Ahead of the July 1 premiere of the second season of Star Trek: Prodigy TrekMovie had a chance to talk to co-creators and executive producers Dan and Kevin Hageman. We will have some more spoilery comments from the pair next week after the 20-episode drop on Netflix, but they also had some more (mildly spoilery) comments about the second season, as well as their assessment of the series getting a third.
What’s something quintessential from season 1 that carries through into season 2 and what’s something you wanted to change for season 2?
Kevin Hageman: The quintessential part was: this is a show for new people who don’t know anything about Star Trek. So we wanted to make sure we continue this idea of the greatest hits. What are those elements? Like Tribbles and Vulcans and what makes Star Trek great? So that’s something we wanted to bring back. What was new is how at the end of season 1 we had set up Gwyn going off to present-day Solum. We knew Chakotay was on future Solum. And we were like, “Oh my God, this is going to be a time travel season… and this is going to be a tricky one.” So we discovered it’s a little more serialized than season 1. Like there are more 2-parters, especially in the back half of season 2 it’s really feeling like a highly-serialized ramp-up.
Dan Hageman: Yeah, in season 1 it really felt like they were always being chased by something, either by The Diviner or Admiral Janeway. And they were always just keeping their heads above water. Season 2 is a little bit more of The Odyssey where they have a journey to make and the exploration of their journey, they’re a little bit they’re a little bit more on top of the game of what they need to do.
When we talked to Aaron Waltke last week, he said the goal was to come up with a grand unified time travel story, to make it all make sense…
Dan Hageman: It’ll never all make sense. You have a suspension of disbelief for any time travel.
But with the end of season 1, painted into a corner kind of sounds like a bad thing, but…
Dan Hageman: Oh we totally. When we realized this is going to be a time travel season, we were not excited. We’ve got to go into the future to save Chakotay and then Gwyn’s got to solve Solum in present day. We were like, “Oh god, here we go, it’s time travel time.”
Kevin Hageman Luckily we had Dr. Erin Macdonald, who’s our astrophysicist advisor. We drew it out and she worked on it and she’s like, “Yes, this can work.” We were so excited.
Some fans never got into the show in season 1, perhaps seeing it as a kid’s show. Do you feel like season 2 works differently, especially for fans, to just jump straight in? Because now it’s all about Starfleet, they are in the Alpha Quadrant, and in episode 1, bam there they are on the new Voyager.
Dan Hageman: You are not the first person we have heard that from. And I guess it does kind of work if people want to jump right in. I think you wouldn’t quite know how the characters connect to each other as well. But it definitely does feel like yeah, new students getting brought into shenanigans on the Starfleet ship. So you could start from season 2.
Kevin Hageman: I’m happy that it can work that way. But also, it’s the second half of a 40-episode saga.
Dan Hageman: I think if they watch season 2 and they love it, they are going watch season 1 and love it because it’s the same thing. It just has a slower start.
A big new thing for season 2 is the release of all 20 episodes at once on Netflix. How do you feel the show works as a bingewatch, or how would you feel it is best to watch the new season?
Kevin Hageman: I personally think it’s designed to watch very quickly, all together. I think it’s really hard to watch 22 minutes and have this very highly serialized emotional story and only get a 22-minute chunk and then have to sit for a week. I think it’s going to be a more satisfying experience to be able to watch more together.
Dan Hageman: When we ran Trollhunters our room had written 52 episodes straight. It was a 52-episode order, which was a different time back then. But all that writing is to get you to finish one and want to start the next one. So, I think it’s actually easier to watch by binging them. It’s like morsels, 22 minutes. It’s easy to get through two and once you get through two, you kind of want to watch a third one.
Regarding a third season, I know you have said it’s possible. What is your level of confidence? Is this now just like any other show on Netflix awaiting a season pickup if it does well?
Kevin Hageman: I would guess more than doing well. We don’t know anything about season 3 yet. But what from what I see of Netflix when they do pickup shows for a season 3, which is very rare, it’s not about doing well, it has to do gangbusters.
Dan Hageman: Most things only get 2 seasons.
Kevin Hageman: I think it’s going to be a real challenge. And I think it has to be bigger than just the Star Trek audience watching it as much as they can. It’s about breaking into kids who are [not already fans]
Dan Hageman: But let’s also put it into perspective. Lower Decks is five seasons, but those seasons are 10 episodes. Ours is 20 episodes. We got 40 episodes. It’s a lot of content out there. So it kind of comes down to: are there large watch-throughs of the season? Where’s the appetite? Do people want more Prodigy? Obviously, Kevin and I want more Prodigy. But we’re happy with how we left things off at the end of the season 2. We feel like there’s a nice place to stop, but also a new adventure to pick up if we want to.
Kevin Hageman: Doing a show like this is not cheap, doing 20 episodes. So, my hope is we get a great-sized audience, but if it’s not big enough to warrant another season, there’s always option B. Which would be, let’s do a 90-minute animated film, the sequel which could start the film franchise.
Dee Bradley Baker, Kevin Hageman, Ben Hibon, Kate Mulgrew, Dan Hageman, Brett Gray and Rylee Alazraqui seen at Star Trek Prodigy display during at NYCC 2021 (Getty)
You see this as a streaming movie? I think [Paramount Pictures CEO] Brian Robbins once talked about a possible theatrical…
Kevin Hageman: Theatrical would be big, that would be wonderful. I just think it’s a really difficult time in entertainment right now for films.
Dan Hageman: With so much content out there, that’s why I think the streamers don’t want to clutter the landscapes.
Kevin Hageman: This is my dream. I would to keep the show going as an animated series on Netflix, keep seasons going. And then someday warrant a live-action film franchise.
Dan Hageman: But what I like is the show has a beating heart. And when the streaming wars dust settles, somebody will have Star Trek. And someone has that choice of “what do we want to continue on Star Trek?” And I feel like we have something to build off of.
Wrapping things up, what is something you want hardcore Trek fans–maybe even skeptical fans–that you want them to know about season 2 of Prodigy?
Dan Hageman: We respect Star Trek. And we want to live in Star Trek like they do. And we bring those things to the screen.
Kevin Hageman: This is canon and the next chapter in Star Trek.
From episode 10 (CBS Studios)
More to come from Dan and Kevin
Check out the All Access Star Trek podcast on Friday for the full audio of our interview with more insights into season 2 (minus a couple of spoilers). And check back on the site next week for a breakdown of why they decided to [SPOILER] in season 2.
Season 2 of Prodigy will stream on Netflix globally (excluding Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Mainland China) and season one is currently available on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe with season two coming soon. Season two has launched in France on France Televisions channels and Okoo. TrekMovie is trying to confirm details on a release of season 2 in Canada.
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