Netflix’s release strategy for Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 is a groundbreaking first for the franchise, and a test for its future. Netflix bought the streaming rights for Prodigy after the show was canceled by Paramount+ in June 2023. Production on Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 was allowed to continue, but Paramount would no longer pay for future seasons, nor would they host the show on their streaming platform. Prodigy‘s poor treatment created a strange “orphan” Star Trek show, cut off from the larger franchise, which, given the themes of the show, is quite appropriate.

Over a year after Paramount’s decision, Netflix will stream Star Trek: Prodigy from July 1st, releasing all twenty episodes in one go. It’s unclear at this stage whether Netflix has the option to renew Prodigy for a third season, or if they’re purely hosting season 2. From a business perspective, it seems likely that Netflix would want to keep hold of a Star Trek TV show that is as tied into the beloved 24th century era as Prodigy is. Therefore, the fate of Star Trek: Prodigy will be dependent on how season 2 performs on Netflix, something which could be hindered by its release strategy.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2’s Netflix Release Plan Is A First-Ever For Star Trek

To boldly binge-watch…

Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 will be the first Trek show to have all of its new episodes released at once on a streaming service. While Star Trek is no stranger to the age of binge-watching, it has largely avoided it in favor of releasing episodes weekly. The prospect of 20 brand-new episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy to binge is admittedly exciting, but there are drawbacks to the binge-watch model. A weekly release strategy would keep Star Trek: Prodigy in the conversation for twenty weeks, whereas the binge-watch model means that the conversation is already over by the time the more leisurely viewer presses play on the Prodigy season finale.

In recent years, Netflix has become wise to this unfortunate side effect of the binge-watch model, and has been tinkering with their release strategies. The most recent seasons of hit shows like Bridgerton and Cobra Kai have been split in two so that Netflix gets two audience spikes per season. In terms of popularity, Star Trek: Prodigy isn’t up there with a Cobra Kai or Bridgerton, which is likely why Netflix are dropping all twenty episodes in one go. Netflix’s release strategy for Prodigy is therefore banking on a hungry audience of Star Trek fans to guarantee them healthy streaming numbers on July 1st.

Will Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2’s Release Plan Help Or Hurt Season 3’s Chances?

How will Netflix measure Prodigy’s success?

It remains to be seen how Netflix’s release plan helps or harms the chances of its upcoming Star Trek show. The streaming giant puts a lot of stock in a show’s performance in its first month on the platform. In January last year, Forbes discussed how Netflix bases its renewal decisions on a number of factors, including the completion rate; the percentage of users who start a show and watch it through to the end of the season. Generally, shows with completion rates of 50% and above stand a good chance of being renewed by Netflix. This is a good sign for Star Trek: Prodigy, given how much love and support there is for the show, and how eager fans are to see the new episodes.

However, Star Trek: Prodigy‘s season 3 renewal doesn’t solely rely on the completion rate figures. Netflix has the distribution rights for Prodigy, while the show itself was produced by Paramount and CBS, meaning it’s a relatively cheap show for Netflix at this stage. Any future seasons of Star Trek: Prodigy would need to be funded by Netflix, raising the streamer’s expectations for the show and how it should perform. Therefore, they’ll be scrutinizing the figures from the July 1st release to determine whether a much larger investment in Star Trek: Prodigy season 3 will be worth the return.