Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Almost Made Janeway Captain of the Enterprise

Last season on Star Trek: Prodigy, our young heroes got a lot of their advice from Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) — well, kind of. Their ship had a hologram based on Captain Kathryn Janeway and modeled on Janeway’s physical appearance in the early 2370s, complete with uniform — so she basically looked just like she did on Star Trek: Voyager. At the end of the season, though, we found out that the real Janeway, still very much alive and now an Admiral, was on her way to pay a visit. The show’s second season will deal with that — and how she’s different from her AI counterpart — but apparently, Janeway was almost made the Captain of the Enterprise in the show’s second season.

With the real Janeway around, the kids will now have a new mentor — and it will be Voyager‘s The Doctor, voiced by Robert Picardo, which reteams him with Mulgrew. Now, there will be a lot to talk about, with the real Janeway being different from the hologram Janeway and The Captain back in the mix.

“We knew the Season 2 relationship between the kids and their mentor was going to change from hologram Janeway to Admiral Janeway, who was a little bit harder on them,” co-showrunner Dan Hageman told IGN. “As the Admiral doesn’t have time to be by their side every day and moment, we just thought how perfect it would be for The Doctor to get involved. We’d loved this idea that we always imagined [where] in Season 1 hologram Janeway is a bit of a Mary Poppins. In this one, The Doctor wants to be Mary Poppins but he’s more like a Mr. Belvedere. He wants to be endeared by the kids but the kids are like, ‘You’re no Janeway.’”

The series was actually cancelled at Paramount+, but rescued by Netflix, who are the current home of Prodigy‘s first season and will debut the second season (and potentially beyond). The show was saved, in part, due to a campaign by fans, who Mulgrew praised shortly after it got saved.

“I’ve always held that the Star Trek fan base is among the strongest and most intelligent in the world. They have shown their collective passion, and we’re happy to be able to celebrate Prodigy once again,” said Mulgrew at the time.

Star Trek: Prodigy‘s voice cast includes Kate Mulgrew reprising her role as Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager. The main cast features Brett Gray (Dal R’El), 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). 

Star Trek: Prodigy‘s recurring voice cast includes newcomers Daveed Diggs (Commander Tysess), Jameela Jamil (Ensign Asencia), and Jason Alexander (Doctor Noum). Robert Beltran also reprises his role as Chakotay from Star Trek: Voyager, and Billy Campbell plays Thadiun Okona from Star Trek: The Next Generation.