Break out your overpriced Murf popcorn bowls, cadets: Star Trek: Prodigy is back! 18 months after we last saw the USS Protostar crew, the show returns to Netflix for Season 2 — after its unceremonious departure from Paramount+ last summer — with all twenty episodes available to watch today.
 
It may seem overwhelming to receive that many gigaquads of data all at once — it is definitely the Star Trek franchise’s first time having a whole season drop on one day — but the epic storytelling and modern pacing of Season 2 are tailor-made for this. Prodigy’s second full season is smart, imaginative, and Star Trek to its core. It’s an intriguing mix of high-concept sci-fi and thrilling adventure that will make you grateful that it’s all available to binge as you see fit.
 

And for kids on summer vacation, it’s a dream scenario for open schedules and later bedtimes that cry out for “just one more episode.” Such was the situation at my house, as the serialized nature of the season hooked my kids in to the point where they always wanted to keep going.

We watched it in movie-sized chunks, and thanks to the multiple two-part episodes in the Season 2 lineup, each one felt like event viewing for the whole family. It was one of those rare instances where both the kids and the adults in the room were equally invested in what we were watching.

Here’s the full list of Season 2 episode titles — skip past it if you don’t want to know!

Prodigy’s second season is serialized a bit more than Strange New Worlds’ episodic nature — though thankfully nowhere near the level of Star Trek: Discovery — but it has found the best of both shows, maintaining the theatrical feel of a season-long story arc while feeling slightly more self-contained in each individual episode… and even slowing down for some fabulous stand-alone adventures.

It’s been nearly three years since Star Trek: Prodigy premiered — a lifetime ago in kid years, as my 11, 9, and 7-year-olds have grown to 14, 12, and 10. The good news is that Prodigy has grown along with them: the more robust, complex storyline is almost indistinguishable from a plot you would find on a show aimed at adults. Prodigy does a wonderful job of explaining where it needs to explain without talking down to its audience and otherwise just letting the plot elements — and thus the watchers’ imaginations — breathe.

While this step up in maturity worked for my family, it does make the whole 40 episode series a little uneven overall. Very young children who can follow Season 1 might not be quite ready for the added complexity in Season 2 — as Star Trek staples like wormholes, time loops, alternate realities, and more pepper the season’s adventure. Another wrinkle of temporal mechanics!

If Prodigy’s first season was Star Trek 101, than Season 2 could definitely be called Advanced Starfleet Studies — as the references and canon connections are deeper, more frequent, and integrated into the show in some unexpected ways. The result is that it makes the show’s environment feel very lived in and fleshed out, but you don’t need to have a background in Trek to appreciate it. It does, however, make it that much richer if you are steeped in the lore. I had a lot of fun gleefully explaining the references I thought were worth interrupting the show to explain and just as much fun letting the others wash over me with a smile on my face.

There is something here for fans of every incarnation of Star Trek as almost every single series and group of movies gets referenced in some way. While Voyager obviously gets a focus — thanks to the continued presence of Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), more involvement from Chakotay (Robert Beltran), and the return of The Doctor (Robert Picardo) — it’s not the only corner of the Star Trek universe to shine, as parts of other Trek shows get some big-time attention.

Prodigy delightfully answers some long standing questions, both big and small, using everything from major plot points to seemingly throwaway lines. This show has firmly staked it’s position as a relevant piece of one of the most interesting time periods in the greater Star Trek universe.

This season is also completely comfortable in its own skin, independent of those wider Trek connections. The characters we got to know so well last season — Dal (Brett Grey), Gwyn (Ella Purnell), Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas), Zero (Angus Imrie), and even Murf (Dee Bradley Baker) — continue their personal journeys in very satisfying ways.

They are more themselves than ever even as they change and grow, as Gwyn faces challenges on her homeworld and Dal’s well-meaning desire to stay in the middle of the action begins to chip away at his stubborn nature. Zero’s journey in particular this season sparked emotions and conversations with my kids, and stands out as a season highlight.

The new additions, from legacy Trek characters to brand new friends, fit in seamlessly, to the point of feeling like they’ve always been there. I was totally unprepared for how quickly my kids and I all fell for young Vulcan cadet Maj’el (Michaela Dietz) and — believe it or not — the long-lost Captain Chakotay, given more to do here than in most of his time on Star Trek: Voyager. A sense of love permeates the entire show, with generations of found family the way only Star Trek can do it.

Add to that gorgeous ships (that lovely Voyager-A!) and otherworldly landscapes (Solum world building!), excitingly choreographed action sequences, intelligent writing, new takes on classic Trek tropes, and incredible vocal acting from an immensely talented cast… the level of production in all areas of this show is beyond expectation.

The overall Season 2 experience makes creators/showrunners Kevin and Dan Hageman and co-head writer Aaron Waltke seem like masterminds whose long-laid plans are finally coming together. Building on the franchise’s past, they sneakily made some of the best Trek in decades right under our noses, all under the guise of a ‘kid’s show’ — and to say that the end of Season 2’s storyline “sticks the landing” might be the understatement of the year.

Star Trek: Prodigy remains one of the best parts of the modern Trek era, and Season 2 can be held near the top of the 16 seasons of televised Trek since Discovery launched in 2017. It’s an ambitious, challenging, rewarding show that will appeal to both kids and adults, which opens minds to sci-fi concepts the way great Star Trek always does: with a dose of wonder.

With that wonder, Prodigy brings an appreciation of what came before, but also an excitement for the future that feels fresh and energizing — an excitement that exists within the show itself and extends to the future of Star Trek as a whole. It’s a gift and one that fans should embrace and share!

We’re going to give you all time to get through Prodigy‘s twenty new episodes — then come back on Wednesday, July 3 for our super-spoilery interview with Kevin & Dan Hageman where we talk with showrunners about many of Season 2’s plot and character moments!

They stay tuned for episode-specific reviews, beginning with the season-opening “Into the Breach” two-parter, starting at the end of the week. In the meantime, please keep the comments below as spoiler-free as possible as viewers start their Season 2 journey.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is available to stream today 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.