During theStar TrekUniverse panel at Comic Con 2021, a teaser trailer was released for the upcoming animated seriesStar Trek: Prodigy. Although there have been many animatedStar Trekprojects in the past, this one is notable due to the fact that Captain Kathryn Janeway herself, Kate Mulgrew, is returning to the franchise to lend her voice in the series.
She is not featured much in the trailer, but her voice is heard briefly at the end, confirming her exciting presence. The one caveat is that Mulgrew will be voicing a hologram version of Janeway, not a “real” version. Still, it’s very cool to see her returning to theStar Trekfranchise (as it has become a fairly popular career move nowadays).
Star Trek: Prodigywill be a CG-animated series geared towards a younger audience - in the same vein asStar Wars: The Clone Wars. It will focus on a young alien named Dal and his friends as they try to survive on a distant mining planet. However, they soon discover an oldStarfleet ship- featuring a hologram of Janeway, who will undoubtedly guide them on their journey - and their fortunes change. The trailer introduced the characters and the mining planet, and gave fans a glimpse at the Starfleet ship that the young aliens will salvage. Although it’s clearly geared towards younger audiences, it may have plenty of fun material forStar Trekfans of all ages.
Kate Mulgrewbecame a star when she was cast as the lead character Captain Kathryn Janeway inStar Trek: Voyager. The series was not as beloved as the otherStar Trekshows at the time, but has since fostered a pretty substantial fan base in the past decade.Voyagerfeatured some of the most famousStar Trekcharacters (including Seven-of-Nine, who returned to theStar Trekfranchise herself inStar Trek: Picard). Mulgrew has had a great career sinceVoyagerended, most notably as one of the leads in Netflix’sOrange Is the New Black. It’s wonderful to have her back in theStar Trekuniverse.
The official synopsis forStar Trek: Prodigyreads, “Developed by Kevin and Dan Hageman, the Emmy-winning brothers behind Trollhunters and Ninjago, and aimed at younger audiences,Star Trek: Prodigyfollows amotley crew of alien teenswho find a disused Starfleet ship and commandeer it for their own purposes. And since this gang of outcasts doesn’t know a thing about the ship they’ve taken, they need to work together and live up to the ideals that Starfleet represents, even if they’ve never graduated from the Academy.” With great talent behind the scenes,Star Trek: Prodigycould potentially be a big hit.
Star Trek Prodigywill star Brett Gray as Dal, Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk, Dee Bradley Baker as Murf, Angus Imrie as Zero, Ella Purnell as Gwyn, Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog, and of course Kate Mulgrew as a holographic Kathryn Janeway. The show will premiere in Fall 2021 and will stream exclusively onparamount-plus/|Paramount+. The new streaming service is clearly cashing in on itsStar Trekproperties, and we shall see how it fares.
