Star Trek and Doctor Who are joining forces to celebrate the first Intergalactic Friendship Day at San Diego Comic-Con. Timed to coincide with the annual International Friendship Day, the celebration will take place throughout San Diego Comic-Con 2024 via the "Friendship is Universal" gallery experience in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. The exhibition will feature props and costumes from Star Trek and Doctor Who's histories. On Friday, July 27, Star Trek television franchise head Alex Kurtzman and Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies will appear together on the Intergalactic Friendship Day panel, moderated by TVLine's Keisha Hatchett. Kurtzman and Davies will discuss storytelling in their respective sci-fi universe and friendship. More info on both events can be found below.

In addition to the shared panel and exhibition, Star Trek and Doctor Who will have significant individual presences at Comic-Con. Doctor Who stars Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson will join Davies for a Hall H panel on Friday, July 26th. Paramount+ will present its current and upcoming Star Trek projects - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and Star Trek: Section 31 - during a panel in Hall H on Saturday, July 27th, just hours before the Intergalactic Friendship panel. CBS is bringing Star Trek: Prodigy for a panel and screening on Sunday in Room 6DE, with Star Trek star Kate Mulgrew in attendance.

Intergalactic Friendship Panel: Star Trek x Doctor Who

Saturday, July 27, 5:30 - 6:30 PM, Room 6A

The collaboration will kick off at San Diego Comic-Con, where Alex Kurtzman, showrunner and executive producer of the Star Trek franchise, and Russell T Davies, showrunner and executive producer spearheading the Doctor Who Whoniverse, come together for an exclusive creator-to-creator conversation about the art of storytelling in alternative universes and to celebrate the power of friendship. The SDCC Intergalactic Friendship Panel: Star Trek x Doctor Who will be on Saturday, July 27, from 5:30-6:30 PM, in Room: 6A, and will be moderated by Keisha Hatchett, staff editor of TVLine. Attendees to the creator conversation will each receive a special Doctor Who X Star Trek poster designed by artist Dusty Abell.

"Friendship is Universal" Gallery Experience

Thursday, July 26 - Sunday, July 28, 226 and 230 5th Avenue in Gaslamp Quarter

Under the banner of "Friendship is Universal," Star Trek and Doctor Who will operate a special celebratory gallery experience at 226 and 230 5th Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego. The gallery experience will feature original costumes and props from across the storied histories of both, highlighting themes of friendship and shared values between the two universes. There will also be photo opportunities for fans as well as special friendship bracelet giveaways. "Friendship is Universal" activation hours of operation are Thursday, July 25 through Saturday, July 27 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM, and Sunday July 28 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Admission is free. No SDCC badge is required.

William Shatner may be a Star Trek legend, but it turns out he hasn't really seen much of the franchise. Speaking with ET, Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series in 1966 and has appeared in various projects in the overall franchise throughout his career, revealed that not only has he not watched any of the Star Trek spinoffs, but he's only seen some of the Star Trek that he's actually in. Shatner said that while he loves Star Trek and thinks "it's great", he just doesn't watch television.

"I'm gonna tell you something that nobody knows," Shatner said. "I've never seen another Star Trek and I've seen as few Star Treks of the show I was on; I've seen as few as possible. I don't like to look at myself and I've never seen any other. I love it, I think it's great, I just don't, you know, I don't watch television per se. I'm watching documentaries. I'm watching the news. I'm watching sports, I'm watching things that were, documentaries that were made but I don't watch television for some reason. I've been urged to watch certain shows by my family, 'You'll love this,' and I just never get around to it."

Shatner Considers Star Trek V: The Final Frontier the Biggest Regret of His Career

When it comes to Star Trek, Shatner has been involved with more than just the original television series. He also both starred in and directed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The film, released in 1989, was poorly received by critics and audiences alike and, for Shatner, is the biggest regret of his career.

"I wish that I'd had the backing and the courage to do the things I felt I needed to do," Shatner explained to earlier this year. "My concept was, 'Star Trek goes in search of God,' and management said, 'Well, who's God? We'll alienate the nonbeliever, so, no, we can't do God.' And then somebody said, 'What about an alien who thinks they're God?' Then it was a series of my inabilities to deal with the management and the budget. I failed. In my mind, I failed horribly. When I'm asked, 'What do you regret the most?,' I regret not being equipped emotionally to deal with a large motion picture. So, in the absence of my power, the power vacuum filled with people that didn't make the decisions I would've made."

Shatner Has Said He'd Be Open to Returning to Star Trek With Digital De-Aging

While Shatner may not watch much in the way of Star Trek, he's said he's open to returning to the franchise through the use of digital de-aging to portray a younger version of Captain Kirk -- as long as there's a good idea for it.

"It's an intriguing idea," he said. "It's almost impossible but it was a great role and so well-written and if there were a reason to be there and not just to make a cameo appearance, but if there were a genuine reason for the character appearing, I might consider it."

Shatner also had some ideas for how Captain Kirk could make an appearance, considering that the character's last appearance was in 1994's Star Trek Generations where the character was killed off. Shatner said that he could potentially portray a younger version of the character, citing digital de-aging technology that "takes years off of your face, so that in a film you can look 10, 20, 30, 50 years younger than you are." He also suggested that the character could be resurrected.

"A company that wants to freeze my body and my brain for the future might be a way of going about it," he said. "We've got Captain Kirk's brain frozen here. There's a scenario. Let's see if we can bring back a little bit of this, a little salt, a little pepper. Oh, look at that. Here comes Captain Kirk!"

Paramount+ is boldly going where it has gone before. On Wednesday, the streamer announced its return to San Diego Comic-Con after Paramount Pictures was the only movie studio to beam into last year's pop culture confab. The Star Trek Universe -- including Star Trek series Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, Starfleet Academy, and the upcoming Paramount+ exclusive movie Star Trek: Section 31 -- is making the voyage to San Diego Comic-Con 2024, where Paramount+ will also tout its new Nickelodeon animated series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and SHOWTIME's Dexter prequel series Original Sin.

See the full schedule and the lineup of Paramount+'s San Diego Comic-Con 2024 panels below.

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This year's convention, which runs July 25th--July 28th, will kick off with the cast and crew of Tales of the TMNT, the all-new animated series spinning out of 2023's hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem movie. Voice actors Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), Micah Abbey (Donatello), Shamon Brown Jr. (Michelangelo), and Brady Noon (Raphael) will join series producers for a panel hosted by stand-up comedian Claire Lim on Thursday, July 25th, from 2:15--3:15 PM PT in room 6BCF. The exclusive panel will present never-before-seen content from the show ahead of its August 9th premiere on Paramount+.

Dexter: Original Sin

Dexter: Original Sin cast members Christian Slater (Harry Morgan), Patrick Gibson (Dexter Morgan), and Molly Brown (Debra Morgan) will join showrunner and executive producer Clyde Phillips and executive producer Scott Reynolds to preview the spinoff and unveil a few exciting surprises. Sarah Michelle Gellar, who will guest star on the 1991-set prequel series, is moderating the panel set for Friday, July 26th, from 5:45--6:45 PM PT in Ballroom 20.

Star Trek Universe

The Star Trek Universe returns to Comic-Con's Hall H with exclusive back-to-back conversations with the cast and producers from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and Star Trek: Section 31. Moderated by filmmaker Justin Simien, the 90-minute panel is set to host franchise executive producer Alex Kurtzman and cast members from Strange New Worlds (Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck), Section 31 ((Omari Hardwick, Sam Richardson, Kacey Rohl), and Lower Decks (Jack Quaid, Tawny Newsome, No?l Wells and Jerry O'Connell). The star-studded panel promises reveals and surprises from across the Star Trek Universe, which takes over the Hall H stage on Saturday, July 27th, from 1:45--3:15 PM PT.

Paramount+'s The Lodge Activations

Paramount+ also announced a series of SDCC activations throughout the convention. At the new Star Trek Menagerie booth (#3529) on the convention floor, fans can participate in an immersive photo opportunity and get an up-close look at creatures and specimens from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: The Original Series.

At Paramount+'s The Lodge, returning to San Diego's Gaslamp District for its second year, guests can participate in immersive activations inspired by such Paramount brands as Star Trek, SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, CBS' Ghosts, CBS Sports, the IF movie, and Paramount+ exclusive series Tulsa King, Criminal Minds: Evolution, and Ink Master. Step onto a Star Trek starship, explore Bikini Bottom's Jellyfish Fields, be paired with your own Imaginary Friend from IF, or grab a slice with the heroes in a half-shell at the TMNT-themed pizza parlor when The Lodge takes over the Happy Does Bar (340 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92101) on July 24th (from 6-10 PM), July 25th--July 27th (12-10 PM), and July 28th (10 AM-7 PM). Admission is free and no Comic-Con badge is required to enter, but a reservation system is in place here on Feverup. There will be a stand-by line daily if no reservations are available.

Fans can take part in a city-wide digital scavenger hunt via www.ParamountPassport.com. Once registered, guests can visit all seven activation sites to scan an item and receive a passport stamp they can redeem for limited edition prizes at Paramount+'s The Lodge. The Passport is not an official SDCC activation, therefore no badge is required for participation. The locations are as follows:

1. Paramount+'s The Lodge at Happy Does Bar (340 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92101)
   
   
2. SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS Fountain at the Omni Hotel (675 L St, San Diego, CA 92101)
   
   

3. SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS in the lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel (207 Fifth Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101)

4. STAR TREK Menagerie (San Diego Convention Center, Booth #3529)

5. Nickelodeon / SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS (San Diego Convention Center, Booth #4113)

6. Super7 x TMNT: Mikey's Pizza Parlor Pop-Up (550 14th St #116, San Diego, CA 92101) *Friday, 7/26 only

7. IF Photo Opp - Take a Picture with Blue! (Interactive Zone at Petco Park, 100 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101

Paramount previously announced plans for Paramount Animation and Hasbro's Transformers One panel (featuring cast members Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, and Keegan-Michael Key), and panels and activations Celebrating 25 Years of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants with the voice cast (Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, and Mr. Lawrence). Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for the latest news and updates out of San Diego Comic-Con 2024.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has enrolled three new cadets. On Tuesday, Paramount+ revealed that it had cast Kerrice Brooks (My Old Ass), Bella Shepard (Wolf Pack), and George Hawkins (Tell Me Everything) in the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series. Brooks, Shepard, and Hawkins will play cadets at Starfleet Academy. They join previously announced cast members, Holly Hunter, playing a Starfleet captain and current chancellor of Starfleet Academy, and Paul Giamatti, playing Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1's villain. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the coming-of-age story of a group of Starfleet cadets finding themselves at one of the prestigious institutions in the galaxy.

Paramount+'s Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series "will follow the adventures of a new class of Starfleet cadets as they come of age in one of the most legendary places in the galaxy." CBS Studios is producing Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Production begins this summer.

What is Star Trek: Starfleet Academy about?

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set in the 32nd century of Star Trek's universe, first seen in the later season of Star Trek: Discovery. According to the official synopsis, "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy introduces viewers to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself."

Brooks' past work includes her feature film debut in My Old Ass. She also stars in the upcoming 70s coming-of-age comedy, Feeling Randy. Her other credits include The Prom, The Cypher, How We Roll, and On My Block.

Shepard led the Paramount+ Series Wolf Pack and is best known for her work on the Brat TV series On the Ropes and A Girl Named Jo, and for leading the series Two Sides. Shepard has also appeared in The Wilds, Witch Hunt, and the iCARLY reboot, and had a guest role on the final season of Orange Is the New Black and recurring roles on Life in Pieces and Grace and Frankie.

Hawkins is best known for playing Dylan in Tell Me Everything. His other credits include playing Sean in the film Boiling Point and Adam in Gassed Up.

Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau are co-showrunners and executive producers of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. The other executive producers on the series include Gaia Violo, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa, and John Weber. Violo wrote Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's premiere episode. CBS Studios produces Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Paramount Global Content Distribution will distribute the series.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the latest addition to Paramount+'s Star Trek library. Star Trek: Discovery wrapped its run earlier this year, and Star Trek: Lower Decks is headed into its fifth and final season. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently in production on its third season and is already renewed for its fourth. Paramount+'s first Star Trek original movie, Star Trek: Section 31 starring Michelle Yeoh, wrapped filming earlier this year.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is coming to an end, but creator Mike McMahan is hinting that there could be spinoffs.

McMahan did an interview on the Extended 'Verse! podcast, where he discussed how the ending of Star Trek: Lower Decks also comes with setups for new series that could follow it:

"The ending of season 5 it is the ending of a chapter that I knew I wanted to do. There are things that happen in it... I'm being very careful... that are sort of setting up spinoffs and setting up backdoor pilots," McMahan explained. "There's characters I'm introducing that you'll see clearly I wanted to do more with."

Star Trek: Lower Decks has turned out to be a major pioneer for what Star Trek content can be. Lower Decks at once opened lanes to Star Trek having comedic content; animated content, and more adult-oriented content, all at once. The series has also gotten a much warmer welcome than many of the other new Star Trek series that have debuted on Paramount+ (Discovery, Picard). Star Trek Prodigy continued to expand one of those lanes with kid-friendly animated content, but Lower Decks still stands apart as a one-of-a-kind Star Trek experience.

More importantly, Lower Decks and its cast of B-level (C-level) Starfleet officers have become fan favorites. In fact, two Lower Decks characters (Jack Quaid's Ensign Boimier and Tawny Newsome's Ensign Mariner) have already made the jump from animation to live-action, as part of a crossover Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

So, when Mike McMahan says there are characters that could be exported into a spinoff series of Lower Decks, he's not kidding. As Paramount+ is entering the Star Trek movie business with the straight-to-streaming Star Trek: Section 31 movie and rumors of another Jean-Luc Picard adventure, McMahan hasn't ruled out the idea of a Star Trek: Lower Decks movie happening:

"I have an idea for an animated Lower Decks movie," McMahan told ComicBook. "I have ideas for live-action Lower Decks movies. And I have ideas for brand new, totally original Star Trek movies that don't tie into anything we've seen before. I think Star Trek is an amazing genre to think about. I love the idea of not micro but small-budget Star Trek movies, where you get the bigness of a movie set, but you get to tell a Star Trek story that drives across a moment instead of a thing that has to be dealt with, like a Khan."

Star Trek: Lower Decks is streaming now on Paramount+. Season 5 does not have a premiere date but is expected to be 10-episodes long and will be released in late 2024.

Last season on Star Trek: Prodigy, our young heroes got a lot of their advice from Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) -- well, kind of. Their ship had a hologram based on Captain Kathryn Janeway and modeled on Janeway's physical appearance in the early 2370s, complete with uniform -- so she basically looked just like she did on Star Trek: Voyager. At the end of the season, though, we found out that the real Janeway, still very much alive and now an Admiral, was on her way to pay a visit. The show's second season will deal with that -- and how she's different from her AI counterpart -- but apparently, Janeway was almost made the Captain of the Enterprise in the show's second season.

With the real Janeway around, the kids will now have a new mentor -- and it will be Voyager's The Doctor, voiced by Robert Picardo, which reteams him with Mulgrew. Now, there will be a lot to talk about, with the real Janeway being different from the hologram Janeway and The Captain back in the mix.

"We knew the Season 2 relationship between the kids and their mentor was going to change from hologram Janeway to Admiral Janeway, who was a little bit harder on them," co-showrunner Dan Hageman told IGN. "As the Admiral doesn't have time to be by their side every day and moment, we just thought how perfect it would be for The Doctor to get involved. We'd loved this idea that we always imagined [where] in Season 1 hologram Janeway is a bit of a Mary Poppins. In this one, The Doctor wants to be Mary Poppins but he's more like a Mr. Belvedere. He wants to be endeared by the kids but the kids are like, 'You're no Janeway.'"

The series was actually cancelled at Paramount+, but rescued by Netflix, who are the current home of Prodigy's first season and will debut the second season (and potentially beyond). The show was saved, in part, due to a campaign by fans, who Mulgrew praised shortly after it got saved.

"I've always held that the Star Trek fan base is among the strongest and most intelligent in the world. They have shown their collective passion, and we're happy to be able to celebrate Prodigy once again," said Mulgrew at the time.

Star Trek: Prodigy's voice cast includes Kate Mulgrew reprising her role as Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager. The main cast features Brett Gray (Dal R'El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Angus Imrie (Zero), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), John Noble (The Diviner) and Jimmi Simpson (Drednok).

Star Trek: Prodigy's recurring voice cast includes newcomers Daveed Diggs (Commander Tysess), Jameela Jamil (Ensign Asencia), and Jason Alexander (Doctor Noum). Robert Beltran also reprises his role as Chakotay from Star Trek: Voyager, and Billy Campbell plays Thadiun Okona from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is finally here. It's been a long road (to steal a line from another Star Trek series), but Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is now streaming on its new home, Netflix, after being canceled and removed from Paramount+. Since Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 arrived on Netflix on Christmas Day, all 40 episodes of the animated Star Trek series are now streaming on Netflix. Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 continues the adventure of the young heroes who recovered an abandoned, experimental Starfleet vessel and used it to cross the galaxy and join Starfleet, saving the universe along the way.

ComicBook had the opportunity to chat with Star Trek: Prodigy creators Dan and Kevin Hageman about the new season, touching on new characters and how they balance the expectations of longtime Star Trek fans and the demands of children's programming. Here's what they had to say:

When you sat down to start breaking Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, what was the "prime directive," so to speak? What was your guiding light when figuring figure out what this season was going to look like?

Dan Hageman: I think we wanted to make it more Trek, with the young cadets, so to speak, in the adult world. We thought that was very interesting. And then we go, "This isn't just about the kids learning from the adults, but also the adults learning from the kids." And I think that's where it opened the door for what the season would be. And then also trying to tie the bow on what happens in Season 1, furthering those storylines and making sure that we have conclusions for those.

Kevin Hageman: I was also going to add, very early on we felt like, okay, Season 1 is these kids steal a ship; Season 2 is they earn a ship, and what does that look like? And along with that, these next 20 are like the back half of Season 1. It's all a 40-episode story really, and so there's so much to wrap up, and to pay off, and places to go, but we also didn't want to forget, this show is an on-ramp for anyone who doesn't know Star Trek. So how do we still have these little greatest hits, these ideas, whether it's Vulcans, Klingons, Tribbles, what are the elements that makeup Star Trek that we should be introducing people to?

What was your production timeline like? Had anyone seen Season 1 while you were working on Season 2 and breaking it down, or was it all really part of a whole for you all in the writer's room?

DH: I mean, COVID hit, and I think everything's a bit fuzzy.

KH: Yeah, I don't think Season 1 was out yet. Maybe-

DH: I don't think Season 1 was out. Yeah, because we were upped before Season 1 had dropped, and I just remember we had finished -- You know what it was, we had finished the last script of Season 1 when COVID hit, and then we were ramping up and getting a room for Season 2 over COVID, that first year of COVID.

You say you wanted this season to be "more Star Trek," but it's still a kids' show. That makes me wonder if you read Temporal Mechanics 101 because there's a lot of time-travel stuff in here. Did you have any hard and fast rules of thumb or guidelines about how to deal with time travel in a way that makes sense -- because we all know time travel isn't always consistently handled in Star Trek -- and is accessible for this younger audience as compared to an adult audience?

DH: I feel like we kind of have our cake and eat it too, where if you really dig into the science, it's there, but then at the same time there's a very simple Back to the Future premise in Season 2 for a younger audience that goes, okay, I can get that very simple thing. But yeah, I remember thinking not only are we going to be doing a time travel season, but we're also going to do a Star Trek time travel season, which is like, we know the fans are going to be looking at that, looking for all the plot holes. There's always plot holes.

KH: Yeah, we mapped it out, we showed it to our astrophysicist advisor, "Does this work?" And she was redoing the drawing. She's like, "Yes, this can work."

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 adds a new young character into the mix with the Vulcan Nova Squadron cadet Maj'el, which brings up a couple of questions. First, has there ever been a member of Nova Squadron that hasn't come off like a jerk at first? Because I'm starting wonder why Starfleet Academy allows that to continue to exist.

DH: [Laughs] I think Nova Squadron's the coolest of the cool.

Second, when you were looking at adding Maj'el to the cast, what was the impetus there? What did you feel like she brought to the group? How did that alter the group dynamic in a way that you felt would be beneficial for this second season going forward?

KH: In Season 1, we really didn't explore Vulcans at all, and so we felt like we need to have a Vulcan. And with Gwyn being separated from our group for a period of time, it was like, yeah, let's introduce a new character. So that's where that started. Oh, what I love though is I don't want to say she's a jerk. It's interesting. We wanted to use her as the sort of mirror to our kids.

DH: Who are they up against? The best of the best are going to Starfleet. Who else are they going against?

KH: "We're the best of the best," yeah. This is Top Gun, and our kids, yeah, they saved the universe, but-

DH: They're a far cry from those Delta flyers.

You do not hold back in the season with altering - sometimes literally, and physically - who these characters are. Since you are programming for kids, are you ever concerned about is this going to upset them, or are you always assuming they're as game as any adult would be for this kind of dynamic narrative choice?

DH: I just want to say, in our childhood, Spielberg put a dead E.T. on a table, so we've got free game to do whatever we want.

KH: That's the storytelling we grew up with was the old Amblin storytelling, the Close Encounters. Very powerful, magical, wondrous, frightening, heartbreaking. That's the type of story we like to tell.

DH: It sticks to your bones. As you grow up you remember that.

KH: It sticks, exactly. We want our shows to stick to your bones. So even with Ninjago, we had some huge character deaths and twists and kids were crying, and it's probably sad and painful in that moment, but I think they're going to look back and go, "God, I loved Ninjago. I loved Prodigy. It really moved me."

DH: It's always funny. When Kevin and I come out of a Marvel movie we're always like, "They should kill more characters." In Endgame they take out one or whatever, and I'm like, "Oh, come on, that's it? Let's go, yo."

We've got some bloodthirsty children's content creators right here.

KH: That's the caption of your article.

DH: Let's go, yo.

I'll leave you with the question that I'm sure you're going to get a lot of while promoting this season, but can you offer any update to those hoping that there will be more Prodigy in the future? Or whether we might see these characters anywhere else in the future, even if Prodigy doesn't get an official renewal or anything like that?

KH: That is our hope. That's everyone's hope. Everyone on our team and all of our cast and crew, and it really just comes down to, the show needs to do gangbusters on Netflix. And then I hope it just warrants something, whether it's a season, whether it's an animated feature follow-up, or something that might be more business cost-effective, something to just keep this going.

DH: And I think it's fitting. I'm not going to spoil anything, but if you really get to the end of Season 2, where they are is kind of metaphoric of where the show is. So that's something to read into once you finish episode 40.

Star Trek: Prodigy is now streaming on Netflix.

Everyone knows that the best way to celebrate the July 4th holiday is with fireworks, barbecues, and heavily discounted collectibles. Paramount Shop is happy to help you out with, surprisingly, more than one of those things thanks to a deal that offers 25% off everything in the store. This includes items from beloved franchises like Star Trek, South Park, SpongeBob SquarePants, Yellowstone, and more.

When we say sitewide, really really do mean sitewide. Even this $2000 Star Trek: First Contact Borg Queen skull prop replica is eligible, not to mention the coveted Spongebob Squarepants Painty the Pirate canvas. All you need to do is head to the Paramount Shop and enter the code "FOURTH" at checkout to activate the 25% off offer. We've added some useful links below to help you find something fantastic.

• Star Trek Replicas
• See All Star Trek Items at the Paramount Shop
• SpongeBob SquarePants Items
• South Park Items
• Yellowstone Items
• Garfield Items
• Avatar the Last Airbender Items

What is Star Trek: Starfleet Academy about?

According to Paramount's official synopsis:

"Star Trek: Starfleet Academy introduces viewers to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself."

Alex Kurtzman and Landau are Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's co-showrunners. They also serve as executive producers alongside Gaia Violo, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa, and John Weberby.

Ahead of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's premiere, ComicBook asked Kurtzman about Star Trek's future:

"I spent a lot of time that first season [of Discovery] really kind of meditating on, you know, this incredible universe that has been around for so long and how much more can be done with it, how many amazing stories there are to tell. There's really an infinite number of stories to tell. I only want to make another Star Trek show if there's something to say. I don't wanna do it just to do more. I think that would be a huge disservice to Star Trek; it would be a huge disservice to the fans, and I think the fans would feel it instantaneously. They would know this is not authentic. Because if there's one thing that Trek fans know, it's authenticity."

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy joins Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks, and the upcoming Star Trek: Section 31 movie among Paramount+'s Star Trek offerings (Star Trek: Prodigy has since moved to Netflix).

Star Trek: Lower Decks is headed toward its final season on Paramount+, but it doesn't feel like the end for series creator Mike McMahan. In April, Paramount+ announced that Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 will be the final season of the animated comedy series set in the Star Trek universe. Fans (including Star Trek: Lower Decks star Jack Quaid) immediately began campaigning for another streaming service to rescue Star Trek: Lower Decks from its fate (having had similar success with Star Trek: Prodigy, now on Netflix after its cancellation and removal from Paramount+). For his part, McMahan tells Awards Radar he was never thinking about the end of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and instead hoped to continue making the show indefinitely.

"For me, it's like, I'm greedy," McMahan says. "I would have kept making this show forever, but getting five seasons is such a miracle. It's insane that this show even existed. Every season I felt like was a miracle. There are grand stories I'm telling for the characters in Lower Decks. So season five feels like an amazing sendoff. It feels like the end of a chapter, but not the end of a series. I had enough time to know that it had to be special."

What's next for Star Trek: Lower Decks?

While Star Trek: Lower Decks is ending, assuming it doesn't find a new streaming home, Star Trek fans know that the end of a Star Trek television show isn't always the end of that crew's adventures. The ends of Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation led to movies starring the casts of those shows. With Paramount+ entering the Star Trek movie business with the straight-to-streaming Star Trek: Section 31 movie and rumors of another Jean-Luc Picard adventure, the idea of a Star Trek: Lower Decks movie isn't out of the question. In 2023, McMahan told ComicBook that he had ideas along those lines.

"I have an idea for an animated Lower Decks movie," McMahan said. "I have ideas for live-action Lower Decks movies. And I have ideas for brand new, totally original Star Trek movies that don't tie into anything we've seen before. I think Star Trek is an amazing genre to think about. I love the idea of not micro but small-budget Star Trek movies, where you get the bigness of a movie set, but you get to tell a Star Trek story that drives across a moment instead of a thing that has to be dealt with, like a Khan."

The first four seasons of Star Trek: Lower Decks are streaming now on Paramount+. Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 does not have a premiere date.

Star Trek: Prodigy's Protostar crew is back in the new Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 trailer. On Thursday, CBS Studios released the Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 trailer and key art. Star Trek: Prodigy, the Star Trek franchise's first computer-animated series and first installment aimed at younger viewers, brings its second 20-episode season to Netflix on Monday, July 1st. All 20 Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 episodes are streaming now on Netflix, having moved to the Netflix streaming library on Christmas Day 2023 after being canceled by Paramount+ and removed from that streaming service's content catalog a few months earlier.

Star Trek: Prodigy follows an ad hoc crew of young aliens as they learn to work together, and towards the Starfleet ideals they hope to emulate. According to a press release, in Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, "these six young outcasts who make up the Prodigy crew are assigned a new mission aboard the USS Voyager-A to rescue Captain Chakotay (voiced by Robert Beltran) and bring peace to Gwyn's (voiced by Ella Purnell) home world. However, when their plan goes astray, it creates a time paradox that jeopardizes both their future and past."

"We deeply appreciate our fans who have stood by us and our passionate crew who made this all possible. The work speaks for itself, but it's the heart that will endure," said Star Trek: Prodigy co-showrunners Kevin and Dan Hageman about Star Trek: Prodigy's Season 2 debut in a press release.

Star Trek: Prodigy received a 2023 TCA Award nomination for "Outstanding Achievement in Family Programming" and a 2022 Children's and Family Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Animated Series. Production designer Alessandro Taini won the Children's and Family Emmy Award Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation.

Star Trek: Prodigy Cast

Star Trek: Prodigy's voice cast includes Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway), Brett Gray (Dal), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Angus Imrie (Zero), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), John Noble (The Diviner) and Jimmi Simpson (Drednok). Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2's recurring voice cast includes Robert Beltran (Captain Chakotay), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Jason Alexander (Doctor Noum), Daveed Diggs (Commander Tysess), Jameela Jamil (Ensign Asencia), Ronny Cox (Admiral Jellico), and Michaela Dietz (Maj'el).

CBS Eye Animation Productions, Nickelodeon Animation, Secret Hideout, and Roddenberry Entertainment produce Star Trek: Prodigy. Alex Kurtzman, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Rod Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth serve as the show's executive producers with co-showrunners Kevin and Dan Hageman. Ben Hibon directs, is an executive producer, and serves as the creative lead of the series. Aaron Waltke and Patrick Krebs also serve as co-executive producers.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 will stream on Netflix globally (excluding Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus, and Mainland China) and is available on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Central and Eastern Europe. Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 will be available in Canada on CTV.ca and the CTV App.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 finally arrives on Netflix on July 1st. Netflix picked up Star Trek: Prodigy after Paramount+ canceled the show during production on its second season, removing it from its streaming library a year ago. Netflix became home to Star Trek: Prodigy's first 20-episode season on Christmas Day 2023. Where Star Trek: Prodigy's first season rolled out weekly in two 10-episode blocks, Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 will adopt Netflix's binge model, debuting all 20 of its episodes at once on July 1st. The binge model is one that showrunners Dan and Kevin Hageman -- who have a history with Netflix dating back to their Trollhunters series -- fully embrace.

"I think we're very comfortable with our history with Netflix and shows dropping Christmas Day," Dan Hageman told ComicBook ahead of the animated series' Netflix debut. "So, I don't know if you know, but Trollhunters dropped on Christmas Day, and I remember, originally, we were like, 'That's a horrible time.' And they're like, 'No, kids get their new devices. There's no school on. Their parents let them watch as much TV as they want, and they can binge a whole season.' So, when that happened on Trollhunters and Trollhunters became quite a success over there, we found out we got dropped on December 25th, that's a massive honor. We're so proud."

Kevin Hageman added, "I think now that people have seen our Season 1, there are similarities to Trollhunters. You understand our voice. You understand our 22-minute serialization. There's always a hook. It's been written and built to be a binge-able show. On Paramount+ it was week by week, which was interesting. You're only getting 22 minutes, and 22 minutes of a good show never feels like enough. You want to kind of watch the next one."

Will there be more Star Trek: Prodigy?

The Hagemans remained optimistic about Star Trek: Prodigy's future when they spoke to ComicBook.com in December. They hope that Star Trek: Prodigy follows a path similar to that of Star Trek: The Original Series.

"In Season 2, I love the end of Season 2 as much as I love the end of Season 1," Dan Hageman said. "And we're never wrapping up a series. We're always having an open door for the next season, and I'm really excited at where it can go. That will be up to the fans and up to the audience."

Kevin Hageman added, "If the audience is there, my hope is we're following the footsteps of The Original Series. We were canceled, where we came back, and then there will be movies and future seasons. That will be amazing."

What is Star Trek: Prodigy?

Star Trek: Prodigy is Star Trek's first computer-animated series. It follows a group of young people who escape the prison of Tars Lamora, located deep in the Delta Quadrant of the galaxy (previously explored in Star Trek: Voyager) via an abandoned, experimental Starfleet starship, the U.S.S. Protostar.

The Protostar's young crew sets out to make contact with Starfleet, facing various challenges and adventures along the way and with the villainous Diviner in pursuit. The family-friendly series offers a version of Star Trek that parents and longtime fans can easily watch alongside their children or newcomers to the franchise.

Who is in the Star Trek: Prodigy cast?

Star Trek: Prodigy's voice cast includes Kate Mulgrew, who is reprising her role as Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager. The main cast features Brett Gray (Dal R'El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Angus Imrie (Zero), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), John Noble (The Diviner) and Jimmi Simpson (Drednok).

The recurring voice cast includes newcomers Daveed Diggs (Commander Tysess), Jameela Jamil (Ensign Asencia), and Jason Alexander (Doctor Noum). Robert Beltran also reprises his role as Chakotay from Star Trek: Voyager, and Billy Campbell plays Thadiun Okona from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 is streaming on Netflix now. Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 debuts on Netflix on July 1st.