After releasing the main title sequence and announcing composers for Star Trek: Prodigy earlier today, Paramount+ used their Television Critics Association (TCA) panel to introduce the villains for the series and more.
Meet the Prodigy bad guys
Last week Paramount+ announced John Noble and Jimmi Simpson had joined the voice cast for Star Trek: Prodigy and today they revealed our first looks at both of their characters.
Here is The Diviner (voiced by John Noble). He is the small character inside the tank, as his daughter Gwyn (Ella Purnell) looks up at him.
“The Diviner”
The Diviner floats in a tube of liquid
And here is The Diviner’s loyal robot henchman Drednok (voiced by Jimmi Simpson).
“Drednok”
The ship and mystery of Prodigy
Executive producers Kevin and Dan Hageman talked about the show during the Television Critics Association panel, with details being revealed via Twitter via the official Star Trek account along with some of the critics. Alex Zalben from Decider offered a lot of details in his tweets, such as revealing how the show will start in the Delta Quadrant with the kids onboard the USS Protostar making their way back to the Alpha Quadrant.
"The show has a lot of mystery," says Kevin Hageman, deferring from talking about any specific spoilers #TCA21
— Alex Zalben (@azalben) August 31, 2021
They also talked about The Diviner’s motivation.
Kevin Hageman says they were inspired by Ricardo Montalban in particular, and his portrayal of Khan as an inspo for John Noble's performance #TCA21
— Alex Zalben (@azalben) August 31, 2021
And how Drednock is like another sci-fi robot minion.
John Noble says The Diviner has the authority role, and "that's all I can see to it at this stage."
Jimmi Simpson adds that Dreadnok, "he's there to serve," adding that he's like Maximillian in The Black Hole, but "more verbose." #TCA21
— Alex Zalben (@azalben) August 31, 2021
It was also confirmed again that some legacy characters, in addition to Janeway, will make their way into Prodigy. We actually learned about one of those characters at the recent Las Vegas Star Trek convention. Kate Mulgrew was also part of the panel, where she talked about returning to voice a hologram.
"Janeway defined an era for me… to play a hologram is probably the cleverest way to introduce this character to children… She has never left me and I am thrilled to be back." – @TheKateMulgrew #StarTrekProdigy #TCA21
— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) August 31, 2021
Star Trek: Prodigy arrives on Paramount+ this fall.
Find more news and analysis for Star Trek: Prodigy.
Man this show sounds more and more exciting the more I learn about it. So it basically sounds like a Voyager quasi spin off and you have these kids trying to get back to the Alpha quadrant again. And it’s exciting we are going to meet other Voyager characters along the way! We know Chakotay will be back which I can’t wait for. And it sounds like the ship is going to be a pat of the story line (but most of them usually are). I thought this show would be a little more loose narrative wise but can’t wait to see how the villains play into it as well.
And I’m starting to wonder it sound like it was a mistake to describe these characters as ‘lawless teens’. I know that was such a big put off when the show was first announced. Based on the little bit of footage we got, they seem to be kidnapped or abducted and just getting out of a bad situation. I guess we’ll know more soon but I am definitely onboard with this show. It looks like its going to be tons of fun.
Neelix would be an obvious choice for the kids to meet. Maybe they will even give him a ride back to his old friends in the Alpha Quadrant!
Definitely! Especially since Neelix is the only one from the Voyager who stayed in the Delta quadrant. Well Kes did too but that reunion would be…trickier. They can always recast though.
I definitely expect to see Neelix though.
So, we’ve got a Voyager quasi spin off with Prodigy, a TNG quasi spin off with PIC and LDS, a TOS quasi spin off with SNW and DSC to an extent… When is the DS9s quasi spin off coming? There’s no chance in hell that something isn’t already brewing. :)
I hear you. DS9 is my favorite show by far out of all the shows. It’s odd we haven’t had even one character show up anywhere yet but I think its coming. Would be nice if there was a spin off show of some type like what TNG, TOS and VOY have all gotten but that’s probably a ways away.
Maybe they have bigger Plans for ds9
Agreed, but let’s hope that the rumors about the DS9 remaster are true, which might be enough to scratch our itch for the time being :) If they are, I think we can hear something about it on Star Trek Day next week.
As for a quasi spin off, the perfect vehicle would be the S31 show if they truly are willing to go ahead with that. They can drop Georgiou in late 24th, early 25th century, bring back Bashir and Garak as regulars and go wild with it. If I were in charge, that would be the only way I would consider a Section 31 show. DS9 introduced us with that, let the people from that show explore it even further.
I’m genuinely starting to wonder if the current producers and suits have something against DS9…maybe they recall the barrage of “this isn’t Star Trek” bile it got for years and want to avoid that at all costs.
This really looks like fun. I just wish Drednok had a less goofy name.
Yeah. I wish the name was not silly sounding and seemed like the very serious names like Worf, Quark and Data. ;)
You seem to be sort of obsessed with all those cheesy telling names on PRO. I kind of get your point. But actually I like that goofy vibe.
They could have even gone further. We got Gwyn, we got Dal… Zero should be called In, because they are IN a suit. Together, we’d have GWYN DAL IN :-)
Rok-Tahk, the Brekarian is really a strange name. I can’t memorize the spelling… They should have called her Stonya :-)
I like the name Murf. He’s blue like a Smurf and a gelatenous morph…
Jankom Pog is just so goofy…it’s in between pig and pork, a Jankom sounds a lot like Schinken in German, which translates ham :-)
BTW: Are you the experimental musician who does these really awesome psychedelic late-70s / early-80s-style retro tracks? Sort of Stranger Things meeting Blade Runner and Dune? If that’s you… great stuff! It’s a pity Trek has never really used that sort of electronic escapism.
Khan was left around, abandoned by Kirk and this he wanted revenge. It seems like this Diviner will be set up as someone or something that Voyager in some way abandoned. This may have left it/them angry and wanting to get the Starfleet ship at the same time (as the knowledge of advanced technology of Voyager was common in the Delta quadrant).
Also – is the Diviner really small? Is it/them this pink ball? Or is that this large mountain-like thing that can be barely made out in the tank? All I’m saying is that salamander children have been abandoned by Janeway on that one planet on the Delta quadrant, sooooo… ;)
So Gwyn would be Tom’s and Janeway’s granddaughter?
I’m really looking forward to seeing this. I always thought some modern, Trek animation would be great, but unfortunately I found Lower Decks to be very disappointing. I’m not gatekeeping here btw, to each his own. It just isn’t for me. Low level office humour and Star Trek don’t make good bedfellows in my view. Let’s hope Prodigy does the job.
I have my issues with LDS as well but even if it was good, it would still be only 2D animation / cartoon. 3D animation such as PRO or Clone Wars is a completely different beast for me. 2D animation will always be some sort of moving storyboard to me while I can fully emerse in 3D animation. It’s just the way I perceive it.
I wish DS9 got some love in the current Trek era, the way TNG and VOY do!