Posted in: Netflix, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: netflix, Star Trek Picard, star trek: prodigy, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wesley Crusher, wil wheaton

Star Trek: Prodigy S02: Wil Wheaton on Keeping Wesley Return a Secret

Wil Wheaton discusses joining Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 and how he was able to keep his return as Wesley Crusher a secret for so long.

One of the biggest disappointments of Star Trek: Picard is we never saw in the least, a Next Generation mother-son reunion between Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) in the third and final season. Wheaton's lone appearance on the series came in the season two finale, where he recruited Kore Soong (Isa Briones) to be a traveler, but he didn't join the other TNG cast for season three. Instead, we got an animated reunion on Netflix's Prodigy with Wheaton at his most involved since his days on the syndicated series. The host of the Star Trek aftershow, The Ready Room, spoke to Screen Rant about who knew about his story arc.

Wil Wheaton on Keeping His Wesley Crusher Return on 'Star Trek: Prodigy' a Secret

"Not a lot of people [knew]. I mean, the folks who worked on the show, obviously. Most of my [Star Trek: The Next Generation] cast didn't know. My space mom [Gates McFadden] knows. [Jonathan] Frakes knew. Kate [Mulgrew] knew because we had scenes together. But nobody else knew. It was a gigantic secret," Wheaton explained. "When I worked on 'Picard,' nobody on 'Picard' knew that it was coming up. And for years – years! – people have been saying to me, 'Man, I want to see Wesley again. Do you think he'll be in Strange New Worlds? Do you think you'll be in Prodigy? Do you think he'll be in –?' And every time I was like, 'I'm going to tell you a big old lie right now because that's what I have to do. I don't know.' So sorry, everybody. SURPRISE!"

As a Star Trek fan, I'll take it however I get it, but preferred a live-action reunion since his last two live-action appearances in the franchise have only been cameos with 2002's Nemesis, the final TNG film with zero explanation on how he ended up at Riker (Frakes) and Troi's (Marina Sirtis) wedding. The second was the Picard season two finale "Farewell". In Prodigy, the young crew of the U.S.S. Protostar is back on the trail of Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran), but with the ship missing, they serve with Vice Admiral Janeway (Mulgrew), but on a need-to-know basis with their status as cadets.

The crew stumbles upon Wesley, who's been the most active as a traveler trying to protect the timeline from getting changed on two fronts: the Loom, multiverse-eating aliens, and The Vindicator (Jameela Jamil), a future version of Asencia from the 25th century, who became a vengeful tyrant in the 24th. In the season two finale, "Ouroboros: Part 2", Wesley is reunited with Beverly when he visits her in her quarters as the series bookends into the start of Picard, as she presumably introduces him to his off-screen half-brother, Jack, played by Ed Speleers in the live-action series' final season.

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