The first season of the American animated television series Star Trek: Prodigy follows a group of young aliens who find an abandoned Starfleet ship, the USS Protostar, and must learn to work together as they make their way from the Delta Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant. The season was produced by CBS Eye Animation Productions and Nickelodeon Animation Studio in association with Secret Hideout, Roddenberry Entertainment, and Brothers Hageman Productions. Kevin and Dan Hageman served as showrunners.
Brett Gray, Ella Purnell, Jason Mantzoukas, Angus Imrie, Rylee Alazraqui, and Dee Bradley Baker voice the young crew of the Protostar, with Jimmi Simpson, John Noble, and Kate Mulgrew also providing voices for the series, the latter reprising her role as Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager. Nickelodeon ordered the series in April 2019 and the Hageman brothers were attached as showrunners. Ben Hibon was announced as director and creative lead in August 2020. The writers split the season into two 10-episode "mini-arcs" featuring Noble's the Diviner and Mulgrew's Admiral Janeway as their respective main adversaries. In February 2021, the series' debut was moved to Paramount+.
The season premiered on the streaming service Paramount+ on October 28, 2021, and the first 10 episodes were released through February 2022. It premiered on the cable channel Nickelodeon on December 17, 2021. The next 10 episodes were released on Paramount+ from October to December 2022. The season was met with positive reviews from critics and received a Children's and Family Emmy Award. The series was canceled and removed from Paramount+ in June 2023; Netflix picked it up that October and the season was released on that service in December ahead of a second season in 2024.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main Brett Gray as Dal R'El Ella Purnell as Gwyn Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog Angus Imrie as Zero Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk Dee Bradley Baker as Murf Jimmi Simpson as Drednok John Noble as the Diviner Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway
Recurring Bonnie Gordon as the USS Protostar computer Robert Beltran as Chakotay Jameela Jamil as the Vindicator / Asencia Jason Alexander as Noum Daveed Diggs as Tysess Billy Campbell as Thadiun Okona Ronny Cox as Edward Jellico
Notable guests René Auberjonois as Odo James Doohan as Montgomery Scott Nichelle Nichols as Nyota Uhura Leonard Nimoy as Spock David Ruprecht as the captain of the Kobayashi Maru Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher Fred Tatasciore as Garrovick
Production Development Star Trek franchise producer Alex Kurtzman said in January 2019 that a "kids-focused" animated Star Trek series was in development. Kevin and Dan Hageman joined the series as showrunners by mid-February 2019, when the cable channel Nickelodeon was in talks to air the show. Nickelodeon officially ordered the series in late April 2019, and Ben Hibon was announced as director and creative lead for Star Trek: Prodigy in August 2020. In February 2021, ViacomCBS announced that Prodigy would debut on the new streaming service Paramount+ along with the rest of the Star Trek Universe. The season was revealed to consist of 20 episodes.
Writing Writing for the season began by July 2019, and Kurtzman said the writers were close to finishing in August 2020. They created a continuous story for the first two seasons that is broken into 10-episode "mini-arcs". Writer Aaron Waltke described each one as a "self-contained arc, but with plenty of story threads that you could pull to have it continue on to the next". The writers chose to begin the season with a two-part pilot because there was too much information to fit into a single half-hour episode; Kevin Hageman noted that the live-action Star Trek series have twice the amount of time per episode to introduce new concepts. The Hagemans compared the introduction of the young cast to The Goonies (1985) and wanted them all to be introduced properly before they escaped the prison colony with their new starship, the Protostar, at the end of the second episode.
The series begins in the Delta Quadrant, far from the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet in the Alpha Quadrant. In the prison colony, the young protagonists see the Federation as a "promise for something better". They are introduced to different Star Trek concepts by a hologram of former USS Voyager captain Kathryn Janeway, which allows the series to introduce those same ideas to its audience. The story revolves around the secrets of the Protostar, and the backstory of the villainous Diviner who is searching for it. The mid-season finale reveals that the Diviner's homeworld was devastated in a civil war after Starfleet made first contact with them. He travelled back in time to prevent this using a weapon aboard the stolen Protostar. Science consultant Erin Macdonald mapped out the season's time travel storyline to ensure it made sense. Macdonald also has a cameo role in the season finale as a Starfleet doctor.
The writers wanted the second half of the season to put the young crew to the test by introducing a new antagonist. They decided that this would be Starfleet, and more specifically the actual Admiral Janeway who has been searching for the missing Protostar. She is not aware that the young crew are onboard, and none of them know about the Diviner's weapon, which sets up the conflict for the second story arc. Though she is an antagonist, the Hagemans said Admiral Janeway was not a villain and they wanted to explore a story which has "two well-meaning groups with different goals" like the film The Fugitive (1993). The season's second half moves the crew closer to the Federation, mostly taking place in the nearby Beta Quadrant rather than the Delta and Gamma Quadrants of the first half. The writers worked with the showrunners of the other Star Trek series to ensure continuity, including confirming that the Borg should be depicted as dormant following the end of Star Trek: Voyager. That is how they are seen in "Let Sleeping Borg Lie", and Waltke said it was possible that the Borg Cube in that episode is the same one later seen in Star Trek: Picard. The Romulans in the season are shown using similar weapons and outfits to those in Picard because both groups are interested in turning technology against Starfleet.
"Ghost in the Machine" reveals that Hologram Janeway has been unknowingly following the Diviner's plan, which episode writer Chad Quandt compared to The Manchurian Candidate. This is revealed as part of a classic Star Trek "holodeck adventure" that Quandt had been pushing for all season. The next episode, "Mindwalk", also features a classic science fiction trope when Dal and Admiral Janeway switch bodies. Hologram Janeway sacrifices herself in the season finale, which aligned with the Hagemans' intentions to have the mentor figure leave at the end of the coming-of-age story. They felt this would create an emotional ending similar to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and The Iron Giant (1999). This also aligned with the writers wanting Hologram Janeway to have character growth like previous Star Trek hologram characters such as Professor Moriarty from Star Trek: The Next Generation and the Doctor from Voyager.
The season is bookended by scenes that emphasize the need for communication, which was a key theme for the Hagemans. In the premiere's prison colony scenes none of the alien characters can understand one another, and in the finale Starfleet's universal translator fails. The Hagemans said "a bunch of aliens on a ship who don't know how to talk to one another" was a metaphor for how people can come together in the real world, and the "universal translator for Starfleet is the thing that really holds them together". They originally intended to end the season with the young Protostar crew joining Starfleet Academy, but the series' Star Trek adviser David Mack argued that it should not be that easy to get into the academy. There was also a series based on Starfleet Academy in development. Instead the characters become "warrant officers in training" under Admiral Janeway.
Casting and voice recording
Kate Mulgrew reprises her role of Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager, who primarily appears as the USS Protostar Emergency Training Hologram. Mulgrew also voices the real Janeway, who has a large role in the second half of the season. The voice cast for the series' young protagonists includes Brett Gray as Dal R'El, Ella Purnell as Gwyn, Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog, Angus Imrie as Zero, Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk, and Dee Bradley Baker as Murf. Additionally, John Noble voices Gwyn's father, the Diviner, and Jimmi Simpson voices the Diviner's robotic enforcer Drednok. Mulgrew revealed in January 2021 that voice recording for the first season had been completed. For the scenes in "Mindwalk" where Dal swaps bodies with Admiral Janeway, Gray and Mulgrew recorded each other's lines first as reference.
Bonnie Gordon was hired to provide temporary "scratch vocals" for Gwyn and Janeway during the series' development, which led to her getting a permanent role as the voice of the Protostar computer. Gordon also provides the voice for a Brenari ensign in the season's penultimate episode who is one of the refugees Janeway rescued in the Voyager episode "Counterpoint". Billy Campbell revealed in February 2021 that he was reprising his guest role of Thadiun Okona from The Next Generation in the series and said his role was one of several "legacy characters" that were returning for Prodigy. Robert Beltran, who portrayed Chakotay in Voyager, said he was working on Prodigy in August, and was confirmed that October to be reprising his role. Other recurring guests announced in October 2021 include Daveed Diggs as Commander Tysess, Jameela Jamil as Ensign Asencia, and Jason Alexander as Dr. Noum. Alexander previously had a different guest role in Voyager. Campbell's role was officially confirmed in September 2022; he recurs as Okona during the second-half of the season. He suggested adding an eyepatch to the character's design, which the Prodigy showrunners informed the Star Trek: Lower Decks producers of to ensure continuity with Okona's appearance in that series. At New York Comic Con in October, Ronny Cox was announced to also have a recurring role in the second-half of the season, reprising his role as Edward Jellico from The Next Generation who has since been promoted from captain to admiral.