The streaming wars were already cutthroat enough as it was before virtually all of the major players decided that the best way to cut costs was embarking on a wide-ranging content purge that quickly established nothing was safe, making Star Trek: Prodigy just one of many casualties.
That being said, it came as a shock that the project was abandoned and cast out into the abyss for several reasons. For one, it exists as the spin-off to one of the most iconic and enduringly popular sci-fi properties there’s ever been, and it’s not as if Paramount Plus has ever been shy in giving the green light to more Star Trek content to air exclusively on the platform.
Secondly, Prodigy had already been renewed for a second season long before its cancellation was confirmed, and the 20-episode second run was nearing completion when the axe fell. That puts everybody involved in a precarious position, but executive producer Aaron J. Waltke refuses to go down without a fight.
Having been mobilizing the troops for months already, the filmmaker continues to drum up buzz and support in the hopes that somebody somewhere will step in and save Star Trek: Prodigy from the scrapheap, even if we’re closing in on its four-month anniversary of existing in purgatory.
A Star Trek animated show that’s already done the majority of its creative legwork is something that would appeal to many networks and streamers on paper, but so far nobody has bitten. That may change, or it may not, but Walkte isn’t going quietly either way.