After More Than 20 Years, Star Trek: Voyager's Comeback Is Really Making Season 8 Happen

More than 20 years after it went off the air, Star Trek: Voyager’s comeback is really making Season 8 happen. IDW Publishing recently announced a new Voyager miniseries, titled Homecoming, to commemorate the show’s 30th anniversary. Picking up immediately after the finale, Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming gives the intrepid crew one last adventure, making for an awesome “Eighth Season” that the show never got.

As reported here on ScreenRant, Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming, which will be written by Tilly and Susan Bridges and drawn by Angel Hernandez, takes Captain Janeway and her crew on a new adventure, one that begins immediately after the show’s finale, which aired in 2001. IDW’s official synopsis reads as follows:

Thirty years after the show made its unforgettable debut, Captain Janeway and the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager are back for one final mission before they head home! From imaginative co-writers Tilly and Susan Bridges and acclaimed artist Angel Hernandez comes STAR TREK: VOYAGER - HOMECOMING this September, a five-issue limited series that offers the final resolution fans have been waiting decades to witness. The final shot of the Emmy-award winning series featured the iconic ship approaching Earth before the screen goes dark… But what if just moments after that, there was one last emergency for the determined Captain Janeway and her brave crew?

Fans are hopeful that Homecoming will fill in some major gaps in the lore, giving follow-up to some of the loose ends Voyager left in the Delta Quadrant.

Star Trek: Voyager Took the Franchise to New Places

Star Trek: Voyager Never Got a Proper, On-Screen Follow-Up

Star Trek: Voyager, the beloved fifth entry in the franchise, premiered in January 1995, as the flagship show of the fledgling United Paramount Network, or UPN. A hit with fans if not critics, Star Trek: Voyager aired for seven seasons, concluding in 2001 with the finale, aptly titled “Endgame.” In the episode, a future Janeway travels back with advanced technology designed to get Voyager home sooner. While her plan did not work out quite the way she intended, the ship nevertheless got home, and was escorted back to Earth by a large fleet.

The story of Star Trek: Voyager was too big to contain on television, as it inspired novels and comics while still airing. In June 2003, Pocket Books, the publisher of licensed Star Trek fiction, launched a new line of Voyager novels set after “Endgame.” The first, also titled Homecoming, was written by Christie Golden. The continuity established by the Voyager relaunch, as well as other Trek novels published by Pocket, lasted well into the 2010s, giving fans more adventures with Janeway and company, beyond the seven seasons they received on television.

On-screen, several notable Voyager alumni have made their return. Seven of Nine was part of Star Trek: Picard’s cast for all three seasons, and Tuvok made an appearance there as well. Janeway and Chakotay appeared on Star Trek: Prodigy and Tom Paris made a memorable, and hilarious, appearance as Tom Paris on Star Trek: Lower Decks. While all of these in-canon adventures have allowed fans to catch up with the crew, they have still left questions unanswered, and even raised more.

For Years Star Trek: Voyager Fans Have Wanted Closure for Janeway and Her Crew

Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming Will Be A Treat For Fans

While there was no denying the satisfaction of seeing Voyager return home in the finale, the loose ends left disappointed fans, who thought the show could easily have carried another season. The immediate fates of Voyager’s crew, especially the fugitive Maquis, could have made for excellent television. Star Trek thrives on courtroom drama-style episodes, and Chakotay and Torres’ trials would have been must-see television. Likewise, the fate of the various alien races Voyager met in the Delta Quadrant could have been followed up on, as well as the political ramifications of the ship’s return.

And while Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming probably will not address all of these issues, it will still give fans a degree of closure for Captain Janeway, Seven of Nine, the Doctor and the rest of the crew. While exact plot details for Homecoming remain under wraps, some fans' questions will no doubt be answered. Even if Homecoming does not address these issues, it will still be an entertaining story, and one last hurrah for the gang, making this the eighth season of Star Trek: Voyager.