On Saturday the Star Trek Universe panel made big news for what’s coming to Paramount+, while Star Trek: Prodigy had its moment to shine on Sunday with its own panel and an exciting announcement.
Prodigy coming home starting tomorrow
CBS Studios held a Star Trek: Prodigy panel on Sunday that included an episode screening followed by a panel discussion featuring stars Kate Mulgrew (Admiral Janeway) and Brett Gray (Dal) joined by Executive Producers and Co-Showrunners Kevin & Dan Hageman. Together they celebrated the season 2 release on Netflix to a capacity crowd of over 700 excited fans who received exclusive Star Trek: Prodigy sunglasses.
During the panel, they announced that the second season of Prodigy will be available on digital demand tomorrow, Monday, July 29th. A Blu-ray and DVD release with all new special features will be released on November 12th.
UPDATE: For fans in Canada who have not had access to season 2, it has been confirmed the VOD version is available to purchase now on iTunes and other digital platforms.
A clip of one of the special features featuring Wil Wheaton was shown to the audience and you can watch that below…
Panel highlights: Emotional reunions, time travel, and hope for season 3
There were some interesting moments (including season 2 spoilers) discussed during the panel. The episode shown was “Cracked Mirror,” which featured the long-awaited reunion of Admiral Janeway and Captain Chakotay, Kate Mulgrew talked about the emotion of that scene and how impressed she was with the work of the executive producers:
Kate Mulgrew: I just saw it and I started crying. How wonderful that they were reunited. And how wonderful for me to be able to voice this with Robert Beltran, and my great friend, Bob Picardo… You guys are unbelievable. I really think the Hageman brothers are geniuses. They’re geniuses. There’s no animated television like this. Can you name another product like this? It doesn’t exist. Because you bring to bear every element that intrigues the young mind, every element of surprise of intelligence… and they absorb it. And they grow with it. And they grow with you. Lovely.
In addition to adding The Doctor, there were a lot more connections to Star Trek canon in season 2, and the Hagemans talked about how they balanced that for different audiences:
Dan Hageman: We did that on purpose because there’s people who are not just kids, but even adults who are a little bit nervous about jumping into this massive universe. And you want them to give them the tools that when they’re watching season 2, they now have places where they need to go to Voyager, they can go to TNG, they can watch Picard and they’ll see something in those series that connects to our characters. I think that was always the plan.
Kevin Hageman: Let me just add, set aside all of the Trek legacy, the little easter eggs, and all that. We just wanted to tell a heart-forward story in Trek. And I think that’s what young and old can relate to.
Kate Mulgrew, Brett Gray, Kevin Hageman, and Dan Hageman at SDCC 2024
A big part of season 2 was bringing back Wil Wheaton to play a Traveler, an idea Hageman brothers said came from writer Jennifer Muro, who is friends with Wheaton. The talked about how this changed their mind when it came to dealing with time travel in season 2:
Dan Hageman: [Writer Jen Muro] was the one who said, “Can we do it?” and Kevin and I were like, “I don’t know how to do a time travel season.” And I go “A Time Lord? Yes.”
Kevin Hageman: It was a dream come true bringing Wesley Crusher back and to imagine what his next chapter would be. And Wil is just the kindest man. And I think at the very beginning when Jen brought it up, we’re like, “Wesley Crusher is the original prodigy of Star Trek.” Yes, this guy needs to come in and help our kids. So thank Wil for saying yes.
Kate Mulgrew: Can I say something about time travel? Janeway’s favorite quote is “time travel gives me a headache.”
Brett Gray talked about how he felt about the end of season 2 when Dal stepped aside to let Gwyn be acting captain of their new ship:
Brett Gray: At first when the Hageman’s brought it up, I was like, “Oh man!,” in my Dal energy, like “No, I want to be captain.” But actually think it’s perfect for him. I think he has a lot to learn. And I think that being Gwyn’s first, I think he cares about her so deeply, that it will make the learning for him easier. But also, I think he will challenge her in ways that maybe she has not prepared herself for either. I think he needs to learn how to follow before he can ever be able to lead fully and I look forward to his education and his maturity in that as well.
This prompted the Hagemans to jump in to talk about the arc of the characters going forward…
Dan Hageman: When we first put this idea of a show in our head we were like, “What is the worst crew possible?” and then at the same time we said, “Look at that crew and they are going turn into the best crew.” We’re not there yet, guys.
Kevin Hageman: That’s why we want a season 3. We want to grow.
This last comment got a huge ovation from the crowd, which promoted Mulgrew to bring up last summer’s fan campaign:
Kate Mulgrew: You guys [indicating the crowd] are responsible for season 2 because you hired that little plane that flew over Netflix and that got bought two weeks later, or something like that. So you have to do it again. Will you do it again?
Kate Mulgrew at SDCC 2024
More Star Trek SDCC 2024
Check out our SDCC category for more of our Star Trek coverage from San Diego Comic-Con. And there is more to come so check back during the week.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com
That’s great news! I was worried we wouldn’t get a release.
Sounded like a great time and I completely forgot about that airplane campaign! Yeah it helped and hopefully season 3 happens.
But the show is amazing and I will be buying the blue rays for it. It’s just nice to see so much Voyager love happening these days! 🙂
I’m so relieved that there’s going to be a bluray release! As others have said, it seemed quite likely it wouldn’t happen now that Netflix has the streaming rights (in most territories).
The only reason Star Trek continuously gets great physical media releases must be that fans like me support them with their wallets. Thank god! A lot of other fandoms — almost all fandoms, to be honest — don’t have this luxury. I’m so grateful.
Prodigy was outstanding this season and it’s great to see Kate Mulgrew mixing it up at CC this year.
NOW GIVE US SEASON 3 NETFLIX!!!!
YEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!
good god, i really wish there was a way to see janeway again in a live action format. kate mulgrew is a phenomenal woman and actress.
I’ve only seen her speak live one time, and it was electric. I’d’ve followed that woman into battle afterward.
same here :) she has such a unique and heart-warming presence!
I love this!
Soooooo true! And maybe I’m a bit too optimistic at times but I do think we will eventually get Mulgrew back in live action….look at the Doctor. ;)
So many fans wants it; especially after her appearance on this show.
I really hope so.
I will definitely buy this. And when the inevitable complete-series Blu-ray — or hopefully 4K — comes out, I’ll happily buy that as well.
“I really think the Hageman brothers are geniuses. They’re geniuses. There’s no animated television like this.”
kate is so right. CBS, now give the hagemans a new trek project!!
I figured it would be released eventually, after seeing some of the replies from people like Aaron Waltke and others who work on the show, saying that they still have the rights to do so after a certain amount of time. But I’m surprised it’s happening this soon. I was expecting maybe next year.
Either way, I’m so happy they’re releasing it. With a season this richly layered, with more complex sci-fi concepts, ties to other Star Trek shows (including the great supporting cast), and stuff like that, there’s so much potential with the special features. And given that it’s releasing in November, it would be a perfect gift for the holidays.