We wrap up our coverage of New York Comic Con today with our last interview from the Star Trek: Prodigy press tour — and this time, it’s with the admirals leading the series into the newest frontier.
Along with a few other outlets, we sat down with the show’s creative leads — Kevin and Dan Hageman (pictured left and center, above) and director Ben Hibon (pictured on right) — to discuss the upcoming season, plans for future Trek stars to beam back (in animated form), Prodigy merchandise, and more.
TREKCORE: Prodigy is aimed at younger viewers, to teach them about Star Trek as the Protostar kids are learning about Starfleet — but at the same time, the show sometimes goes really deep into canon and lore along the way. How do you keep those two ends of Trek storytelling balanced?
DAN HAGEMAN: I think the upcoming Borg episode is a good example of this — like, you think everybody knows the Borg, but we have to remember, “Well maybe someone doesn’t know the Borg, so what would Hologram Janeway say about them?” Run away, get out of there!
KEVIN HAGEMAN: Run away as fast as you can, right? But then, how do we do it? How do we have a reality where these kids survive the Borg?
DAN HAGEMAN: If you look at the time period, though, fans will look at where the Borg were at in the post-Voyager era, and understand they’ve been kind of disrupted and displaced.
KEVIN HAGEMAN: When we’re creating the stories, all we have is each other in our gut — we write for ourselves, you know? And of course, while we have the mindset of making sure nothing’s too much for a child, I want to entertain myself when I’m writing. I wanna watch this show!
DAN HAGEMAN: You know, sometimes we go a bit “too Star Trek” and we say, “This might be kind of boring for kids, let’s pull back.”
BEN HIBON: I think a lot of it can be done through visual storytelling. Those things are archetypes that we’ve seen kids understand, from both from sci-fi or other mythology. It’s more about just making sure you give enough information, both on the page and and in the visuals, to really let kids grasp the concept without having to over-explain.
QUESTION: How does Prodigy explore new storytelling avenues in the Star Trek universe?
DAN HAGEMAN: It’s the first all-alien cast, and it’s the first bridge crew that’s ever gone through Starfleet. I think that’s what’s interesting.
KEVIN HAGEMAN: It makes it really colorful, right?
DAN HAGEMAN: Everyone in Star Trek is usually the best of the best, and these kids are the worst of the worst — but you want to see them grow!
KEVIN HAGEMAN: I think like in the, the first 10 episodes, you’re getting to know the cast of characters and hopefully liking them, and in the next 10, I think you’ll start falling in love with them. You’ll find that, you know, I think we’re the most, uh, we might become one of the most emotionally driven Star Trek shows.
DAN HAGEMAN: Well, Discovery’s pretty emotionally-driven…
KEVIN HAGEMAN: I’m not saying the other shows aren’t emotional, but we certainly go to emotional places.
DAN HAGEMAN: And meet them with heart and hope.
QUESTION: Can you talk about how Dal and Gwyn’s friendship and connection evolves in these new episodes?
DAN HAGEMAN: I think they see something in each other that they’d like to be — if you look at Gwyn, she’s someone who hasn’t really had an uplifting childhood, and she’s had to grow up at a very young age. I think when she looks at Dal, she sees a childlike, carefree guy.
BEN HIBON: She’s also much more rigid than he is, I think, in her way. She’s certainly appreciating that the more chaotic nature that Dal offers. It’s attractive to her.
DAN HAGEMAN: And I think for Dal, when he looks at Gwyn, she’s very great at what she does — Dal talks a big game but he’s not really that great! [Laughs] He’s covering up a lot of flaws, and I think he sees the perfect person in Gwyn.
KEVIN HAGEMAN: They’ll realize that they’re better together than on their own, sort of like Kirk and Spock, you know? They made an amazing team together. If it was just Spock, like, The Adventures of Spock? He needs Kirk to be there with him, right?
QUESTION: Everyone’s got ‘their’ Star Trek show, the one that brought them into the franchise — what’s it like knowing that Prodigy is going to be that touchtone series for a new generation of kids?
KEVIN HAGEMAN: Well, we feel the pressure as we’re creating the show; we know that the show might help continue to carry that torch.
DAN HAGEMAN: Super proud, though. We’re very proud. Those moments where you can get kids’ synapses firing, when something boggles their mind, they think about it that night? That’s how most Trek fans start. They watch an episode and it sticks with them. You look at like what these Star Trek fans have grown up to become, like Star Trek science advisor Dr. Erin McDonald, who is a super badass astrophysicist.
KEVIN HAGEMAN: She has Voyager tattooed on her arm! She grow up on it, and that’s why she’s a scientist.
BEN HIBON: We always said that if we can start a conversation between generations, then we’ve made we made it right — because it’s about the new, but also about the legacy ideas. It’s about how exciting Trek can be with with diversity, with exploring, and with discovering and all of these things, right? If each episode can trigger a generational conversation, that’s what’s really exciting.
DAN HAGEMAN: It’s emotionally touching, because some of the early feedback we got was from Star Trek parents who were like, “I can now talk Star Trek with my kid!” People who talk Star Trek can talk Star Trek all day to each other, and it’s so touching — and you now have someone in your house that you can talk Trek with?
That will just make that relationship stronger.
TREKCORE: Was Ronny Cox amenable to coming back to play Admiral Jellico, or did it take some convincing?
DAN HAGEMAN: Oh, he’s so excited. He’s been like, “When can I tell people? I can’t wait for people to find out!”
KEVIN HAGEMAN: And in Season 2 — we can’t tell you who — there are bigger legacy characters on the way. Pretty big.
DAN HAGEMAN: We can’t say anything more, but these are going to be some fun surprises.
KEVIN HAGEMAN: It’s not Picard. [Laughs] But it’s not just one, but two pretty big characters are coming back — and they’re not from the same Star Trek show. And Chakotay isn’t who I’m talking about.
DAN HAGEMAN: Someone asked me, “Are you just going to keep teasing us with Chakotay?” Well, we’re going to be teasing you, but we’re going to deliver the goods.
KEVIN HAGEMAN: But not in these next 10 episodes.
QUESTION: Lower Decks is jumping to live action in their Strange New Worlds crossover next year — any chance we’ll see Prodigy go live-action anytime soon?
KEVIN HAGEMAN: No, but we keep pushing!
DAN HAGEMAN: It would be fun.
BEN HIBON: It would be a challenge, though.
DAN HAGEMAN: It is amazing, though, thinking about it when I look at Ella Purnell and Brett Gray. I’m like, “Just paint Brett purple! And Ella? Just paint her white and give her some hair prosthetics!”
TREKCORE: Are you looking forward to seeing some Prodigy merchandise finally start rolling out? Have you read any of the tie-in books that are coming out next year?
KEVIN HAGEMAN: We’ve read synopses, and given some notes here and there, to make sure it’s all working with the show – but about merchandise, heck yeah! We’ve seen some sweet stuff that’s coming.
DAN HAGEMAN: Oh yeah, and there’s a Protostar starship, it opens up and the main engine pops out, there’s sound…
KEVIN HAGEMAN: We’re really proud of the Protostar ship, it’s awesome. Ben worked so hard on it.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Star Trek: Prodigy will return with “Asylum” on Thursday, October 27 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on October 28 in Latin America, Australia, Italy and the U.K. The series will arrive in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in December.