed, Tom Paris began to develop feelings for her; in an alternate future, he admitted that he'd had a crush on her from the moment she joined the crew. Paris introduced her to new forms of food and drink, including spinach juice (with a touch of pear ) which she enjoyed. ( VOY : " Eye of the Needle ") At her second birthday party, he sacrificed two weeks' worth of replicator rations to give her a beautiful locket as a present. ( VOY : " Twisted ")

To Tom's consternation, his feelings for her grew when he became her flight instructor, prompting a brief conflict between him and Neelix, but the two of them resolved their differences after saving an alien infant together. ( VOY : " Parturition ") Kes and Paris were also closely involved in helping The Doctor cope with relationships; the two of them helped The Doctor arrange a date with Danara Pel, a Vidiian The Doctor had developed feelings for. When Paris left the ship as part of a ploy to expose a Kazon spy , Kes was one of the three people who came to say goodbye to him directly. ( VOY : " Investigations ")

In an alternate future, Kes and Paris married during the " Year of Hell " conflict, following the death of B'Elanna Torres. They had a daughter, Linnis Paris , who married Harry Kim and had a son called Andrew Kim . This timeline was erased when exposure to temporal radiation sent Kes traveling back in time from the moment of her death until she was cured of the radiation during her return to her third year on the ship, and any feelings she may have developed for Paris in the course of her jumps were never fully explored before she finally departed the ship. ( VOY : " Before and After ")

Tuvok became Kes' mentor and tutor in establishing her mental abilities. He used mind melds in order to teach her to control her powers, but sometimes became "frustrated" (as much as any Vulcan could) with her "emotional outbursts", such as giggling, when she used her abilities. Nevertheless, they were close companions and Tuvok grew to respect her. When she was disturbed by the dark turn her abilities took under the influence of Tanis and Suspiria , Tuvok understood because of the violent impulses he carried and told her that the way to cope with it was to control it rather than fear it. ( VOY : " Cold Fire ")

Kes relied on Tuvok's steady guidance and was deeply conflicted by the creation of Tuvix. Without his spiritual guidance or Neelix's emotional support she had nobody to help her and asked Janeway to separate them. Later, when Kes was taken over by the warlord Tieran, Tuvok attempted to help her break his control using a mindmeld. Tieran attempted to seduce him with Kes' body but he denied ever having such feelings for his student. ( VOY : " Tuvix ", " Warlord ")

When Kes considered leaving the ship for a few weeks with Zahir, Tuvok met with the man privately to express his concern over Zahir's travel plan. He also reminded Kes not to forget her duties, although he did not discourage the relationship itself. ( VOY : " Darkling ")

Tuvok was alarmed by the sudden surge in Kes' powers and believed it would be dangerous for her to fully express them, particularly when she began seeing and altering matter on a subatomic level. As she began to warp the structure of the ship itself, Tuvok attempted unsuccessfully to ground her through a mindmeld and it became necessary for her to leave the ship. After her departure and "gift" to Voyager , Tuvok dressed in traditional Vulcan robes and lit his meditation candle in the window in honor of her. ( VOY : " The Gift ")

Kathryn Janeway [ ]

As the captain of Voyager , Kes came to see Janeway as a kind of mother figure, with Janeway reciprocating this affection. During the premature elogium, Kes would only speak to Janeway after barricading herself in Sickbay. ( VOY : " Elogium ") Janeway shared Kes' feeling that she needed to live her brief life to the fullest. Despite Kes' youth, Janeway readily listened to her advice and considered her input valuable enough to include her in staff meetings.

When Janeway experienced an illusory experience of her own death, her first thought was to try and provoke a response from Kes' telepathic abilities. The inability of "Kes" to sense her presence made her think she might really be dead. ( VOY : " Coda ") Janeway also had the most positive reaction to the relationship with Zahir. Although she told Kes to think over the decision carefully, she understood Kes' desire to have varied and complicated experiences in her life. ( VOY : " Darkling ")

When Kes decided to leave Voyager , she exchanged an emotional hug with Janeway before she left ( VOY : " The Gift "). Although a version of Janeway from her first year in Voyager was forced to kill a future version of Kes who had become warped with rage and grief since leaving the ship, when Janeway 'caught up' with the timeframe where that future Kes had travelled back from, Janeway took steps to prevent herself having to go through such an experience again, making a recording of the younger Kes to remind her future self of the reasons she joined the crew and asking Kes not to force Janeway to kill the Ocampan a second time ( VOY : " Fury ").

Alternate Kes [ ]

Holograms [ ].

A holographic Kes as a Human

Kes was holographically duplicated at least three times:

• Recreations of crew members from Voyager and the Jupiter Station Holoprogramming Center were seen by The Doctor during a holographic malfunction in 2371 . This simulation, or daydream, contained a Human Kes who was married to Lewis Zimmerman . ( VOY : " Projections ")
• The entire crew of Voyager was recreated by Tuvok from his Insurrection Alpha program, including Kes. ( VOY : " Worst Case Scenario ")
• Janeway and Tuvok created a holographic recording of Kes in 2371 after encountering her future self from 2376 , using the hologram when the future Kes attacked Voyager in order to convince the older Kes to stand down by reminding her of her original reasons for traveling with Voyager . ( VOY : " Fury ")

Alternate realities and timelines [ ]

Kes giving birth to Linnis

In one possible timeline , Voyager was badly damaged during the " Year of Hell " conflict with the Krenim and the crew were exposed to chronitons . Kes lived through these events and eventually married Tom Paris, Torres having died during the conflict. They had a daughter together called Linnis who, like her mother, grew up very rapidly. Linnis then married Harry Kim, giving Kes a grandson, Andrew Kim.

Eventually, Kes passed nine years of age and began aging rapidly as she entered the morilogium , the final phase of Ocampan life. To save her, The Doctor placed her in a bio-temporal chamber in an attempt to make her cells younger. This procedure reactivated the dormant chronitons and the resulting temporal destabilization sent Kes back along her timeline, altering it along the way as she discussed her memories of the future.

The effect was halted in late 2373 when The Doctor used antichronitons to stabilize Kes; in her previous jump she had taken energy readings of the torpedo that had infected her, allowing The Doctor to work out a means of countering her infection. Over the next few days, her two sets of memories (one set from the past, up to 2373; and one set from the future, back from 2379 ) became a single coherent set. As a result of her experience, Kes was able to warn Captain Janeway of the danger posed by the Krenim. ( VOY : " Before and After ")

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• " Caretaker "
• " Parallax "
• " Time and Again "
• " The Cloud "
• " Eye of the Needle "
• " Ex Post Facto "
• " Emanations "
• " Prime Factors "
• " State of Flux "
• " Heroes and Demons "
• " Cathexis "
• " Learning Curve "
• " The 37's "
• " Initiations "
• " Projections "
• " Elogium "
• " Twisted "
• " Parturition "
• " Persistence of Vision "
• " Cold Fire "
• " Maneuvers "
• " Prototype "
• " Alliances "
• " Threshold "
• " Dreadnought "
• " Death Wish "
• " Lifesigns "
• " Investigations "
• " Deadlock "
• " Innocence "
• " The Thaw "
• " Resolutions "
• " Basics, Part I "
• " Basics, Part II "
• " Flashback "
• " The Chute "
• " The Swarm "
• " False Profits "
• " Remember "
• " Sacred Ground "
• " Future's End "
• " Future's End, Part II "
• " Warlord "
• " The Q and the Grey "
• " Macrocosm "
• " Fair Trade "
• " Alter Ego "
• " Blood Fever "
• " Darkling "
• " Favorite Son "
• " Before and After "
• " Real Life "
• " Distant Origin "
• " Displaced "
• " Worst Case Scenario "
• " Scorpion "
• " Scorpion, Part II "
• " The Gift "

Background information [ ]

Kes was played by actress Jennifer Lien . Janna Michaels played the young Kes in the episode " Before and After ". The infant Kes in that episode was a live baby. The "double" Kes in " Fury " was played by photo double and stand-in Amy Kate Connolly .

Whereas an initial notion of this character was included in a handwritten short list of characters which Jeri Taylor wrote and dated 30 July 1993 (as it mentioned the term "androgynous"), a more significant early outline of the character concept was written in a subsequent series of Taylor's developmental notes, dated 3 August 1993 . That outline stated, " The alien 'scout' for the ship, whom we meet after we've been zapped to the ends of the galaxy. A female (or male or androgynous) with a life span of only seven years. We first meet her as a young woman; she will age every half season and progress into old age. Each day is a joy to her; she lives in the moment and cherishes every hour. " Originating in the same outline was the practice of the character and her species being referred to as a "Mayfly", a type of insect known for its extremely short lifespan. ( A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager , pp. 175 & 176-177)

An early production name for Kes was "Dah". (" The 37's " text commentary ; A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager ) In the script for VOY : " Caretaker ", Kes was described as " an Ocampa female […] She has a dazzling, ethereal beauty, waifish and fragile. But Kes is not frail: there is a dignity to her bearing, an alertness in her look, that suggests a being of powerful intelligence. "

A runner-up for the role of Kes was Jennifer Gatti . ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages , p. 156)

Portraying Kes was highly enjoyable for Jennifer Lien. On 18 November 1994 , she said, " It's a joy to pretend to be this extraordinary creature, so open and everything so new. No sort of cynicism or precociousness or pretentiousness or sarcasm; none of the usual young, female [qualities]. It's good, it's very good. " ( Cast Reflections: Season One , VOY Season 1 DVD special feature)

Jennifer Lien wore short-haired wigs as Kes until midway through the third season , when she reverted to using her own long, blonde hair. This was seen for the first time in " Before and After ". The wigs were initially used to give Kes a more elfin look, but the revert to using Lien's own hair in part was to give Kes a more grown-up look, and in part to prevent Lien from having to always wear the Ocampan ears.

The decision to lose Kes as a main character was, according to Executive Producers Rick Berman and Jeri Taylor , simply because the character had not seemed to be working successfully, despite several attempts to make the character work. ( Braving the Unknown: Season Four , VOY Season 4 DVD ) Berman also cited her relationship with Neelix as a certain stumbling block, saying it "didn't work out that well." ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 114 , p. 12) According to Taylor, the executives of Paramount Pictures were also involved in the decision to lose Kes from the series. " The studio felt that we had too many characters, " she explained. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 113) This was especially the case, in light of the decision to introduce Seven of Nine into the series. Berman noted that the decision to lose Kes as a main character was "simultaneous" with the decision to introduce Seven. ( Braving the Unknown: Season Four , VOY Season 4 DVD ) Berman also stated, " Rather than adding another new character to our existing cast, we decided to replace one because we had so many people to start with. " ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 114 , p. 12) Co-Producer Brannon Braga was a little bit more harsh on himself and his creative staff, when he stated at the 2014 VegasCon, " To my recollection it was a creative decision and it was failure of imagination on the writers' part. We were running out of things to do with Kes. We had to make room in the budget for a new character in the cast so there was a pragmatic reason but it was primarily a creative decision. " [1]

Indeed, some of Star Trek: Voyager 's writing staff was regretful about Kes leaving the series. Joe Menosky remarked, " It was unfortunate that Kes had to be kissed off. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 30, No. 9/10, p. 78) Kenneth Biller similarly remembered, " I was a little bit regretful when Kes left the show, because I thought she was an interesting character to write for – from a science fiction standpoint – because she had certain… she had telepathic abilities, she had this very compressed lifespan, she had things about her character that often lent themselves to interesting storytelling […] We lost something in losing the Kes character. " ( Braving the Unknown: Season Four , VOY Season 4 DVD ) Jeri Taylor was another writing staffer who expressed unhappiness about Kes' departure, noting, " I was very sorry to lose her. " ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 36 , p. 11) Taylor, however, wasn't surprised by the incident. " In season 3 or 4 of a series, very often people go and people come, so it wasn't that unexpected an event, " she reasoned. ( Braving the Unknown: Season Four , VOY Season 4 DVD )

It is not known what became of Kes after the final encounter she had with Voyager in " Fury ". Given her elderly appearance and the normal Ocampan lifespan of nine years, it can be presumed that she passed away in or just before 2379 and thus shortly after Voyager 's return to the Alpha Quadrant, although it is possible that she found a way to prolong her life through her considerably advanced mental abilities.

Her " Tieran " costume from the third season episode " Warlord " was later sold off at the Profiles in History auction. [2] [3]

Apocrypha [ ]

In the Voyager trilogy Dark Matters , a version of Kes appears throughout the novel to gather the mutated dark matter that is the cause of the current crisis, initially known as the 'Entity' as she has lost specific knowledge of her past identity through ascending to her new level of existence until she regains it while visiting some of Voyager 's past destinations. At the conclusion of the novel, she contemplates making contact with the crew, but is warned by one of the Shepherds (a race assisting Voyager in this crisis) that she is actually an alternate version of the Kes that the crew are familiar with, as this Kes never experienced the events of " Fury ", and decides not to make direct contact with this Voyager , although Tuvok briefly senses her presence before she departs.

In the Voyager novel String Theory Evolution , Kes was called to Ocampa's distant past to help The Doctor and Q oversee the birth of an Ocampa/Nacene hybrid; the Ocampan mother lacked the life energy to carry the child to term, so Kes 'merged' with the woman to act as a kind of surrogate. This also revealed that the Kes who attacked Voyager in " Fury " was not actually the future Kes, but was instead the personification of the anger and rage in Kes' soul, created when she was forced to separate herself from the Ocampan with whom she had merged while fighting a rogue Nacene. As a result of the improper separation, Kes' "dark side" merged with the body of the Ocampan, although the spirit of the Ocampan herself passed on peacefully. Kes subsequently returned to Ocampa, where she and the hybrid were able to bring rain to the planet once more.

In the Voyager short story "Restoration", Kes used her newly-returned powers in 2377 to regenerate Ocampa's energies, returning the planet to a blissful and fertile state with the atmosphere restored, but killing her in the process.

She is confirmed to still be alive in the novel The Eternal Tide , where she works with Q's son to restore Janeway to life after she is assimilated by the Borg , Q helping Janeway restore her body while Kes helps her repair the damage that she had suffered prior to death so that Janeway is restored to her most 'perfect' state.

Her mirror universe counterpart ( β ) appeared in the novella The Mirror-Scaled Serpent , the short story "Bitter Fruit" contained in the anthology Shards and Shadows and the novel Rise Like Lions .

External links [ ]

• Kes at StarTrek.com
• Kes at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Kes at Wikipedia
• 2 Reaction control thruster

Star Trek: Voyager - Why Jennifer Lien's Kes Left in Season 4

Kes was a member of the Star Trek: Voyager crew, but in Season 4, the character departs the show after the introduction of Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine.

Star Trek: Voyager premiered in 1995 and as the fifth installment in the franchise. The show, which ran for seven seasons, follows the adventures of Captain Katheryn Janeway ( Kate Mulgrew ) and the crew of the USS Voyager, who are stranded 70,000 light-years from Earth in the Delta Quadrant. On their journey home, the crew meets many allies and enemies , including an Ocampan named Kes (Jennifer Lien) and a Talaxian named Neelix (Ethan Phillips), who later became valued members of the crew. However, in the show's fourth season, Kes is written out the series and replaced by Jeri Ryan's popular character Seven of Nine , an ex-drone rescued from the Borg Collective by Voyager. Here's who Kes was and why she left the show.

Who was Star Trek: Voyager's Kes?

Kes is a telepathic humanoid species with a nine-year lifespan called an Ocampan. Kes lived in the Delta Quadrant and are cared for by an entity known as the Caretaker. When the Voyager crew encounters her, Kes is a captive of an aggressive species of warriors known as the Kazon. With help from Neelix, the crew rescues Kes and welcomes her as one of their own. It took some time for Kes to adjust to this new life in space, but she was always willing to lend an ear to any crew member who needed it, and she sometimes accompanied Janeway and the other officers on away missions due to her knowledge of the Delta Quadrant. Kes wanted to contribute to the crew, so she introduced the hydroponics bay and grew fruits and vegetables. She also began studying medicine under the ship's holographic Doctor (Robert Picardo), and her kindness and positive outlook helped the Doctor develop a friendlier nature.

Related:  Star Trek: The Next Generation - Why Denise Crosby's Tasha Yar Left After Season 1

One of Kes' most significant storylines came from her acquisition of various mental abilities thought long lost by her people, including telepathic visions and telekinesis. The ship's science officer, a Vulcan named Tuvok (Tim Russ), helped Kes study and hone her newfound powers. When Voyager enters Borg space, the crew encounters both the Borg but also a lifeform called Species 8472, which inhabited an area of fluidic space and engaged in a war with the Borg when they attempted to invade and assimilate them. Kes makes a telepathic connection with Species 8472, who probe her mind and unlock even more abilities for the Ocampan. Unfortunately, this proved too much power for Kes to handle, and she began to destabilize, accidentally destroying parts of the ship. Janeway  helps Kes escape from Voyager , and the Ocampan uses the last of her powers to push the ship beyond Borg space and over 9,000 light-years closer to home.

Why did Jennifer Lien leave Voyager?

Lien left the show because Kes's character wasn't working the way producers Rick Berman and Jeri Taylor initially envisioned. According to Taylor, the studio also weighed in on her fate. "The studio felt that we had too many characters," she said in Braving the Unknown , a special feature on the fourth season DVD. The size of the cast became a problem when Voyager introduced Seven of Nine to help boost declining ratings. During the 2014 VegasCon, producer Brannon Braga said Kes' departure was a failure of imagination on the writers' part. "We were running out of things to do with Kes. We had to make room in the budget for a new character in the cast so there was a pragmatic reason but it was primarily a creative decision," he said.

An angry and older Kes would later return in Voyager's sixth season. In an episode called "Fury," Kes attempts to change the timeline, blaming Voyager for leaving her alone and frightened in the Delta Quadrant. In the end, Janeway (and a younger version of Kes) helps her see what a valued member of the crew she was during her time on the ship and that leaving her behind was a difficult decision. Kes and Janeway have an emotional  goodbye, and she departs the ship once and for all to return to her people.

Keep Reading: Star Trek: The Next Generation - Why Diana Muldaur's Katherine Pulaski Left After Season 2

The Story Of Why One Of Star Trek: Voyager's Most Divisive Characters Left The Show

In January 1995, Paramount launched the United Paramount Network, a brand-new TV station with a massive lineup of original shows. Its original 1995 lineup included thrillers like "Marker," "Deadly Games," "Nowhere Man," and "The Watcher," as well as sitcoms like "Platypus Man," and "Pig Sty." The UPN's flagship program was a brand new "Star Trek" series called "Star Trek: Voyager," the fifth series in the franchise and the first to launch after the end of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" the year before. The premise essentially mixed "Star Trek" with "Lost in Space," throwing a ship called the U.S.S. Voyager clear across the galaxy, about 75 years from Earth. Facing limited resources and no backup from Starfleet — none of the local aliens had ever heard of the Federation before — the ship faced a long journey home. 

In the pilot episode, the crew of the Voyager took on a pair of local aliens. There was the Talaxian chef Neelix (Ethan Phillips) and his Ocampa girlfriend Kes (Jennifer Lien). Neelix was a jolly hobbit-like character who didn't ever quite understand Starfleet's formalism and propriety. Kes was a gentle, compassionate character who brought a sense of conscience to the show. She was mildly psychic, but was still too young to master her powers. Controversially, her species only had a lifespan of nine years, and while Lien was 20 when "Voyager" debuted, Kes' stated age of two led some to feel Neelix was committing pedophilia. 

Despite being part of a beloved media franchise, "Voyager" floundered in the ratings for its first three seasons. For the fourth season, Kes was replaced by the character Seven of Nine, a statuesque ex-Borg played by Jeri Ryan. Ratings improved thereafter, and Seven became the show's most important character.

But why was Kes targeted?

Why was Kes targeted?

The concept for Kes was interesting. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had lasted seven seasons, and it seemed that "Deep Space Nine" was heading down the same path. If "Voyager" was to follow suit, coming to a conclusion after seven years, then a character who lives nine years would provide an interesting arc. Kes was to be an adolescent at the beginning of the series but would die of old age by the end. An entire person's life would be presented in microcosm, and the crew would have to see Kes through a century of life experience in only seven years. Kes, meanwhile, would have to confront the fact that the Voyager crewmates around her don't appear to be aging at all. 

Kes also provided "Voyager" with a vital sense of ethics. Captain Janeway ( Kate Mulgrew ) was action-oriented and had something of an authoritarian streak . When presented with aliens or ethical dilemmas, Kes was the one who encouraged open-mindedness and empathy. She was the one who first suggested that the ship's holographic doctor (Robert Picardo) might be alive. Picardo once said that he loved Kes as a character , as he taught her medicine, and she taught him humility. Kes wasn't a cold-hearted diplomat, but a calming, gentle presence. She would also eventually develop more agency as the show progressed, dumping Neelix and developing her growing psychic powers. 

On a special feature on the DVD for the fourth season of "Voyager," producer Jeri Taylor said that Paramount thought that the show had too many characters, a fact that fans had postulated for years. The story goes that either Jennifer Lien or Garrett Wang, who played Ensign Harry Kim was going to be fired and replaced. 

People Magazine saved Kim. Lien was not so lucky.

The People Magazine of Destiny

In the third season of "Voyager," increasingly desperate measures were being taken to snag a flagging audience. Guest stars from previous "Star Trek" shows ( Jonathan Frakes , John De Lanice, Dwight Schultz) appeared. The crew's usual holographic hangout of a pool hall was replaced by a bikini beach. It smacked of desperation. 

The show's producers were also at a loss as to how to write stories for Kes and Harry Kim. This was confirmed at a convention in 2014 when "Voyager" co-creator Brannon Braga said: "We were running out of things to do with Kes. We had to make room in the budget for a new character in the cast so there was a pragmatic reason but it was primarily a creative decision." 

So someone was going to be cut, and the cast was going to be reworked. When it came to deciding between Kes and Harry Kim, however, People Magazine saved one of them. A 1997 issue featured a photo of Garrett Wang, declaring him one of the magazine's "Most Beautiful People."  That seems to have given Wang a reprieve and led to Jennifer Lien being fired. 

The "farewell" story for Kes involved her psychic powers. They were growing too strong too quickly, and Kes felt she had to leave the ship to protect her friends. Mulgrew admitted on the "Voyager" DVD that she loved working with Lien, and that when Captain Janeway bid farewell to Kes, the tears were quite real. 

Braga was pitched the idea of adding a Borg to the cast as the intriguing new character replacement. His co-creator Rick Berman said, according to Braga on a featurette for the home release of season 4, to "Make it a Borg babe," and Seven of Nine was created. Given that Jeri Ryan was constantly dressed in a skintight catsuit and corset , she was clearly invented for prurient reasons. 

Jennifer Lien's career

Seven of Nine soon became the primary focus of the series.  Robert Picardo once noted that she was so popular, she began to usurp the kinds of stories that would have once been handed to the Doctor. He also missed having a character like Kes to balance the Doctor, and Picardo suggested that Seven of Nine could perhaps be used in a similar way. No such luck. Seven of Nine became her own entity. Ratings for "Star Trek: Voyager" improved and improved. It, too, lasted seven seasons. 

Jennifer Lien did return to play Kes in a time-travel episode called "Fury" (May 3, 2000). By then, Kes was a destructive, middle-aged psychic. "Fury" was meant to give Kes better closure, but the episode wasn't terribly good. Some even consider it to be one of the worst episodes of the series. 

Lien, meanwhile, gave up on acting shortly thereafter. She would voice a character in the "Men in Black" animated series through 2000, but when her son was born in 2002, she retired altogether. Sadly, Lien's mental health suffered, and, in the mid-2010s, was arrested for several crimes, including ramming a cop car , mooning the neighbors , and driving under the influence . Many of those charges were later dropped. 

Lien did attend a few "Star Trek" conventions after 2000 but has largely retreated from associations with the franchise. The Ocampa are rarely mentioned in extant Trek lore, and Kes is rarely referred to. When the "Voyager" cast reunited in 2020 for a public appearance, Lien was absent. The reasons for her absence can only be conjectured. 

One can merely hope that she's living the life she wants, and is content at home.

Star Trek: Why Did Voyager Get Rid Of Kes?

What happened to the Delta quadrant tag along, and why did the writers decide that Kes needed to go?

Ever since Star Trek first hit the small screen in the 1960s, there have been a plethora of new and exciting iterations into the franchise. Some of these have been more successful than others. For example, the The Original Series has been highly regarded by some, mostly fans who watched it when it was released, but also slated by others for having some pretty wacky plots, and some uncomfortable moments, despite its aim to be diversely groundbreaking . The Next Generation is another that had a large fan base, while programs such Deep Space 9 often divides people, some really enjoying it for it’s grittier look at the problems of the Federation in a time of war, others unable to properly enjoy a standstill story focused on politics.

It is V oyager however, where a lot of fans stand together. Many aren't fond of the program thanks to its boring story telling, dull characters, and mostly nonsensical plot. The first few seasons were the most turbulent, and at the center of it all was poor Kes.

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Kes was an Ocampa, a race of humanoid beings native to the Delta quadrant, where the USS Voyager was whisked away to by the nefarious caretaker's array. The Ocampans are a race of short-lived beings, with a life expectancy of around eight or nine years. As a result of their quick aging, they develop very quickly, being able to learn and process information at a high level all within the first 6 months. By one year of age, they are considered to be adults. Ocampans are also considered natural telepaths, being able to communicate mentally with their own race and the races of others. In the Star Trek universe, telepathy is something that all beings are capable of; some are not born natural gift and others are, like the Betazoids and Vulcans. The Ocampans were also known to harness their ability to see into the future, and present various telekinetic powers.

Kes joins the potential war criminal Captain Katheryn Janeway’s ship right at the start of the series, and became a valued member of the crew. She sticks around for the entire first season, until the episode “The Gift” during season 2. Throughout the story, she becomes more and more in touch with her telepathic abilities, harnessing them in various different ways until she began to give off massive power surges, and her mental powers began to overwhelm her. This is when her telekinetic abilities started coming through more prominently. She manages to use these to perform complex surgery alongside the holographic doctor , using just her mind.

This was great for a short time for this newly almighty character, until she began to destabilize, falling apart at a subatomic level. She started to rip the ship apart, putting it in a constant state of red alert . To save the ship, Kes took a shuttle craft and left, wanting to explore her new powers without hurting anyone. It is heavily suggested that she transcended the corporeal world and became pure energy, similar to the Q in many aspects, but the specifics are left ambiguous.

This is what happened in-universe to Kes, but it’s interesting to explore why this happened. The main crew during Voyager mainly stayed the same, only adding the occasional member to the rotation such as the ex-borg Seven of Nine . Kes was the only one to leave the crew and thus the show, and it all happened rather quickly, only four episodes into the second season. The biggest reason is that the character never really caught on with audiences, being regarded as poorly written and fairly boring. Her character was interesting, and offered a unique lens to look at a whole new way of life from a species that aged so rapidly. However, this all fell flat for fans, as a result of a mixture of what they often refer to as convoluted plot points and poor acting.

The problem with Kes, however was much bigger, her lackluster response being the perfect mirror for review of the show. Voyager was never a fan favorite , but this went two-fold at the start. When it came to Season 2, the writers knew they needed to shake things up a bit. It was a dull meandering voyage, which in some ways is perfect as that sums up exactly what the show was about: a 78-year slog to get home.

Kes’s departure was timed perfectly with the addition of another, the stunningly memorable Seven of Nine (played by Jeri Ryan), a character that has become as iconic as many of the other shows' protagonists. The producers knew they wanted Ryan in the show, and they also wanted to cut an existing character to make room for her. Apparently Gerrett Wang, who played ensign Harry Kim, was at the top of the list of people to go, but they decided to keep him as they thought replacing the show's only Asian character with yet another white actor would not go down too well.

Kes was one of those characters that starts out with a show, but was unable to keep up with the speed and direction the show needed to take. She became more and more extraneous, fading into the background compared to the others and their personal story arcs. This was made all the more apparent in the few episodes she appeared alongside Seven of Nine, the shiny new addition to the show that became an instant success. It’s also rumored that actress Jennifer Lien was unhappy on the show, and may have even been the one to suggest departing, but this is unclear. The decision to replace her with Jeri Ryan was the best choice the writers could have made, with Seven on Nine practically carrying the entire show all the way through the seven remaining seasons.

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Whatever Happened To The Cast Of Star Trek: Voyager?

The third "Star Trek" series to air in the 1990s, "Star Trek: Voyager" was also the flagship series for the all-new Paramount television network UPN. Making its debut in January of 1995, the series saw Captain Kathryn Janeway command the state-of-the-art starship Voyager on a mission to pursue a group of Maquis rebels. However, when a phenomenon envelops them both and hurls them to the distant Delta Quadrant, Starfleet officers and Maquis terrorists become one crew on a perilous journey home.

Despite a few cast shake-ups, "Voyager" ran for seven seasons and featured a consistently stellar ensemble. The series helped launch the careers of several of its lesser-known actors, while others can count the series as the highest point in their filmography. Some walked away from Hollywood after it concluded, while a few have since made big comebacks, returning to the roles that made them famous.

Since it ended in 2001, "Voyager" has aged like fine wine, earning new fans thanks to the magic of streaming where new generations can discover it anew. Whether seeing it for the first time — or even if you're watching it for the umpteenth — you may be wondering where the cast is now. Well, recalibrate the bio-neural gel packs and prep the Delta Flyer for launch because we're here to fill you in on what's happened to the cast of "Star Trek: Voyager."

Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

It's no secret that Kate Mulgrew wasn't the first choice to play Captain Janeway in "Star Trek: Voyager." Academy Award-nominee Geneviève Bujold was famously cast first  but filmed only a few scenes before quitting the show during the production of the series pilot, leading to Mulgrew being brought in. Today it is difficult to imagine anyone else in the role, though it's hardly Mulgrew's only iconic TV series.

Following the show's conclusion in 2001, Mulgrew took a few years off from acting, returning with a small role in the 2005 film "Perception" with Piper Perabo. After a guest appearance on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Mulgrew snagged a recurring role on "The Black Donnellys" in 2007 alongside Jonathan Tucker and Olivia Wilde and another in the short-lived NBC medical drama "Mercy" in 2009. Her return to a main cast, however, came in the Adult Swim series "NTSF:SD:SUV::," where she played an eye patch-wearing leader of an anti-terrorism task force alongside future "Star Trek" star Rebecca Romijn .

Of course, Mulgrew found a major career resurgence in 2013, starring in one of Netflix's earliest forays into original programming, "Orange is the New Black." In the series she stars as Red, an inmate at a women's prison, a role that would earn her an Emmy nomination. Mulgrew returned to "Star Trek" in 2021, voicing both Kathryn Janeway and a holographic version of the character in the Nickelodeon-produced CGI-animated series  "Star Trek: Prodigy."

Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay

Sitting in the chair next to Captain Janeway for seven seasons was Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay, a former Maquis first officer. Though Beltran counts his heritage as Latino, Chakotay was actually the first Native American series regular in the franchise but was sadly under-used, a fact that the actor has  commented on . Following "Star Trek: Voyager," Beltran's work on the small screen was mostly limited to guest appearances, popping up in episodes of "CSI: Miami" and "Medium" in the 2000s while filling roles in movies like "Taking Chances," "Fire Serpent," and "Manticore." 

Beltran's first recurring part on TV after "Voyager" was in the series "Big Love," starring Bill Paxton and Jeanne Tripplehorn. In the series, he played Jerry Flute — another Native American — who has plans to construct a casino on a reservation. However, over the next decade, Beltran seemed to move away from acting, with a sparse handful of minor roles. He revealed on Twitter that he turned down a chance to play Chakotay one more time in the revival series "Star Trek: Picard," as he was unhappy with the part they'd written for him. 

Nevertheless, Beltran did come back to join Kate Mulgrew for the animated children's series "Star Trek: Prodigy." Voicing Chakotay in his triumphant return to the franchise, the series sees the character lost in space and his former captain on a mission to find him.

Tim Russ as Lt. Tuvok

Actor Tim Russ had already made a few guest appearances in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and even the film "Star Trek Generations" before joining the main cast of "Star Trek: Voyager" in 1995. Russ became a fan-favorite as Vulcan Lt. Tuvok, who was later promoted to Lt. Commander. However, after seven seasons playing the stoic, emotionless Tuvok, Russ kept busy with a variety of different roles, mostly guest-starring in popular TV hits.

This includes guest spots in everything from "ER" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" to episodes of "Hannah Montana" and "Without a Trace." He even appeared on the big screen with a small role in "Live Free or Die Hard" in 2007, but it didn't keep him away from TV, as he also had a multi-episode appearance on the hit soap "General Hospital." That same year, Russ joined the main cast of the Christina Applegate comedy "Samantha Who?" and later began working in video games, providing voice work for "Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus" and "The Last of Us Part 2." 

Since then, the actor has kept busy with countless roles in such as "Criminal Minds," "NCIS: New Orleans," "Supergirl," and "The Good Doctor." More recently, Russ turned up in an episode of Seth MacFarlane's "Star Trek" homage "The Orville,"  and in 2023 voiced Lucius Fox in the animated film "Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham."

Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres

On "Star Trek: Voyager," the role of chief engineer was filled by Roxann Dawson who played half-Klingon/half-human B'Elanna Torres. Starting out as a Maquis rebel, she eventually becomes one of the most important members of the crew, as well as a wife and mother. Following her run on the series, Dawson had just a handful of on-screen roles, which included single episodes of "The Closer" and "Without a Trace." That's because, like her franchise cohort  Jonathan Frakes , Dawson moved behind the camera to become a director full-time.

Getting her start overseeing episodes of "Voyager" first, Dawson moved on to helm entries of "Star Trek" spin-off "Enterprise" before broadening to other shows across television. Since 2005, Dawson has directed episodes of some of the biggest hits on TV including "Lost" and "The O.C." in 2006, eight episodes of "Cold Case," a trio of "Heroes" episodes, and more. 

We could go on and on rattling off the hit shows she's sat behind the camera for but among her most notable might be the David Simon HBO series "Treme" in 2011, "Hell on Wheels" with future starship captain Anson Mount, and modern masterpieces like "Bates Motel," "The Americans," and "This is Us." Her most recent work saw her return to sci-fi, helming two episodes of the Apple TV+ series "Foundation."

Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim

Despite never seeing a rise in rank and perpetually remaining a low-level ensign, Harry Kim — played by Garrett Wang – often played a crucial role in defeating many of the enemies the crew would face in the Delta Quadrant. When "Star Trek: Voyager" left the airwaves, though, Wang bounced around, with his biggest role arguably coming in the 2005 Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries "Into the West." He has continued embracing his role as Ensign Kim by appearing at many fan conventions, where he found an entirely new calling. 

Beginning in 2010, Kim embarked on a career as an event moderator, serving as the Master of Ceremonies at that year's FedCon (a science fiction convention held in Germany). Later, he was the Trek Track Director at the celebrated Dragon Con event, held annually in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the course of his new career, Wang has held moderating duties and hosted panels and events at major pop culture conventions in Montreal, Edmonton, Phoenix, and Denver. According to Wang, his biggest role as a moderator came at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo in 2012, where he interviewed the legendary Stan Lee .

In 2020, Wang joined forces with co-star Robert Duncan McNeill to launch "The Delta Flyers," a podcast that discusses classic episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager."

Robert Duncan McNeill as Lt. Tom Paris

Robert Duncan McNeill guest-starred in an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as a hotshot pilot who broke the rules and wound up booted from Starfleet. So when producers developed a similar character, they brought in McNeill to play him, resulting in brash, cavalier helm officer Tom Paris. In 2002, after "Star Trek: Voyager" ended, McNeill starred in an episode of  "The Outer Limits" revival  and a few more small roles. However, like Dawson, McNeill left acting not long after the series ended to become a director and producer, starting with four episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise."

Into the 2000s, McNiell helmed episodes of "Dawson's Creek" and "One Tree Hill" before becoming an executive producer on the action-comedy series "Chuck" starring Zachary Levi. Ultimately he'd direct 21 episodes of that series across its five seasons. From there, McNeill went on to sit behind the camera for installments of "The Mentalist," "Blue Bloods," and "Suits." 

Since the 2010s, McNeill has served as an executive producer on further shows that included "The Gifted," the Disney+ reboot of "Turner & Hooch," and the SyFy series "Resident Alien." In addition to hosting "The Delta Flyers" podcast with co-star Garrett Wang, McNeill came back to "Star Trek" in 2022 when he voiced the character of Tom Paris in a cameo on the animated comedy "Star Trek: Lower Decks."

Ethan Phillips as Neelix

Another actor to appear on "Star Trek" before taking a leading role on "Voyager," Ethan Phillips played the quirky alien chef Neelix for all seven seasons of the show's run. A well-established veteran, his TV roles prior had included dramas like "NYPD Blue" and family hits like "Doogie Howser, M.D." Unfortunately, his role on "Voyager" never translated to big-time success after, though he hardly struggled for work. That's because he went back to his former career as a character actor.

In the ensuing years, Phillips could be seen all over the dial and beyond, with parts in "Touched by an Angel" and "8 Simple Rules" among many others, even popping up in a guest-starring role in an episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise" in 2002. Later he did a three-episode run on "Boston Legal," another Beantown-based legal drama from David E. Kelley, this one starring "Star Trek" legend William Shatner and "Deep Space Nine" alum René Auberjonois. Some of the biggest shows he's found work on during the 2010s meanwhile include "Better Call Saul" and a recurring role in the Lena Dunham comedy "Girls." He's also had roles in major movies, showing up in "Inside Llewyn Davis," "The Purge: Election Year," and "The Island."

Though he hasn't come back to "Star Trek," Phillips did return to sci-fi in 2020, joining the main cast of the HBO space comedy "Avenue 5" alongside Hugh Laurie and Josh Gad.

Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine

Though she didn't arrive on "Star Trek: Voyager" until Season 4, Jeri Ryan arguably became the series' biggest star. She came in to help liven up a series that was struggling and joined the cast as a former Borg drone named Seven of Nine . It proved to be just what the series needed and a career-defining role for Ryan. One of the few cast members of "Voyager" to parlay her role into bigger success, Ryan immediately joined the David E. Kelley legal drama "Boston Public" after the series ended.

There she had a three-season run and in 2006 she secured another starring role on another legal drama, this time in the James Woods series "Shark," with Danielle Panabaker and Henry Simmons. Smaller recurring roles came after, including multi-episode stints on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Two and a Half Men," and "Leverage," before Ryan returned to a main cast with her co-starring role in "Body of Proof" in 2011 alongside Dana Delany. Parts in "Helix" and "Bosch" came after, as well as brief recurring roles in "MacGyver" and "Major Crimes," leading right up to her return to "Star Trek" in 2020.

That year, Ryan joined the cast of the revival series "Star Trek: Picard." Returning to the role of Seven of Nine, she supported series lead Patrick Stewart by appearing in all three seasons, and rumor has it she may even star in a spin-off. 

Jennifer Lien as Kes

Joining the Starfleet and Maquis crew aboard Voyager was Kes, a young alien woman with mild telepathic powers and just a nine-year lifespan, and played by Jennifer Lien. Unfortunately, her character never quite gelled, and in Season 4 Lien was written out to make way for Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine.

Leaving the series in 1997, Lien's career stalled in front of the camera, though she did manage a role in "American History X" alongside "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" star Avery Brooks. However, most of her subsequent work came in animation, with voice work in "Superman: The Animated Series" — where she played Inza, the wife of Doctor Fate — and a starring role as Agent L in "Men in Black: The Series." 

Unfortunately, Lien pretty much left acting shortly after that. She married filmmaker Phil Hwang and started a family but has faced personal problems along the way. While struggling to deal with her mental health, Lien was arrested in 2015 for indecent exposure and again in 2018 for driving without a license. 

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website .

Manu Intiraymi as Icheb

Late in Season 6 of "Star Trek: Voyager," a storyline saw the ship rescue a stranded vessel commanded by a group of wayward Borg children. At the conclusion of the story, four young drones join the crew, becoming a surrogate family of sorts to Seven of Nine after jettisoning their Borg identities. The eldest of them is Icheb, a teenager who becomes like a brother to Seven, played by actor Manu Intiraymi. The young actor went on to make 11 appearances across the final two seasons of the show. 

When "Voyager" ended in 2001, Intiraymi continued acting, with his largest role coming in "One Tree Hill." There he played Billy — a local drug dealer — in a recurring role in 2012. Further projects were mostly independent films like "5th Passenger" in 2017 and "Hell on the Border," a 2019 Western starring David Gyasi, Ron Perlman, and Frank Grillo. 

In 2017, Intiraymi came under fire for criticizing fellow "Star Trek" actor Anthony Rapp, who'd made accusations of sexual assault against Kevin Spacey . A few years later, fans speculated those comments may have been why he wasn't asked to return to the role of Icheb in "Star Trek: Picard," with a new actor playing the part in a scene that killed off the character.

Scarlett Pomers as Naomi Wildman

Plenty of TV shows have added a kid to shake up the status quo late into their run, and "Star Trek: Voyager" was not immune to this trope. In addition to Borg kids like Icheb, Samantha Wildman — the newborn daughter of a crewperson — became a recurring character beginning in Season 5, played by Scarlett Pomers. She'd wind up in 16 episodes, including a few where she played a leading role. In the aftermath of the end of the series, Pomers appeared in the Julia Roberts film "Erin Brockovich," and in 2001 joined the cast of the sitcom "Reba."

For six seasons Pomers starred as Kyra Hart, daughter of the show's star played by Reba McEntire. Appearing in a whopping 103 episodes, it was only Pomers' second regular role but also her last on-screen performance. When that series concluded, Pomers essentially retired from acting. Unfortunately, her exit from the stage was at least partly due to her ongoing battle with an eating disorder, and Pomers has since become an outspoken advocate for those struggling with anorexia and mental illness. In a 2019 interview with StarTrek.com , Pomers also talked about her subsequent career as a photographer, musician, and jewelry designer.

If you are struggling with an eating disorder, or know someone who is, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).

Martha Hackett as Seska

In the early seasons of "Star Trek: Voyager," one of the most compelling ongoing storylines was that of Seska, a Bajoran and former Maquis rebel and on-again-off-again lover of Chakotay. Played by recurring guest star Martha Hackett, it was later revealed that Seska was actually an enemy agent in disguise. Hackett would appear in a total of 13 episodes of the series, making it by far the largest role in her career. Still, she has appeared in some big hits over the last two decades.

Those included a small role in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" in 2005 and an appearance in the cult horror movie "The Bye Bye Man" in 2017. It also includes one-off appearances in episodes of popular projects on the small screen, like "The Mindy Project" in 2014, "Masters of Sex" a year earlier, and a recurring role in the daytime soap "Days of Our Lives" between 2016 and 2018. Thanks to her iconic role as Seska, though, Hackett continues to be a regular on the "Star Trek" convention circuit and was interviewed for the upcoming "Star Trek: Voyager" documentary "To the Journey."

Robert Picardo as the Doctor

For 30 years, the world of science fiction meant one thing when the moniker of "The Doctor" was uttered, but that all changed in 1995 with the launch of "Star Trek: Voyager." There, actor Robert Picardo — already known for antagonistic roles in "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" and "InnerSpace" — starred as the Doctor, the nameless holographic chief medical officer aboard the Voyager. Known for his offbeat humor and cantankerous attitude, he was played to perfection by Picardo, and it would become the actor's signature role. 

Still, even after leaving sickbay as the Doctor, Picardo had a healthy career, moving quickly into a role in "The Lyon's Den" starring Rob Lowe and Kyle Chandler in 2003. A year later he joined another iconic sci-fi franchise when he secured a recurring part in "Stargate SG-1"  as Richard Woolsey, a grumpy U.S. official who opposed the Stargate program. Following a string of appearances on the flagship series, Picardo joined the main cast of "Stargate: Atlantis" in 2006. A few years later, Picardo had another repeat role, this time as Jason Cooper on "The Mentalist," and he later enjoyed a stint on the Apple TV+ drama "Dickinson."

In 2023, the actor made a guest appearance on the "Quantum Leap" revival playing Doctor Woolsey, whose name is a clear tribute to his two biggest TV roles.

10 Ways Jennifer Lien's Kes Staying On Voyager Would've Changed Star Trek

• Kes and Seven of Nine could have coexisted, creating an interesting conflict and invigorating Voyager's storylines.
• Kes' presence in later seasons would have given Captain Janeway an edge in battling Delta Quadrant aliens.
• Kes' potential dark turn and her telepathic abilities could have had significant impacts on the narrative and character development.

Star Trek: Voyager would have been different in its latter seasons if Kes (Jennifer Lien) had stayed on the USS Voyager instead of departing in Voyager season 4, when her ostensible replacement Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) arrives. There's no narrative reason both Kes and Seven couldn't have existed concurrently, especially since the differences between Kes' optimistic innocence and Seven's detached efficiency could have made for an interesting conflict that would still serve the purpose of invigorating Voyager 's lagging storylines.

Kes' early development was bogged down by her relationship with Neelix (Ethan Phillips), but after the pair break up, they're both free to pursue independent character arcs. While Neelix becomes more interesting, Kes never gets a chance to do the same, despite hints of a potential dark turn for Kes that would have made her a memorable Star Trek: Voyager villain. Kes' presence in later seasons would also give Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) an edge in battling adversarial Delta Quadrant aliens like the Borg, Hirogen, and Species 8472. It's pure speculation, but consider the possibilities of an alternate timeline where Kes stays on Voyager.

Related: Star Trek: Voyager Cast & Character Guide

The Ocampa Become Important Star Trek Aliens

Star Trek: Voyager 's premiere, "Caretaker", makes a grand show of establishing the Ocampa as a new race of Star Trek aliens . Janeway knows that destroying the Caretaker array will strand Voyager on the other side of the galaxy, but she does it to protect the Ocampa, implying they'll play a major part in Voyager . The Ocampa station in Voyager season 2, episode 10 "Cold Fire" would be the first of many, with each colony's culture being wildly different thanks to the Ocampa's short lifespans creating huge generational shifts. Kes could learn something new at each stop, and develop a unifying Ocampa philosophy with the best of each.

Star Trek: Prodigy Features Kes' Descendants

Star Trek: Prodigy is in many ways a sequel to Star Trek: Voyager , with its initial Delta Quadrant setting and incorporation of Voyager characters Admiral Janeway, Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran), and the Doctor (Robert Picardo). Kes' nine-year lifespan means she would have passed on by Prodigy season 1 in 2384, but Kes' wish to be a mother is part of Voyager season 2, episode 4 "Elogium", and in the alternate future from Voyager season 3, episode 21 "Before and After", Kes has a daughter. Lien could join the Star Trek: Prodigy cast voicing Kes' daughter or granddaughter, or new actors could play Kes' descendants.

Kes Champions the Doctor's Hologram Rights Campaign

Kes' friendship with the Doctor is one of her first on Star Trek: Voyager, and arguably the best. Through Kes' compassion and understanding, the Doctor comes to recognize his own humanity, and begins the process of expanding beyond his initial Emergency Medical Hologram programming, with subroutines for hobbies, personality shifts, and deeper emotions. Kes would undoubtedly stand by the Doctor in every step of his evolution, and accelerate the Doctor's campaign to advocate for hologram rights , which could occur earlier than Voyager season 7.

The Doctor advocates for his rights as a photonic being in Star Trek: Voyager season 7, episode 20 "Author, Author".

Kes' Telepathy Makes Species 8472 More Sympathetic

The non-humanoid Species 8472 is the mysterious adversary to the Borg that can't be assimilated. Kes is responsible for discerning Species 8472's deadly motives in Voyager 's season 3 finale "Scorpion", and able to facilitate telepathic communication with them, but their natural hostility makes negotiation impossible. Kes gains the ability to transcend the limitations of normal matter in Voyager season 4, episode 2 "The Gift", which would allow her to enter fluidic space and meet Species 8472 on their own terms. Doing so might make them more receptive to communication and lead to an eventual peace between Species 8472 and the Federation.

When Species 8472 recreates Starfleet Academy in Voyager season 5, episode 4 "In the Flesh", Janeway and Chakotay are able to broker peace with them, so it is possible.

The Hirogen Make Kes a Primary Target

Star Trek: Voyager season 4, episodes 18 & 19 "The Killing Game" sees the predatory Hirogen using Voyager's own holodeck technology to turn the Voyager crew into unwitting prey with no memory of their true identities. In the original episode, the Doctor reconfigures Seven's Borg implants to jam the Hirogen neural interface responsible for the memory wipe; in this version, Kes' Ocampa powers could let her know something isn't right, which would prompt investigation. The ability to see through the Hirogen ruse would paint a target on Kes' back, leading to the Hirogen pursuing Kes specifically.

Neelix Admits His Relationship with Kes Was Creepy

Kes' actual return to Star Trek: Voyager comes in Voyager season 6, episode 23 "Fury", in which an older Kes wrongly blames Janeway for taking advantage of young Kes not knowing better. Similarly, an older and wiser Kes might realize that her earlier relationship with Neelix really was a situation in which Kes was taken advantage of due to her inexperience. A conversation between Kes and Neelix addressing how messed up their romantic relationship was would help him understand Neelix took advantage of their power imbalance , and possibly even apologize for it.

Kes Grows Old & Dies Before Reaching the Alpha Quadrant

When Star Trek: Voyager started, Kes being a member of a species that only lives nine years created an interesting conundrum. If Voyager were to run for seven years, like Star Trek: The Next Generation had, the two-year-old Kes would grow into old age and die before the end of Voyager . "Cold Fire" introduces Ocampa who live to be past 15 years old, so a narrative failsafe existed, but the concept of Kes' whole life being lived over the run of Voyager is a fascinating promise that could be fulfilled if Kes remains on Voyager. It's made more heartbreaking if Kes dies before Voyager reaches the Alpha Quadrant.

Kes Helps Janeway Defeat the Borg With Psychokinetic Power

In Star Trek: Voyager season 4, episode 2 "The Gift", Kes is able to perform delicate surgery to psychokinetically remove Seven of Nine's more integrated Borg implants. In this case it's a benefit that lets Seven become more human, but this type of fine control could also be used offensively, to disable Borg drones at a distance. As Kes' Ocampa power grows stronger, she could find herself capable of shutting down an entire Borg Cube, and possibly even the Borg Queen (Susanna Thompson, Alice Krige) . Captain Janeway would have few qualms about using Kes as a weapon if it means saving the galaxy from the Borg permanently.

The Dark Side of Ocampa Power Makes Kes a Voyager Villain

Star Trek: Voyager season 2, episode 10 "Cold Fire" shows Kes' telepathic power growing stronger when she gives in to her baser emotions, and Voyager season 3, episode 10 "Warlord" shows Lien's skill at playing evil. The hints at a dark side to Kes could have been explored in a genuinely interesting character arc of Kes' descent into selfish villainy , and eventual rise as a stronger and more balanced individual. Kes' theoretical redemption arc would dovetail nicely with Seven's existing one, as both characters embody the push and pull between selflessness and individuality.

Kes Staying on Voyager Affects Seven of Nine

Kes' ability to see the best in others early on brought out the Doctor's humanity, so it's reasonable to think that Kes would try to play the same role for Seven of Nine, after Seven is liberated from the Borg Collective and grappling with her own humanity. Seven is unlikely to be as receptive to Kes' attempted friendship , especially if Kes is responsible for dismantling other Borg drones who were still firmly entrenched in the Collective. Seven has a tendency to point out contradictions in others' behavior, so she'd call Kes out on the hypocrisy of respecting all life while essentially murdering an entire cube of drones with a single thought.

Seven of Nine and Kes would likely have a fraught relationship, owing to the differences in their individual philosophies, but Kes' potential turn after giving in to darker tendencies would also give Seven an opportunity to see a Starfleet-style redemption story from the outside, with a reflection that could accelerate Seven's own acceptance of herself. If Kes doesn't go dark, Kes would affect Seven's development with an insistent friendship that's gentler than Neelix's abrasive joy, more insightful than the Doctor's studied advice, and more patient than Janeway's stubborn guidance.

The exact reason for Lien's departure from Voyager remains a mystery , with an original explanation that Kes was a difficult character to write for with few story prospects, and more recent reports suggesting writing Kes off Voyager was in service of Lien's struggles with mental health. Perhaps in an alternate timeline, a different version of Star Trek: Voyager exists where Kes stays aboard until her death, but in this universe, all we can do is speculate on what that might be like.

Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Voyager

Release Date: 1995-05-23

Cast: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Jennifer Lien, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Jeri Ryan

Genres: Action, Sci-Fi

Story By: Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor

Writers: Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor

Network: UPN

Streaming Service(s): Paramount+

Franchise(s): Star Trek

Directors: David Livingston, Winrich Kolbe, Allan Kroeker, Michael Vejar

Showrunner: Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor, Brannon Braga, Kenneth Biller

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5 Great Kes Moments From Star Trek: Voyager

The Voyager nurse fit a lot of action into her short life.

Voyager was a show that did it’s darnedest to do right by all its women characters —led by the powerful example of Kate Mulgrew — and during her three-and-change seasons on Voyager, Kes had some strong and memorable episodes !

NASA engineers discover why Voyager 1 is sending a stream of gibberish from outside our solar system

Voyager 1 has been sending a stream of garbled nonsense since November. Now NASA engineers have identified the fault and found a potential workaround.

For the past five months, the Voyager 1 spacecraft has been sending a steady stream of unreadable gibberish back to Earth. Now, NASA engineers finally know why.

The 46-year-old spacecraft sends regular radio signals as it drifts further from our solar system . But in November 2023, the signals suddenly became garbled, meaning  scientists were unable to read any of its data, and they were left mystified about the fault's origins. 

In March, NASA engineers sent a command prompt, or "poke," to the craft to get a readout from its flight data subsystem (FDS) — which packages Voyager 1's science and engineering data before beaming it back to Earth. 

After decoding the spacecraft's response, the engineers have found the source of the problem: The FDS's memory has been corrupted.

Related: NASA's Voyager 1 sends readable message to Earth after 4 nail-biting months of gibberish

"The team suspects that a single chip responsible for storing part of the affected portion of the FDS memory isn't working," NASA said in a blog post Wednesday (March 13) . "Engineers can't determine with certainty what caused the issue. Two possibilities are that the chip could have been hit by an energetic particle from space or that it simply may have worn out after 46 years."

— NASA hears 'heartbeat' signal from Voyager 2 probe a week after losing contact

— Historic space photo of the week: Voyager 2 spies a storm on Saturn 42 years ago

— NASA reestablishes full contact with Voyager 2 probe after nail-biting 2-week blackout

Although it may take several months, the engineers say they can find a workaround to run the FDS without the fried chip — restoring the spacecraft's messaging output and enabling it to continue to send readable information from outside our solar system.

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Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 zipped past Saturn and Jupiter in 1979 and 1980 before flying out into interstellar space in 2012. It is now recording the conditions outside of the sun's protective magnetic field , or heliosphere, which blankets our solar system.

Voyager 1 is currently more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, and it takes 22.5 hours for any radio signal to travel from the craft to our planet.

Ben Turner is a U.K. based staff writer at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, among other topics like tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist. When he's not writing, Ben enjoys reading literature, playing the guitar and embarrassing himself with chess.

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• TorbjornLarsson Bon voyage, Voyager! Reply
• Jay McHue What if aliens are doing it to try to communicate with us? 🤪 Reply

Jay McHue said: What if aliens are doing it to try to communicate with us? 🤪

admin said: Voyager 1 has been sending a stream of garbled nonsense since November. Now NASA engineers have identified the fault and found a potential workaround. NASA engineers discover why Voyager 1 is sending a stream of gibberish from outside our solar system : Read more

sourloaf said: What does FSB mean?

Rusty Lugnuts said: Where are you seeing "FSB"? The closest thing I can see in the article is "FDS". In modern computers, FSB would most likely refer to the Fr0nt S1ide Bu5, though I have no idea if a system as old as Voyagers, let alone engineered so specifically, would have an FSB. (apparently I can't spell out "Fr0nt S1ide Bu5" or my post gets flagged as spam or inappropriate??)

• SkidWard Just cut the % of ram needed... skip the bad sectors Reply
• kloudykat FDS = fl1ght da1a sub5ystem5 Reply
• 5ft24dave This is pretty old news, like 6 months old. Are you guys just now discovering this? Reply

Commodore Browncoat said: That's about as sane a theory as many of the others that have become ridiculously popular in the past several years, so sure - why not? What reply do you think we should send?

• View All 10 Comments

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Screen Rant

Star trek: voyager cut "closure" to kes & neelix relationship, says ethan phillips.

Neelix and Kes's Star Trek: Voyager relationship ended in season 3, but Ethan Phillips revealed that their breakup was originally depicted on-screen.

• Ethan Phillips revealed that Star Trek: Voyager cut a scene that provided closure for Neelix and Kes's relationship.
• The scene, which took place in the science lab, acknowledged their breakup and allowed them to move on as friends.
• Neelix and Kes's relationship was plagued with issues, but while their breakup was justified, not officially showing it on-screen was a mistake.

Ethan Phillips revealed that Star Trek: Voyager cut a scene that would have provided more closure for his character Neelix's relationship with Kes (Jennifer Lein). Neelix and Kes were first introduced in Voyager 's pilot episode, "Caretaker," and joined Star Trek: Voyager 's cast for their journey through the Delta Quadrant after offering aid when they became stranded. Although Neelix and Kes started the show as a couple, circumstances broke them up partway through Voyager season 3 , and Kes ended up being written off the show at the start of season 4, putting an end to any possibility of a further romance.

Even before they broke up, Neelix and Kes's relationship was plagued with issues that caused problems with the characters’ likability. Still, their official parting happened off-screen, leaving the relationship an unresolved point on the Star Trek timeline . However, in an interview with Star Trek Magazine in their 2016 special edition, Ethan Phillips revealed that Kes and Neelix originally did have a scene that cemented their breakup and provided a more satisfying end to their relationship. The actor also shared his thoughts on why Kes and Neelix were incompatible and their slightly nebulous relationship status. Check out Phillips' full quote below:

“I have… You know… It was… It was never clarified. It was hinted at being romantic, and then sometimes it seemed much more paternal. There was one kiss. So you never really knew what was going down with that. But regardless, there should have been closure, and there was. We filmed the scene in the science lab, and I think the episode was ‘Warlord,’ Kes and Neelix had a five-minute conversation where they acknowledged what had happened and tried to understand each other’s situation, and they agreed to be friends and move on. It was a very beautiful scene, and I think it gave the characters - and certainly would have given the fans - a sense that, ‘Well, it’s over, but at least we know how it ended.’ Then they never included that scene because, I guess, the writers didn’t think the arc was important enough to warrant it. I always thought that was a mistake.”

Every Voyager Character Who Has Returned In Star Trek (& How)

Star trek: voyager did clarify kes and neelix’s relationship (but phillps is right about why it never worked).

While Phillips' discussion of the cut breakup scene is interesting, his statement downplays the real intensity of Kes and Neelix's relationship . Neelix and Kes were more overtly a couple on Voyager than Phillips gives them credit for. They shared more than one on-screen kiss in Voyager 's early episodes, were clearly very in love with each other in the show's first couple of seasons, and even discussed the possibility of starting a family in Voyager season 2, episode 4, "Elogium," when an alien species' proximity to the ship caused Kes to undergo a rapid shift into the Ocampan version of puberty.

However, Phillips did point out some good reasons why Neelix and Kes were ultimately doomed . The paternal aspect of their relationship sometimes got a little too strong. Given that Kes was from a species that only lived nine years, the significant age gap between her and Neelix was not portrayed in the best light. Along with this, Neelix's jealousy over Kes's interactions with other male characters made many of their early storylines unpleasant. Star Trek: Voyager was ultimately right to break up Neelix and Kes, but as Phillips stated, true closure would have helped cement the end of their relationship.

Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.

Source: Star Trek Magazine 2016 Special

Star Trek Voyager