One of the biggest surprises about Star Trek: Prodigy’s second season was the inclusion of long-lost Wesley Crusher, the young Enterprise-D helmsman who went off with The Traveler to explore other planes of existence at the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
 
Though he made a cameo appearance in Star Trek: Picard’s Season 2 finale back in 2022, plans for the modern Star Trek franchise to revisit the character began with Prodigy, as series creators Kevin and Dan Hageman told us in earlier this month — the character had not been seen since 1994’s “Journey’s End” (not counting, of course, a deleted scene cut from Star Trek: Nemesis).
 
We caught up with Star Trek’s own lord of time — actor Wil Wheaton — to talk about his return to the Trek universe, connecting his appearance on Picard with his time on Prodigy, finding the voice of “Wesley the Traveler,” and more.
 

TREKCORE: Let’s jump right in — what was it like when you got the call, asking you to bring Wesley Crusher back for Star Trek: Prodigy?

WIL WHEATON: Well, a good friend of mine is on the Prodigy writing staff, and she called me up and said, “How do you feel about being Wesley again?” I was like, “Uh, I’m extremely into it!” (Laughs)

She pitched me the broad idea of what they were thinking about, and then asked me if I had any ideas. I said, “You know, I don’t want to overstep, but I’ve been writing fan fiction about Wesley the Traveler for years… and in my stories he’s kind of like The Doctor from Doctor Who.” She got really excited and said that the Prodigy writers were thinking the same thing – so we were all leaning in the same direction.

She asked me, “What do you think about this? What do you think about that?” I couldn’t believe it — I’d never been invited into the creative process as early as on Prodigy, so I feel even closer to this character than I already would have. And then a few days, I got the official request to join the show, which of course was operating under a code name at that point; we were calling it ‘Captain Video’ during production. (Laughs)

Then it all just came together.

TREKCORE: So you know you’re going to come back to Star Trek with Prodigy… and then you get a call from the Star Trek: Picard team to play Wesley in live-action, too.

WHEATON: There have been a few moments in my life where I just feel like, “This can’t possibly be real… all this wonderful, amazing stuff that’s happening to me without some kind of catch.” And it turned out there was no catch! (Laughs)

You know, I have held onto this secret since before we did Picard — and that filmed like four years ago! — and then when Akiva Goldsman told people that two Star Trek shows “went to war” over Wesley Crusher, I couldn’t believe it was even happening. It was just so wonderful, and so exciting. It was just lovely.

We are at a moment in Star Trek’s life where we have people working really hard to ensure that every Trek show is supporting every OTHER Trek show. We have this giant, shared universe where everything gets into each other, and everything makes sense. We’re not hand-waiving anything, so they had to figure out how to make Wesley the Traveler in Picard tie in with Wesley the Traveler in Prodigy.

I’ll tell you this — when I got to write a story for IDW’s Star Trek #400 in 2022, I bridged the two together. I was able to sneak in a moment where Wesley is trying to get away from The Loom [the reality-eating time monsters introduced in Prodigy] and put them into the background of that comic… and make it so that Wesley goes to recruit Kore Soong in Picard because the Loom are coming in that alternate-timeline reality. He knows it’s happening, and it became a fun kind of Easter egg thing for me.

Personally, you know, being on Trek wasn’t the greatest time for me when I was a kid. Adults who knew better were really cruel to me, a child, and it was deeply hurtful — that wasn’t okay. And for a really long time after that, I felt like I should probably also not love Wesley, and I should run away from all that — and I did, for a while.

But boy, do I regret that; it was wasted time. Seeing Wesley in Prodigy — after a long time between when I recorded the episodes and today — it’s the first time in my acting career that I have looked at a role I played and I didn’t see Wil Wheaton. I didn’t even hear myself. I only saw and heard this character that I love so much, and I had the incredible privilege of enjoying my work in the way I hope the audience does.

I told my friend Jen Muro, who wrote for the show, that I did not think it was possible that I could love Wesley Crusher more than I already do. Seeing him like this, with these kids – seeing him as a mentor and an elder, being this interesting guy who’s all over the place – I just love him so much… and I’d forgotten he was me.

Like, it was lovely that he appeared in Picard — that was a beautiful cameo, and it felt so good to be part of that — but seeing him in Prodigy, doing what he does best, it felt like Wesley had finally come home after all these years. I watched some of those episodes through some tears because I was so moved by it.

I didn’t take a single second for granted.

TREKCORE: Well it certainly sounds like it was a very lovely experience for you. Beyond the storytelling, what did you think about Wesley’s animated look, with his early-TNG sweater? Did you have any part in the final design?

WHEATON: I did — Kevin and Dan Hageman are so wonderful. They’re so generous, and they encouraged me to collaborate with them. There’s always a bit of collaboration that happens in the recording booth when I’m working with a director — and Kevin’s a great director — but I never expected to be consulted on the animated design. I never thought that I’d be able to give feedback on that at all.

When I was an actor on Next Generation, I was frequently ‘put in my place’ by the producers; my feedback was rejected. It was a very much shut-up-and-do-your-job kind of place, my opinions didn’t matter.

TREKCORE: Is that because you were “just the kid,” and not one of the adult actors?

WHEATON: Yeah. I mean, my castmates always treated me as an equal, but a majority of the directors and producers always treated me as a kid who just didn’t have the right to speak up. I couldn’t possibly know anything — and I think the reality of what I had to offer at that time probably falls in the middle a little bit.

There are ways to talk to somebody that aren’t insulting, right? You can say “Here’s what we’re going to do, and this is why.” But that was a different time — my point is, it wasn’t like that with Prodigy at all. I was in the booth with Kevin, and we’re finding the character. I had just come out of doing the cameo on Picard, and I initially approached him the same way for Prodigy — very reflective and calm, sort of like the original Traveler on Next Gen.

Kevin tells me that the tone has to be different, because it’s an animated show and everybody is more high-energy… so let’s try some things! So we tried Wesley sort of like Doc Brown from Back to the Future, as Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park, even as the Professor from Gilligan’s Island. (Laughs)

Then at one point, I said, “Wesley is like The Doctor… hey Kevin, can we try something?” So we go and do the scene with him acting very distracted and all over the place. “Oh look, a coin slot! A hat… you ever tried one of these Earth hats?” (Laughs) There’s a line where Wesley is like, “Would you like some Earth grapes?” which I improvised and thought was very funny — he doesn’t remember how to interact with people who aren’t Travelers anymore.

We brought all of that through in the performance, and the Prodigy team really supported that in the writing going forward. As a fan of both franchises — Star Trek and Doctor Who — this is the closest I will ever get to being The Doctor. Because when they cast the next Doctor, it’s definitely not gonna be me! (Laughs)

And then on the character design: the sweater conversation came up, and I said that I think it should be that orange one from “Where No One Has Gone Before” because it’s kind of iconic and it’s the one that stands out the most from his sweater collection. I love that he’s all into those sweaters now, because when I was a kid I hated them! (Laughs) I thought they were dumb and I didn’t like the way they looked; they were uncomfortable. I wanted to be cool, I wanted to be neon… because that’s what teenager girls in the Eighties liked!

I ended up coming back around and loving them, the same way Wesley did. But my two pieces of suggestion were: one, I really wanted to see him on Doc Martins. And if he can’t be in Doc Martins, I would like him to be in kind of those Eighties punk rock combat boots that are, uh, legally distinct from the Doc Martins that I wore as a kid. So we managed to get away with the boots… and I also thought it would be cool if he wore one of those calf-length jackets that evoke another particular Time Lord!

TREKCORE: Beyond time playing Wesley, what are your thoughts about Prodigy as a whole? What does the show mean to you as a fan?

WHEATON: There are three things that really stand out to me about Prodigy. First, I love that Wesley is in the show because Wesley was written into Trek to bring people into the universe and get kids interested in making a better tomorrow — and Prodigy is doing the same thing. I’ve heard Kevin and Dan say that Wesley was the original prodigy, so we need him in Prodigy — that’s just a gift.

Second, I love that Prodigy doesn’t talk down to kids, it reaches kids where they are. It gives their parents something to watch so they can watch it together. I agree with all the fan feedback I’ve seen saying this was probably the best Trek season since Deep Space Nine… just in terms of satisfying, great storytelling, it’s checking all the different boxes.

Third, I love that at its core, Prodigy is about teamwork. It’s about outsider kids who have no place to call home, all coming together and finding a home in Starfleet. That is just a gorgeous message for kids who feel weird, feel like they don’t fit in — there is a place for you to fit in.

It’s with your fellow weirdos, and the Star Trek world is a place where you’re special and you matter — so welcome aboard!

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is available to stream now on Netflix globally (excluding-Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus, and Mainland China). The show can also be viewed on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Central and Eastern Europe.