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Did Star Trek: Prodigy Just Become a "Voyager" Sequel? (Spoilers)

Published Sat, 31 Dec 2022 17:49:11 -0600

by Tom Chang

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While it was merely alluded to when Paramount+ teased the Nickelodeon series Star Trek: Prodigy, we got updates on two of Voyager's crew members. Prodigy allowed star Kate Mulgrew to pull double duty as Kathryn Janeway as not only the hologram version attached to the U.S.S. Protostar but also the vice admiral. The last time we saw the character in canon was the 2002 live-action Next Generation film Nemesis in a cameo as we find out Janeway got promoted largely thanks to getting Voyager home and presumably taking out the greater part of the Borg Collective. The following contains major spoilers for the two-parter "Supernova."

Did Star Trek: Prodigy Become a 'Voyager' Sequel? Lingering Questions — Kate Mulgrew & Robert Beltran in Star Trek: Prodigy. Screencapped from YouTube courtesy of Paramount+

Will We See 'Voyager' Reunion on Star Trek: Prodigy?

When the rag-tag crew of children that hijacked the Prostar – Dal (Brett Gray), Gwyn (Ella Purnell), Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), Murf (Dee Bradley Baker), Zero (Angus Imrie), and Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas) – having to abandon ship knowing their continued presence on the vessel will spell doom for the Federation, Holo-Janeway makes the fateful decision to create a wormhole and send the ship into the future. This was similar to what Vice Admiral Janeway's former Voyager first officer in Chakotay (Robert Beltran) decided to do to prevent the Protostar from falling into the hands of the Vau N'Akat.

Did Star Trek: Prodigy Just Become a "Voyager" Sequel? (Spoilers) — "We'll Always Have Tom Paris" — Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris of the Paramount+ series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS. Photo: PARAMOUNT+ ©2021 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved **Best Possible Screen Grab**

With all charges dropped on the crew, real Janeway granted the provision of warrant officer status to the young crew, with Starfleet Justices refusing to let them into Starfleet Academy. Janeway is certainly used to granting others provision status, given her past with Chakotay and B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) in season one of Voyager and later, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). As the younger crew gets rescued, shuttles come in from a familiar designation: NCC-74656-A. "NCC-74656" was U.S.S. Voyager, and it looks like the original was decommissioned & a successor ship has arrived. Before "Supernova" closes, Janeway promises something bigger in store for the younger crew teasing the newest Protostar-class ship.

Star Trek: Picard EP Confirms Seven's Rank, S3 Villain Isn't Sela — Jeri Ryan. Image courtesy of Paramount+

Given Ryan's work in season three of Picard and acceptance of her Starfleet commission, it's plausible we could see Janeway and Seven bump into each other in live-action form or on the animated Prodigy. Given Robert Duncan McNeill and Tim Russ' cameos on Lower Decks, it's possible we could see Tom Paris and Tuvok returning in animated form along with Paris' wife and chief engineer Torres. The same reasoning would go for Garrett Wang's Harry Kim, hopefully still not an ensign, but probably makes for a depressing recurring gag on Lower Decks. Speaking of LD, it's probably the only way we see Ethan Phillips' Neelix again. Will we see them all back on screen at once? I doubt it, and this includes the promised cast reunion of TNG for Picard season three. It has to make narrative sense for alum to interact with each other. Even if we get 2-3 together again at once, that is bonus enough.