Star Trek: Prodigy creators Dan and Kevin Hageman are more excited than ever about their animated Star Trek series. After debuting on Paramount+ in 2021, the show has now beamed over to Netflix, opening up new opportunities to extend the series beyond its current two seasons. “Let’s all hope and pray!” Ken said in an interview with IGN. “Netflix has reach, it’s gonna reach people. Will the people watch? If they do, there should be life after Season 2.”
It’s no secret that Star Trek: Prodigy was removed from Paramount+ earlier this year. Thankfully, it soon found a home on Netflix, and the still unreleased second season will be coming to the streaming service sometime in 2024. The Hagemans are hopeful that the series will continue beyond these two seasons and might even get a movie. “Kevin likes to talk about The Original Series getting canceled but then coming back with a fury and making movies,” said Dan. “Kevin and I have always been very excited about that possibility.”
“Great movie franchise,” added Kevin. “But maybe it needs an animated film franchise. I know they’re struggling doing the live-action Star Trek movies. Well heck, throw us a portion of that money and we’ll start doing an animated one.”
“Yeah, throw us the catering bill,” laughed Dan.
“We’ll bring Captain Kirk back!” added Kevin with a grin.
Whether or not Prodigy gets its own movie, it looks as though there’s hope that the crew of the Protostar will get to further explore the Star Trek universe beyond its second season. This is encouraging for the fans who backed the show when it was originally pulled from Paramount+. “Robert Picardo, The Doctor, is coming for Season 2,” said Dan. “I think we teased the Voyager, too. The first season was the kids on the Protostar – Season 2 they’re going to be involved with a much bigger ship. That’s really going to change the type of adventures they go on. It’s the same show, just a lot bigger.”
“When you watch all 40 episodes of Season 1 and Season 2 together, it’s going to feel like one epic saga,” added Kevin.
“Season 1 they steal a ship,” said Dan. “Season 2 they earn a ship.”
“Yeah, they’re going to earn it this time,” added Kevin.
As well as continuing their own show, the Hagemans also hope to see more Star Trek animation in the future. “I really love Star Trek Animation,” said Kevin. “I swear, we’re finishing out Season 2 and I’m constantly staring at the amazing work our crew has done animating these characters and some of them, which we can’t spoil… but there are other legacy characters that are going to be coming in and stuff, and you’re watching, and it’s an animated version of them, but it’s their voice and, it just feels so good to keep these characters and this universe alive in animated form.”
“I think what Alex [Kurtzman] has done great about the Star Trek universe is that every show has its own feel, everything feels different,” added Dan. “I love them taking stabs, so if they do another animation show, I hope it doesn’t look like Prodigy. I would hope it looks like something completely different because I like them taking as many stabs as possible.”
“I would love to see a 2D anime Star Trek,” said Kevin. “It would be amazing if done really respectfully, it would be amazing.”
Star Trek: Prodigy heads to Netflix on December 25, 2023.
Star Trek: Prodigy is down but by no means out. In the wake of news that Paramount+ is reversing its renewal of the animated offshoot, executive producer Aaron J. Waltke confirmed that all Season 2 episodes will be completed and the search for a new home is underway. “I have noticed some misleading headlines,” the EP shared on Twitter, “so all I can do is [reiterate that] we are completing Season 2 on schedule and seeking a new home!”
Waltke also assured fans, “Everyone on the cast and crew loves Star Trek: Prodigy deeply.”
Paramount+ also noted that Prodigy’s inaugural 19-episode season will be removed from its library “shortly.” Meanwhile, Paramount+ maintains that it remains committed to its upcoming slate of Star Trek projects, including the YA-targeted Starfleet Academy and the movie event Star Trek: Section 31.
Prodigy was one of four shows axed Friday at Paramount+, joining The Game, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, and Queen of the Universe.
Star Trek: Prodigy has quite the survival story. Back in June, Paramount+ confirmed that it would remove the animated Star Trek series from its streaming platform, even after it had already renewed it for a second season. Thankfully, after a strong fan campaign, Prodigy was saved when Netflix snatched it up, which will be the home to both Prodigy Season 1 and the upcoming Season 2 sometime next year. Now, co-creators and showrunners Dan and Kevin Hageman have opened up about how it all went down.
“I have to say, it was utterly frightening,” Kevin Hageman said in an interview for IGN. “You’ve spent four years of your life on something you love and adore, and know is good, and to go on YouTube and see nothing of it, like it doesn’t even exist, is frightening.”
Star Trek: Prodigy found itself in an odd place when it launched on Paramount+ in October 2021. The young streaming service had only been around since March of that year and faced competition from the likes of Netflix and Prime Video. As the Hagemans put it, part of the trouble for Prodigy was that Paramount+ didn’t have the same animated legacy as other streamers. “Paramount+ is a younger streamer, so they don’t have as many… people aren’t paying that monthly thing to go and watch animation,” said Dan Hageman.
Of course, the siblings are no strangers to animation – their recent hit Trollhunters made waves on Netflix. Now, they hope to replicate that success when Prodigy heads to Netflix. “If you look at Netflix, someone who might not know Star Trek at all and just loves the thumbnail and goes ‘well that looks kind cool’ and check it out, and I think that’s what we’re most excited about,” Dan said.
The problem when Prodigy was on Paramount+, they say, wasn’t that people didn’t like it. Like most cancellation and renewal announcements, it all came down to the numbers. “Well, they loved it!” said Kevin. “I mean, everyone at Paramount+ loved our show, they were huge supporters of it, and they just showed us the numbers and for some reason, the numbers just died on our show. And for me… I don’t know why.”
“We had our theories,” added Dan. “But we can’t necessarily speak to those… so we have no definitive reason.”
“Yeah, I have no idea why,” said Kevin. “All we knew was – our show was better than this. Like, I understand if the viewers drop and it’s a turd of a show, but I was like ‘Our show’s too good for this. I don’t understand it’.”
What’s really interesting is that it was never actually canceled… at least, not in the Hagemans’ eyes.
Star Trek: Prodigy was removed from Paramount+ without warning back in June, despite Paramount previously announcing that it was renewed for a second season. Weirdly, that plan hadn’t changed. “When we were told the news, we were shocked,” said Dan. “Like, ‘What do you mean, you’re taking it off the air?’ But then they were like ‘We’re still going to pay for Season 2 to finish’ and that was the place of hope because, what studio is going to spend money if they’re not even… and then ‘Oh you’re selling it!’”
“I don’t think we were down for like, two minutes,” added Kevin. “And then we were carrying the hope flag,” added Kevin. “We just felt so confident, we were one hundred percent that we were going to land it a home.”
Although Star Trek: Prodigy was originally plotted as a Paramount+ exclusive, the plan quickly changed… and, of course, Netflix became the show’s new home. And that presents an even bigger opportunity. “On Paramount+ we had a lot of Trek fans, adult fans, and it had to spread the word because it was like a young Nickelodeon show, and at the beginning, no one really took it seriously,” said Kevin. “And then word spread within the Star Trek community, and they loved it. I think with Netflix they do have more kids’ eyes. We’re going to hopefully get more of that kid audience.”
“I think that’s what we’re most excited about,” said Dan. “We always wanted it to be a show that, yes, it would please older Trek fans, but for somebody who doesn’t know a thing about Star Trek, it doesn’t fend them away by expecting them to know the difference between a Romulan and a Vulcan. For a Trek fan, that’s like Level One stuff, but for someone new, that’s a huge barrier to entry for some people and they’re worried about getting into it. So, we’re excited about that opportunity.”
“My favorite part is seeing families come together over a show,” he added. “It’s tough to do because who watches the same shows in the same house.”
“I think Netflix is going to help us to find that new audience,” said Kevin.
Star Trek: Prodigy heads to Netflix on December 25, 2023.
Source: IGN, TVLine
