| Season Number: | 2 |
| Bgcolour: |
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| Network: | Netflix |
| Num Episodes: | 20 |
| Episode List: | List of Star Trek: Prodigy episodes |
The second season of the American animated television series follows a group of young aliens who join Admiral Kathryn Janeway on a mission to find the original crew of the USS Protostar, and to learn more about Starfleet as they train to be warrant officers. The season was produced by CBS Eye Animation Productions and Nickelodeon Animation Studio in association with Secret Hideout, Roddenberry Entertainment, and Brothers Hageman Productions. Kevin and Dan Hageman served as showrunners.
Brett Gray, Ella Purnell, Jason Mantzoukas, Angus Imrie, Rylee Alazraqui, and Dee Bradley Baker voice the young warrant officers, with Jimmi Simpson, John Noble, Robert Beltran, Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo, Jameela Jamil, and Wil Wheaton also providing voices for the series. Nickelodeon ordered two seasons of Prodigy in April 2019 and the Hageman brothers were attached as showrunners. Ben Hibon was announced as director and creative lead in August 2020. The writers split the season into two 10-episode "mini-arcs".
The series was moved from Nickelodeon to Paramount+ in February 2021, and the second season was set to premiere in late 2023. Paramount+ canceled the season in June, but it was picked up by Netflix that October. The 20 episodes were first released in France on france.tv on March 22, 2024. They were released in the U.S. and other territories on Netflix on July 1, 2024.
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Star Trek franchise producer Alex Kurtzman said in January 2019 that a "kids-focused" animated Star Trek series was in development. Nickelodeon ordered two seasons of in late April 2019, and Kevin and Dan Hageman were attached as showrunners. Ben Hibon was announced as director and creative lead for the series in August 2020. In February 2021, ViacomCBS announced that Prodigy would debut on the new streaming service Paramount+ along with the rest of the Star Trek Universe. Paramount+ confirmed the second season order in November, and it was revealed to consist of 20 episodes in January 2022.
In June 2023, Paramount+ canceled the series. The crew were reported to be completing work on the second season while CBS began looking for a different streaming service or network to release it on. Waltke soon confirmed that the season would be completed on schedule. In August, the Hagemans said they were confident the season would be released and active discussions were taking place. They added that work on the season was expected to be completed in December. Later in August, after gathering 33,000 signatures in a Change.org petition and raising money via GoFundMe, a group of Prodigy fans paid for a plane to fly over the offices of Amazon, Hulu, Apple, and Netflix with a "Save Star Trek: Prodigy" banner. In October, the series was picked up by Netflix and the second season was scheduled for 2024. Kurtzman attributed this to the efforts of the fans.
The Hagemans completed writing for the last two episodes of the season by February 2022. First-season writer Aaron Waltke was promoted to co-head writer and co-executive producer for the second season, and explained that both seasons were split into two 10-episode "mini-arcs" each. He described each one as a "self-contained arc, but with plenty of story threads that you could pull to have it continue on to the next". After the young protagonists' mentor, a hologram of Kathryn Janeway, sacrificed herself at the end of the first season, the second sees them joining the crew of the real Admiral Janeway as "warrant officers in training". The Hagemans said their new mentor was an opportunity for growth, and they would not be "coddled" in the season like they were with Hologram Janeway. They also teased that Janeway and the protagonists would be on a new starship in the second season after the destruction of the USS Protostar and USS Dauntless in the first season. This was later confirmed to be the USS Voyager-A, a new version of Janeway's ship from the series . Dan Hageman said there were "two really big engines" in the season that were established in the first season finale: a message from Captain Chakotay in the future, and Gwyn's decision to try prevent her homeworld's future civil war.
Kate Mulgrew reprises her role of Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager. The voice cast for the series' young protagonists includes Brett Gray as Dal R'El, Ella Purnell as Gwyn, Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog, Angus Imrie as Zero, Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk, and Dee Bradley Baker as Murf. John Noble and Jimmi Simpson also star as the Diviner and his robotic enforcer Drednok, respectively. Mulgrew revealed in January 2021 that voice recording for the second season was about to begin. Recording for the last five episodes began by July 2022.
The Hagemans said in October 2022 that the series' search for Robert Beltran's Captain Chakotay from Voyager would continue into the second season, and that other "legacy characters" from previous Star Trek series would also be included. That December, Ronny Cox—who reprised his role of Edward Jellico in the first season—said he was also probably returning for the second season. In August 2023, Robert Picardo was revealed to be reprising his role as the Doctor from Voyager in the second season. Waltke said the Doctor would have a recurring role in the second season mentoring the main characters while Janeway is busy. In June 2024, ahead of the season's release, Beltran, Cox, and Picardo were confirmed to have recurring roles in the season, along with Jason Alexander as Dr. Noum, Daveed Diggs as Commander Tysess, Jameela Jamil as Asencia—all returning from the first season—and Michaela Dietz as Maj'el.
The Hagemans released the first clip from the series at the Star Trek Las Vegas fan convention in August 2023. The clip confirmed the appearance of the USS Voyager-A and revealed Picardo's return as the Doctor. A trailer and key art were released in June 2024, ahead of the season's premiere.
The season was set to premiere on Paramount+ in late 2023, before it was canceled by the streaming service. After the series was picked up by Netflix, the season was expected to be released in 2024 on that service in the U.S. and most international territories, except for Canada and countries where SkyShowtime (a combination of Paramount+ and Peacock for some of Europe) is available. All 20 episodes were made available in France on france.tv on March 22, 2024, which surprised the Hagemans who initially described the release as a "leak". They soon clarified that the early release in France was legitimate and caused by a miscommunication. All 20 episodes of the season were released on Netflix on July 1, 2024.
The season was released for digital purchase on July 29, 2024, to allow audiences without Netflix to watch. It is scheduled for release on DVD and Blu-ray in the U.S. on November 12.