RED ALERT! This interview contains spoilers for Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, all 20 episodes of which are currently available for streaming on Netflix as of today, Monday, July 1st, 2024.
If you wish to remain unspoiled — which is especially recommended for fans of Prodigy season 1, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager — please return to this interview AFTER you’ve viewed all 20 Prodigy season 2 episodes.
It’s been a long road, getting from there to here. But today, all 20 episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 arrive for streaming on Netflix. This is the first time that an entire season of Star Trek episodes has been beamed over in one batch.
However, that’s just one of the remarkable aspects of the stellar season, which will have Trekkies of all stripes talking. To celebrate the season’s release, Comics Beat caught up series creators and executive producers Kevin & Dan Hageman.
The Beat asked all about the new season with a set of spoiler-laden questions. Read on to learn more about integrating the series’ characters into Starfeet, non-Trek inspirations and a hint of what we can see in a hypothetical (but very much deserved) season 3!
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
AVERY KAPLAN: What was it like telling a Star Trek: Prodigy story that was fully integrated with Starfleet from episode 1?
KEVIN HAGEMAN: Season 2 was great. They’re there at Starfleet, we get to go more Star Trek. That was always the idea: we’re bringing people into the world of Star Trek. So when season 1 started – these were characters who didn’t know anything. And now they’re in there.
The hard part for us is, while that’s fun, while they’re on a bigger ship, we didn’t want this to become Star Trek: Lower Decks or Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. They used to have a ship, like Dal R’El (Brett Gray) said. They used to have adventures! How do we enjoy them playing in the adult world, but then how do we get them back onto their own adventure again?
AVERY: Did you have a favorite line reading this season?
DAN HAGEMAN: There’s one in the “Cracked Mirror” episode where Chakotay (Robert Beltran) says, “Because no matter what reality we’re in, I could never hurt you.”
KEVIN: I don’t know if a specific line. I just remember being in the recording booth with voice director Brook Chalmers, who was reading opposite our actors. It was a moment in the “Cracked Mirror” episode where Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Chakotay finally meet. And Brook was reading for Chakotay opposite Kate, and we were just… Brook had tears in his eyes, reading opposite her. It was so powerful, it was so good.
AVERY: I know you mentioned The Fugitive when discussing Prodigy season 1.5. Is it fair to say there are some non-Star Trek cinematic influences on Prodigy season 2 as well?
DAN: Yes, yes yes yes. We were just talking about The Last Starfighter.
KEVIN: Back to the Future. The Chakotay stuff on the island was inspired by the old Disney movie The Flight of the Phoenix.
AVERY: Did you always know you wanted to bring Wesley Crusher into Prodigy?
DAN: Well, the writer’s room did. I think the writer’s room brought up to us. We had Jennifer Muro in our room, and she had a poster of Wesley Crusher on her teenage bedroom wall. And she’s friends with him now, whatever it is.
And it just started making a lot of sense. He was the original prodigy, he was a kid on the ship, and he’s a time lord. In a time travel episode, it just all fell together.
KEVIN: And no one’s done anything with him!
DAN: His exit off of TNG was very short.
AVERY: What was it like working with John Noble to bring such a different side of his character (sort of) to the screen in Prodigy this season?
KEVIN: It was wonderful. There’s some people who were like, “Should we hire a younger actor for a younger version of the character?” I said, “No, it’s John Noble. We’ll let John play around with it.”
And I think it’s not just the younger Diviner, he’s gentler. He was an astronomer. That’s why I love his beautiful and tragic story, that he used to look at the stars.
DAN: He loved the complexities. How do you play a character that could be an authoritarian mastermind?
AVERY: Did someone in particular come up with the notion that whalespeak should come through the universal translator musically?
DAN: That was [ship computer voice actor] Bonnie Gordon’s idea. She was thinking: it comes through the ship’s computer, but it has a little bit of different cadence.
AVERY: Were there any Star Trek Easter eggs you were especially excited to include?
KEVIN: Wesley Crusher, that was one of those things where we were like, “We have to keep him a secret.” A lot of the times, you need to show all your toys to get people excited to come watch your season. And we said, “Let’s let people know The Doctor (Robert Picardo), and give this, give that. But let’s hold back Wesley. We’d love to have one fun twist/surprise.”
DAN: I don’t know if that’s an Easter egg. Everything is just straight ripped-off of Star Trek, so I don’t know if that’s an Easter egg. Maj’el’s headband, when she has to hide, that’s very much Spock.
AVERY: Do you have any comment or additional insight into Bribble?
DAN: I remember there was a lot of argument in the room.
KEVIN: Between me and Dan, actually.
DAN: Between me and everybody. I think it was me and everybody.
I always saw Bribble as a baby Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui). And she creates part-Tribble, part-her into this little cute thing. And everyone said it was super creepy to have a little tiny version of yourself! But I love it.
I think we just left it unsaid. There’s never ever like… But I think design-wise. It’s got those big eyes.
AVERY: Can you speak to the reveal that Gwyn takes the center seat at the conclusion of Prodigy season 2? Was this always the plan?
DAN: Yeah. Even in the pilot, when we have Gwyn (Ella Purnell) strapped to the chair. We were like, “This is a hint.”
It was a little different, though. Because I think that Kevin and I… We love Star Trek, but we’re wrong on a lot of things. Originally we thought Dal and Gwyn are going to be co-captains. And David Mack said, “That would be ridiculous. No military would have two captains!”
KEVIN: Imagine a battleship with two captains… And breaking down season 2, we just loved the parallel between Dal and Gwyn’s relationship and what Chakotay and Janeway have. And Dal learning from that, and realizing…
In truth, Dal would have a lot more fun being the Number One, and beaming down on that planet and being in the middle in the adventures. And Gwyn would be the much more level headed leader on the starship.
AVERY: And Dal would fit so well into that Riker legacy so well, of, “I’m here to embrace it!”
DAN: If we have a season 3, Dal should have a Riker beard. Dal as number one just thinks that’s what you’ve got to do.
AVERY: Whether we get to see them or not, do you have future adventures for the crew in mind?
DAN: Yeah. I think the one thing we’ll tease is that, if and when we can get to a Prodigy season 3, I love the idea that time has passed. We open up and you see Rok typing away, and she turns and she has an eyepatch. And it just makes me go, “What happened there?”
KEVIN: What happened in between? Or, you know, I want Murf (Dee Bradley Baker) to be like a teenager. I want to see teenage Murf, taller, totally adolescent. Puberty: what does that look like for Murf? We want these kids to grow up.
DAN: There you go. A beard on Dal, an eyepatch on Rok, Murf is taller.
KEVIN: Someday, to see them as adults.
DAN: Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas) is four-fifths cyborg.
You can keep up with all of The Beat’s Star Trek coverage here.
