TIL Susan Gibney (Dr. Leah Brahms) was strongly considered to play Captain Janeway. She was even called back a second time after Genevieve Bujold didn't work out.
Meet The Actress Who Almost Played Janeway
Huh… never knew that tidbit.
It’s easy to imagine if that reality had come to play, we’d get the Tom Paris treatment… but I can’t help but wonder if we might’ve gotten a Captain Brahms.
She played the captain of the Lakota later in DS9, Captain Benteen.
It's interesting because I didn't really like Janeway a ton until her first interaction with Q. Like, there was nothing outright bad about Mulgrew's portrayal, I just wasn't completely and totally sold on the character yet from a writing perspective.
Something about a captain interacting with an omnipotent being really seals something for me personally, because Sisko's interaction with Q was what sold me on him right away, too.
I enjoyed Gibney as Benteen, so I'm sure it would have worked out, it just would have been...different.
She would have been good IMO. However, then she would have been saddled with the inconsistent writing, and thus be Star Trek's face of murder and genocide.