The Star Trek franchise has a long history of captains who became admirals, but Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) is the greatest of them all. Janeway first appeared in the franchise as the captain and lead on Star Trek: Voyager, which ran from 1995 to 2001. As the first female lead of a Star Trek series, Mulgrew broke significant ground with her portrayal of Janeway and cemented herself as a substantial part of the franchise for decades to come. Her importance to many has allowed for her recent return in shows like Star Trek: Prodigy, and the franchise has begun to explore her career as an admiral.
In becoming an admiral, Janeway has joined the group of former Star Trek captains who have been promoted to the rank after distinguishing themselves during their service to Starfleet. This group includes the likes of Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), both of whom were the leads of their own Star Trek series like Janeway was. There have also been more minor characters promoted to admiral, such as Admiral Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox), the hated temporary USS Enterprise-D captain from Star Trek: The Next Generation who was revealed to have been promoted to admiral in Star Trek: Prodigy.
