Star Trek Franchise Returns to Netflix on Christmas Day

Star Trek: Prodigy's first season is coming to Netflix on December 25, a Christmas gift for audiences who have been missing Trek on the platform since it left for Paramount+. While most of the Trek series and movies will remain at Paramount+, Prodigy's first season will stream on Netflix...and so will its second, with the show having been saved from cancellation by Netflix. As the biggest and most stable streamer in an unsteady market, Netflix has been able to dip into its cash reserves to license big IP from other studios -- even those that own their own, competing streaming services.

The Star Trek franchise used to stream exclusively on Netflix. The world's largest streaming subscription service, Netflix offered audiences a chance to get caught up on classic Trek series and films at a time when not everything was widely available for free and legally. That all changed when Paramount+ (then called CBS All Access) launched, and Trek both new and old began migrating there. Since Paramount and CBS Studios own Star Trek, it's a move that makes perfect sense, but for Netflix users, it has undoubtedly been a bit of a bummer. 

Star Trek: Prodigy, which aired on Nickelodeon and Paramount+, was cancelled and pulled from the streaming platform earlier this year. Unlike other streaming projects that were shelved for tax credits, never to be seen again, Prodigy got a home media release and, shockingly, a second season -- albeit not at Paramount+ or Nick.

Netflix saved the show, announcing a second season, which will air in 2024. That will make it the first Star Trek show to stream anywhere other than Paramount+ in the U.S. since the long-running sci-fi franchise entered the streaming era with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017.

"Thank you to our incredible Star Trek: Prodigy fans, who championed not just a show, but a community that's always been connected by the belief that we build a better future together," said executive producer Alex Kurtzman and co-showrunners Dan and Kevin Hageman in a statement last month. "We set out to inspire you, but you inspired us. The team is still hard at work on the second season, and we can't wait to share it with the amazing fans around the world."

Here's the official synopsis for the series: 

Star Trek: Prodigy sees Star Trek: Voyager's Kate Mulgrew returning as Kathryn Janeway, both as a hologram and as the flesh-and-blood original, now a Starfleet admiral. The voice cast also includes Brett Gray (Dal), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Angus Imrie (Zero), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), John Noble (The Diviner) and Jimmi Simpson (Drednok). Also featured in the series are recurring voice cast members Daveed Diggs (Commander Tysess), Jameela Jamil (Ensign Asencia), Jason Alexander (Doctor Noum), Robert Beltran (Captain Chakotay), and Billy Campbell (Thadiun Okona).

You can pick up Star Trek: Prodigy on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as buying it digitally on platforms like Apple and Vudu. It will start streaming for free again when Netflix picks it up next month.