Summary
Jeri Taylor, a frequentStar Trekwriter and the co-creator ofStar Trek: Voyager, passed away on June 12, 2025, at the age of 86. Over the weekend,Star Trekactors, producers, members of the production staff, and lifelong fans mourned the loss, shared memories of Taylor, and honored her vast contributions to the Trekverse. In the wake of her passing, here’s a look back at Taylor’s decades-long career as a writer, producer, co-creator, and consultant on multipleStar Trekshows.
Entering the Trekverse: The TNG & DS9 Years
According toStarTrek.com, Taylor started her career in theStar Trekuniverse during the fourth season ofStar Trek: The Next Generation(TNG)as a writer and producer. She helped write four episodes that season, including “The Drumhead,” which many fans count amongthe best episodes in the series. Taylor continued to write forTNGuntil it ended its seven-season run. All told, Taylor helped write 17 episodes forTNG.
During the show’s sixth season, she was promoted to co-executive producer, joining longtime showrunners Michael Pillar and Rick Berman. When Berman and Pillar turned their attention to the franchise’s newest addition,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9), Taylor was promoted to executive producer and showrunner forTNG’s final season. She saw the show through to its legendary final episode. While she was wrapping upTNG, Taylor also wrote three episodes forDS9, including the two-parter “The Maquis.”
AfterTNGwrapped, Taylor worked onStar Trek: Generationsand, a few years later, returned to theStar Trekuniverse to work onStar Trek: First Contact.
Co-Creating and Running ‘Star Trek: Voyager’
The mid 90s were busy for Taylor. While she was wrapping upTNG, occasionally writing forDS9, and working onGenerations, Taylor was also deep in the trenches with Pillar and Berman, creatingStar Trek: Voyager.In addition to serving as the showrunner on the first four seasons of the show, she also co-wrote 14 episodes.
Taylor was the first woman to hold the title of executive producer or showrunner in theStar Trekfranchise. She took her role seriously, especially as she played a fundamental role in creating the first female lead for aStar Trekshow: Captain Kathryn Janeway. Taylor shaped the characters, storylines, and themes ofVoyager’searly seasons.
Creating Women of Substance in the ‘Star Trek’ Universe
Bringing Changes ToThe Next Generation
UnderStar Trek’smale executive producers and showrunners, the women of theStar Trekuniverse didn’t always get nuance or depth.Denise Crosby, who played Tasha Yar onTNG, infamously quit during the first season because she wanted Yar to be more three-dimensional. The showrunners, allegedly, flat out said “no.” Gates McFadden, who broughtDr. Beverly Crusherto life, warred withTNG’s production staff about her character as well, and left for season two, returning in season three. Marina Sirtis has repeatedly joked that, for the first few seasons,Deanna Troi’sentire character was spouting vague predictions like a carnival psychic. Sirtis has never shied away from talking about how awful it was to be a woman on the set of TNG.
When Taylor joined the writer’s room during the fourth season, she set out to change all that. In an interview forCaptains’ Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, Taylor said:
“If there’s anything I wanted to do more of, it was developing the characters of Crusher and Troi because I thought they were underused […] There is a very small way in which I sometimes remind people about the role of women and sometimes they remind me. I’m not saying that this was a staff of men and I had to come in and show them the way, but maybe it was something a little more in the foreground with me.”
Taylor’s influence was noticeable almost immediately. Troi finally got a Starfleet uniform instead of the skintight bodysuits with plunging necklines she had worn in the first few seasons. During a rare public appearance at The 55-Year Mission Star Trek convention, as reported byTrekMovie.com, Taylor revealed that this was one of the things she had pushed for behind the scenes.
Her impact was felt by the actresses on set as well. InJourney’s End: The Saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation,McFadden said:
“I think that the team of writers headed by Jeri Taylor have certainly made an effort to make the women’s roles stronger. We’ve been in positions of power more often, in the Captain’s chair or leading a mission somewhere.”
Creating A New Standard WithVoyager
Taylor’s work to lift the women ofTNGout of mediocrity was admirable. However, it paled in comparison to the powerful, complex women that she brought to life inVoyager.
Berman and Pillar had planned to introduce the first female lead in theStar Trekuniverse inVoyagerbefore they brought Taylor on board as a co-creator. ButCaptain Kathryn Janeway, eventually brought to life by Kate Mulgrew, didn’t quite come to life until Taylor started working with them. Janeway was a deeply personal project for Taylor. She understood the importance of the character within theStar Trekuniverse, and she wanted to create a female captain who could easily stand alongside all the great captains that had come before her.
Luckily, Taylor didn’t have to look far for inspiration, as she told the audience atThe 55-Year Mission Star Trekconvention:
“I always thought of Janeway as just me, I wrote her. I can’t say that I wrote her as me, but as I would like to be. I felt full of her. And I think she is full of me, although, in many ways, far more skilled and able than I am. But it was my fantasy that Janeway was me and I tried to approach it like that. "
Janeway wasn’t Taylor’s only contribution to the strong women ofVoyager, though. She was also instrumental in creating B’Elanna Torres, played by Roxann Dawson, and Seven of Nine, played by Jeri Ryan. Without Taylor, none of these women would have made it to the screen as the characters fans know and love.
Taylor’s ‘Star Trek’ Legacy
Every writer, artist, actor, or creative of any kind strives to leave behind work that will be remembered long after they’re gone, and they spend a significant amount of time thinking about their hopes for their legacy. Several times, Taylor said that she hoped Janeway, in particular, would be a major part of her legacy.
As everyStar Trekinsider and fan mourns her loss, it’s clear, without a doubt, that her dream has come true. Though Janeway is far from the only legacy she leaves behind, as evidenced by the sentiments Taylor’s colleagues shared after her death.
In the words of Mulgrew, as posted on herInstagram:
Brannon Braga, who took over asVoyager’sshowrunner when Taylor left after the fourth season, echoed Mulgrew’s sentiments on his ownInstagram.
Dawson chimed in onX, reminding fans that Taylor’s legacy goes far beyond Janeway.
Jeri Taylor gaveStar Trekfans some of the most memorable characters and heartfelt storylines that have ever existed in the Trekverse. Her presence in the Trek family will be sorely missed, but her undeniable presence in theStar Trekuniverse lives on.
Sources: Instagram, X.com,StarTrek.com,Captains’ Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages,TrekMovie.com,Journey’s End: The Saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation
