Star Trek: Prodigy's Cancelation Caught The Cast & Crew Completely Off Guard
On June 23, 2023, it was announced that Paramount+ would be canceling its animated series "Star Trek: Prodigy" at the end of its second season. To add insult to injury, every extant episode of the series to date was to be removed from the service entirely. One can still find "Prodigy" on DVD and Blu-ray, but Trekkies might want to hustle if they want to see this series at all. The reason for the cancelation is likely due to the broad fallacy of modern streaming. Major studios, it seems, stuff their streaming services with expensive, high-profile programs to prove to the company's shareholders that their streaming services have a lot of abstract value. If the stock value stays high, then the services will continue to overspend on production. The actual popularity of the shows is irrelevant, and many have suspected that most streaming services have much lower numbers than they have let on.
Once a new show has fulfilled its function as "valuable content," the studio can then dismiss it as it sees fit, saving that expensive bandwidth for something else.
This was the fate of "Prodigy," a gently beloved, kid-friendly "Star Trek" series in the admittedly overstuffed "Trek" library of Paramount+. It was likely the least talked-about series of the new "Trek" shows, but it was hardly a flop or an obscurity. There was every reason for its fans and its makers to believe it would continue to be made.
When the news came down that "Prodigy" had been canned, co-head writer and co-producer Aaron Waltke was just as startled as everyone else. In a recent interview with ScreenRant, he recalled being in the middle of a promotion cycle when he got the bad news.
The bad news
For those unfamiliar with the show, "Prodigy" was set in a region of the galaxy unexplored by Starfleet. A group of enslaved teenagers, forced to work in a high-tech mining facility, flee their evil captor and stumble upon a small, empty Starfleet vessel called the U.S.S. Protostar. On board is a hologram of Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) who assumes they are Starfleet cadets, and walks them through how to operate the ship, but also, more importantly, how to behave like a well-constructed crew. Over the course of the show's first season, the teens transform from bitter misfits into mature and respectful co-workers. The end of the first season saw them finally returning the Protostar to Earth, and meeting the real-life Admiral Janeway. They are now actual Starfleet cadets.
The second season would have been a more traditional "Trek" series wherein the characters are serving under a legitimate captain on an actual starship. Waltke had written the story, and explained how he received the news:
"I mean, we found out around the same time as you. It was not a planned thing, as you can imagine. Obviously, we were doing the marketing push for season 2, planning to release that winter and whatnot. So it kind of came as a surprise to all of us. The streaming landscape is in very much a transitional space right now. So I think everyone is trying to figure out how their shows can best thrive and continue."
While the series may be absent from Paramount+, there's every reason to believe it will be shopped to other services. (A "Prodigy" banner was recently flown over the headquarters of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Apple in an attempt to convince one of them to buy the show.) One might have to remain observant, but surely "Prodigy" will pop up on one of the archive-forward movie streaming services.
The streaming landscape
Waltke certainly seems dismayed by the cancelation of his show, but rather than wallow in misery, he chooses to take lessons from the very series he writes for. "Star Trek" has long been held up as a utopian ideal, presenting a future beyond capitalism and war where humanity has united and technology is our friend. A bright future can easily be held in our heads and strived toward. Waltke finds that message is vital at a dark time such as this:
"The hope for a new streaming home for 'Prodigy' is that we will get to showcase our show to so many other new audiences that may not have seen it before. You have to live that 'Star Trek' optimism in real life."
Given that "Short Treks" seems to have vanished, "Star Trek: Picard" concluded after its third season, and "Star Trek: Discovery" will end at the end of its upcoming fifth season, it seems that "Trek" is contracting in general. It's entirely likely that the studio will be sticking with just two or three shows moving forward, saving as much money as they can during desperate times. I predict a future when only "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" and "Star Trek: Lower Decks" are on the air, with the planned "Starfleet Academy" only starting once one of those has also been canceled. Shows like "Prodigy," meanwhile, will be resting safely on your video shelf.
Be sure to buy the physical media.