Posted in: Netflix, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: dan hageman, kevin hageman, netflix, Robert Picardo, star trek: prodigy, star trek: voyager

Star Trek: Robert Picardo on Hagemans, Prodigy Season 3 Hopes & More

Star Trek: Prodigy and Voyager star Robert Picardo on working with Dan and Kevin Hageman, hopes for the animated series' future, and more.

For Star Trek: Voyager fans, it's starting to feel like home on the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy as more alums file in with Robert Beltran (Chakotay) and Robert Picardo joining Kate Mulgrew (Kathyrn Janeway) as part of the cast and reprising their respective roles as Chakotay and the Doctor from the UPN series. While Beltran appeared at the tail end of Prodigy season one and was elevated to the main cast in season two, Picardo marks his return to the franchise, outside of a video game, since the end of Voyager in 2001. Voyager alum Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) and Tim Russ (Tuvok) also made their respective returns to the franchise on Picard and Robert Duncan McNeill reprised Tom Paris for the animated Lower Decks.

Star Trek: Robert Picardo on "Prodigy," The Hagemans & Season 3 Hopes

Picardo was impressed by the work put in by Prodigy creators and showrunners Dan and Kevin Hageman. "When I started to read the scripts that [Kevin] Hageman and their writing team created, it was fun to see that they really use the Doctor well," he said. "All of the humorous things about him were carried forward, his self-delight, the fact that he was writing holo-novels, and no one was a bigger fan of his work than he than he was — all of that fun stuff. But also, when the chips are down and there was a crisis, it really was, 'How do we solve this young female cadet or would-be cadet that is in dire trouble, and how do we bring her back?' So all of the drama, which of course, is geared to a younger audience, but still, the stakes are high. Even in an animated series, the stakes were serious and important. I love the way they use the Doctor credibly and convincingly in serious scenes, as well."

It helped to have a perspective to nudge him along to the show. "I didn't know what it would be like. I'm dear friends with Kate Mulgrew, so she told me a little bit about the recording experience, how she was enjoying it, and what it meant," Picardo said. "I knew that Kate is a great talent and very serious about protecting the legacy of her character, so if she was happy, I had every expectation that I would be too. So, that was not a surprise."

As far as what Picardo hopes happens if Prodigy season three becomes a reality, "Wow! Probably have a romance. That's the best thing in the world. At the age I'm at now, it's not gonna play in live-action, but how great would it be? I really loved the little shows in the past, the one in real life where he had a holographic family," he said. "There was an episode in the past, I called it our 'beauty is only skin-deep' episode — I think it was called 'Lifesigns' — where the Doctor fell in love with a hideously deformed Vidiian woman who he was working on and didn't care what she looked like. It's always fun at a certain stage of life to play a character who's acting like he's a 16-year-old on a date, and you can't do that in live-action, but you can certainly do it in voiceover. So, yeah, it would be fun to see a personal episode of the Doctor. It might be fun to sing a little opera again. I think whatever singing I did was only a couple of phrases. I think I sang a couple of notes, but to have a little opera performance, that would be fun. But other than that, the writers have such great imaginations. They'll think of better things than I can."

For more, including Picardo contrasting the difficulties of how his performance was affected by recording from a booth, you can check out the complete interview. Star Trek: Prodigy is available on Netflix.

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