Despite season 2 being canceled and its existing episodes being removed as part of the Paramount Plus streaming purge, Star Trek: Prodigy is still a canonical part of the Star Trek universe. As Star Trek: The Animated Series celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2023, it’s worth remembering the rough ride that animated Trek shows like Prodigy get from die hard fans. Disappointed with the result, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry deemed that TAS wasn’t canon, leaving an unfortunate hangover in the minds of some old school fans. Decades later, and Roddenberry’s view has been extrapolated to apply to both Prodigy and Star Trek: Lower Decks by a portion of fandom.
Animated Star Trek shows are often seen as less essential than their live-action counterparts, but this isn’t true. Case in point, Star Trek: Prodigy is a canonical sequel to Star Trek: Voyager, picking up the story of Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran) five years after the USS Voyager returned home. That story isn’t negated by the cancelation of Prodigy season 2, nor would the transfer of the show to a different network change its canonical status.
Paramount Plus Cancelation Doesn’t Affect Star Trek: Prodigy As Canon
Star Trek: Prodigy is a victim of the same cost-cutting strategy that Warner Bros Discovery used to justify canceling the theatrical release of their Batgirl movie. Now that James Gunn has been brought on board to create his new DC cinematic universe, Batgirl stands no real chance of becoming canon, even if it were to get a release. Unlike Batgirl, Prodigy did reach audiences on both Nickelodeon and Paramount+, making it much harder to ignore even if it’s no longer available on either service. Prodigy is also available to buy on physical media, sitting on the shelves of entertainment retailers alongside every other Star Trek show. It’s canon, pure and simple.
The swell of support to save Star Trek: Prodigy is indicative of the impact that the show has made on fans, which simply cannot be taken away as easily as the show was removed from Paramount+. The recent crossover between Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks proved once and for all that animated and live-action shows take place in the same universe. This means that any big changes to canon from Prodigy will be carried over into the wider Star Trek franchise, despite its cancelation by Paramount.
What Happens When Star Trek: Prodigy Finds A New Streaming Home?
Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 was written and produced in the belief that it would end up on Paramount+ alongside the rest of Star Trek. If it’s taken up by a new streamer and gets recommissioned for season 3, there could be some tricky rights issues to navigate regarding character usage in the third season. This shouldn’t affect the wider franchise in any substantial way, as there are already limits on which characters can appear in which Trek shows. The only issue would be if Paramount+ decided to commission Terry Matalas’ proposed Star Trek: Legacy and want to reunite Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) with her Voyager crew mates.
All of this will depend on the deal signed when Star Trek: Prodigy finds a new streaming home. It’s likely that existing legacy characters like Janeway, Chakotay and the Doctor (Robert Picardo) will be part of this deal, but there could be limitations on using additional characters. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem, as Star Trek: Prodigy is about Dal R’El (Brett Gray) and his friends, first and foremost. When the show finds its new home, this next generation of Starfleet recruits will continue to make an impact on canon, influencing future entries in the franchise.
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