We still don’t know when the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy will air, but it seems production has already begun on the next run. The animated show will debut on Nickelodeon, is aimed at younger viewers and will follow the adventures of a group of teenagers who steal an abandoned starship. Of particular interest to long-time Trek fans is that Kate Mulgrew is reprising the role of Captain Janeway for the first time since her brief appearances in 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis and 2006 video game Star Trek: Legacy.
During a recent virtual panel about Voyager at Galaxy Con, the actress was asked about how Prodigy was going and said the following:
“I think you will enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed doing it, and I think we’re going into the next season very soon.”
It appears that Janeway will be called out of retirement to rescue/hunt down the teenagers, making her somewhat of an antagonist. However, I’m betting that it won’t be too many episodes before she realizes these rebellious teens might just have what it takes to succeed in Starfleet and provides them with the benefit of her experiences stranded in the Delta Quadrant.
Though Prodigy is for kids, producer Alex Kurtzman and Nickelodeon have said that they still want to make it watchable for more mature viewers, too. The idea is to have something that older Star Trek fans can check out with their children, with CBS TV executive Heather Kadin explaining that “it’s such a big franchise, it can be hard to get into as a kid.”
I’m not sure if history quite bears that out, as it seemed extremely easy for children to follow and enjoy ‘regular’ Star Trek shows like The Next Generation (I was one of them!), but as far as I’m concerned, the more Trek the better. Here’s hoping that Prodigy can follow in similar footsteps to Netflix’s Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, which manages to appeal to kids while still being good enough for adults to enjoy.
Let’s hope we get a trailer and release date for Star Trek: Prodigy soon.