Animated series Star Trek: Prodigy made its premier less than two weeks ago, but the spin-off series has already been given the green light for a second season by Paramount. The press release making the announcement said that “more adventures await the motley crew of the U.S.S.Protostar” explaining that the show “is already a hit amongst Paramount+ subscribers, and had the top performing premiere day out of any original animated kids series on the service.”
The series arrived on Paramount+ on October 28th with an hour long debut episode. The first season has quite a split release, with episodes continuing to air weekly until November 18th when it will take a break until January when another five episodes will arrive. The final ten episodes of the season will then arrive later in 2022, but there is currently not specific date available. This means that Season 2 will likely not arrive until around this time in 2022 and could follow the same staggered format.
Star Trek: Prodigy is a CG animation series which was developed by Ninjago and Trollhunters creators Kevin and Dan Hageman, and is the first Star Trek property to be directly aimed at a younger audience. In the blurb, the series “follows a motley crew of young aliens who must figure out how to work together while navigating a greater galaxy, in search of a better future. These six young outcasts know nothing about the ship they have commandeered… but over the course of their adventures together, they will each be introduced to Starfleet and the ideals it represents.”
Of the large cast of colorful characters in the series, the most interesting for many Star Trek fans is the inclusion of Captain Kathryn Janeway, who originally appeared in the live action series Star Trek: Voyager and is once again played by Kate Mulgrew, who revealed at this year’s New York Comic Con that she jumped at the chance to return to the character again.
“Why wouldn’t I want to return to this magnificent franchise?,” Kate Mulgrew said in response to a question of why she decided to return. “We have overlooked, in all of our pressures, a very important demographic, and that is the young people. Children. Who, in many ways, are far more astute than their elders. So, when Alex Kurtzman offered me this opportunity, I jumped at it. It’s wonderful to reincarnate Janeway, and give it to the young in their vivid and marvelous imagination.”
This is the first time Mulgrew has played Captain Kathryn Janeway since her brief appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002. Star Trek: Prodigy is set five years after Star Trek: Voyager, and Janeway appears in holographic form as the face of the training program on board the U.S.S.Protostar, and helps to guide the young group of Delta Quadrant aliens as they attempt to travel to Alpha Quadrant.
Prodigy forms part of a host of shows coming to Paramount+ as part of their expansion of the Star Trek IP, which also includes a fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery, Picard’s second season, and a third season of Star Trek: Lower Decks to name just a few.
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