Star Trek Fans Try To Save Prodigy By Heading Into The Sky
Taking to the sky to battle an invisible enemy in the name of a righteous cause…why, that’s the kind of tale that great Star Trek episodes are made of. Recently, however, that didn’t describe an episode of the long-running sci-fi franchise so much as its fandom. Some dedicated fans recently hired a plane to fly over the Netflix offices in Los Angeles, and that plane’s banner had a very simple message: “Renew Star Trek: Prodigy.”
The plane in question flew for a solid 10 minutes, enough time to get the attention of streaming executives and pretty much anyone who happened to look up. Right now, it’s unclear if the message managed to persuade Netflix to renew the show.
Originally, Paramount+ was the home of Star Trek: Prodigy, but the streamer neglected to bring the animated series back after Season 1.
However, the effort was recognized by Star Trek: Prodigy’s two showrunners, Dan and Kevin Hageman, both of whom took to X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) to express their gratitude: “This is incredible. We owe these Trek fans a pint and our lifetime devotion,” they wrote. “Blessed to have people like all of you in our stratosphere.”
In addition to taking to the skies, Star Trek: Prodigy fans gathered outside the Netflix building with voice actor Bonnie Gordon and co-executive producer Aaron Waltke. Such a passionate, fan-led effort to get a Trek series renewed is in the finest tradition of the franchise…without such efforts, Captain Kirk’s original adventures would have ended after Season 1. However, Prodigy faces more obstacles than The Original Series ever did, and this show has already escaped cancellation once.
Originally, Paramount+ was the home of Star Trek: Prodigy, but the streamer neglected to bring the animated series back after Season 1. Fortunately for fans, the show (which previously took home a Children’s and Family Emmy Award) was picked up by Netflix, allowing audiences to enjoy the second season. The show has been a real hit on this new streamer, and it has particularly resonated with fans of Voyager due to the return of familiar characters like Janeway, Chakotay, and the Emergency Medical Hologram.
Given Paramount’s recent decision to merge with Skydance, the franchise of Star Trek as a whole is looking very uncertain, but Prodigy may have found a new permanent home on Netflix.
Now, though, the fate of Star Trek: Prodigy is more precarious than ever before: while it was relatively easy for Netflix to license the streaming rights to an already-completed Season 2, the streamer may not want to pay the production costs for creating a season 3 from scratch. Furthermore, Netflix is notorious for canceling great shows after a couple of seasons, meaning they might rather spend that money on creating new IP rather than expanding on existing IP. But Star Trek fans don’t believe in the no-win scenario, and fans are working hard to persuade Netflix to bring this award-winning show back.
In addition to taking to the skies, Star Trek: Prodigy fans gathered outside the Netflix building with voice actor Bonnie Gordon and co-executive producer Aaron Waltke.
Given Paramount’s recent decision to merge with Skydance, the franchise of Star Trek as a whole is looking very uncertain, but Prodigy may have found a new permanent home on Netflix. That would make fans everywhere happy and serve as a balm after the disappointing cancellations of both Discovery and Lower Decks. As for any Trek fan who hasn’t checked this show out yet, we recommend you give it a shot: it’s an ambitious love letter to the entire franchise and the closest thing we may ever get to a proper Voyager reunion.
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