For the first time in the history of the Star Trek franchise, 20 new episodes will be released on the same day. But, then again, nothing about the release of the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy has been typical. Originally debuting on Paramount+ in 2021, Prodigy was pulled off that streamer in 2023, only to have its first season end up on Netflix. And now, on July 1, 2024, Netflix will debut the entirety of Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, presenting a new Trek series as a massive binge event for the first time ever.
Ahead of the Season 2 launch of Prodigy, a new trailer has just dropped, which teases a ton of Trekkie Easter eggs, but also, the larger arc of the new episodes. With these episodes, it looks like Star Trek is going to have its biggest time-travel conflict ever.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Trailer
The new trailer for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 has several specific reveals, the biggest of which is that the youthful crew formally of the USS Protostar, will now be spending most of their time on the USS Voyager-A. This brand-new ship is the successor to the original Voyager, which featured in all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager from 1995 to 2001.
And like the USS Voyager of old, this new Voyager will once again be commanded by Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) with the Doctor (Robert Picardo) along for the ride again, too. As the crew searches for Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran), lost in time and in the Delta Quadrant, it seems that even more so than Season 1, Prodigy Season 2 will be a kind of low-key Voyager reunion.
Star Trek’s new time crisis
But the larger story of Prodigy Season 2 is more substantial than a series of callbacks to a beloved Star Trek era. Instead, based on the new trailer, the scale of this season looks much, much bigger than what came before. In Season 1, we gradually learned that Gwyn’s (Ella Purnell) father, the Diviner (John Noble) had traveled back in time from the 25th century to the 24th century, in order to destroy the Federation. In the Diviner’s future, the Federation’s first contact with the planet Solum resulted in a civil war that decimated the native people known as the Vau N’Akat. Mixed into all of this was an unstable wormhole that brought the Protostar into the future, before it was sent back into the past.
In theory, the main thrust of this time paradox was solved in Prodigy Season 1; the Diviner was prevented from destroying all of Starfleet in the present (2384) though some past version of himself (also from the future) was still lurking around in the galaxy. Plus, Chakotay, the original captain of the Protostar is still missing, lost somewhere in time.
And now, in Season 2, the Voyager-A is clearly embarking on another mission involving time travel via a wormhole. In the new trailer, Janeway says the mission’s objective involves “an unstable time rift.” Then, throughout the trailer, we see various diagrams indicating that throughout these episodes, multiple timelines will be in play. It seems two versions of Gwyn are glimpsed in combat; presumably one Gwyn from a timeline where she followed her father’s footsteps, and “our” Gwyn from the regular timeline. (Or maybe another member of Vau N’Akat?).
We also see at least one version of the Protostar intact, and flying around, complete with Holgram Janeway aboard. Because the Protostar was destroyed in the Season 1 Prodigy finale, this also seems to be the result of time travel. Finally, in a very deep-cut Star Trek time travel Easter egg, at one point, Murf seems to be underwater with what looks like a humpback whale. Long-time Trek fans will remember that humpback whales were involved in the most famous time travel story in the whole franchise, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Could Prodigy be ushering in the return of George and Gracie?
With all of these possibilities swirling around, it looks as if Prodigy Season 2 could be bringing something like Doctor Who’s Time War to the Trek franchise. In fact, in reference to all the time travel shenanigans coming in this season, Dal (Brett Gray) says, “This timey wimey stuff hurts my head.” Just how much of the Trek timeline that Prodigy covers though, remains to be seen. The trailer seems limited to time periods the characters are already connected to. But, with 20 new episodes coming, everything could get even timey wimey-er.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 hits Netflix on July 1.
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