In between seasons, the acclaimed animated series Star Trek: Prodigy found a new home on Netflix after being dropped by Paramount+ in June 2023, with the show making its Netflix debut in time for Christmas. Set outside of the Star Trek franchise's usual Alpha Quadrant setting, Prodigy follows a group of young misfits who escape from a harsh planet on a stolen Starfleet vessel, the USS Protostar. As the group is pursued by those who imprisoned them, they learn about the ideals and ongoing mission of Starfleet from an advanced hologram of Kathryn Janeway programmed into the ship's systems.

In an exclusive interview with CBR, Star Trek: Prodigy creators Kevin and Hageman reveal how the sudden change in streaming platforms hasn't slowed production on the upcoming Season 2, explain how the show provides the perfect gateway into Star Trek for new audiences, and tease some of the twists and turns in the first season ahead of its Netflix premiere.

CBR: I think an important distinction to make is that while kids can certainly watch Star Trek: Prodigy, it is, in the truest sense of the term, an all-age-friendly show.

Dan Hageman: It's a family show! It's a show that you can watch with your kids or that your kids can watch with your parents and grandparents.

Kevin Hageman: And that means something! Netflix chose to release it on Christmas Day.

Dan Hageman: That's the biggest family audience right there. That's what happened to Trollhunters when they chose to release it on Christmas Day, and it was huge. I remember originally thinking it was a horrible time to drop, but it's the best time. Kids are out of school; they just unwrapped their new devices, and they've got nothing to do for days. This is the show that Netflix wants to push out.

How was it calibrating the show's tone? This series has actual consequences and villains that can be quite intimidating at times. How did you find that tonal sweet spot in balancing it for a wide audience?

Kevin Hageman: Now that you've watched the first season, you'll see how we're influenced by the movies of the '80s -- Steven Spielberg movies like E.T. -- the movies that really are full of wish fulfillment, like The Goonies, but they're also full of heart and real stakes because, when you have those emotional finales, it resonates with you and sticks with you. I want kids watching this and, older, going back and thinking that Prodigy was one of those things for them as E.T. was for me, something that really sticks with you.

Dan Hageman: I always think it's such a turn-off to watch a show that talks down to kids, just thinking they'll eat whatever they're given. We also grew up early in our careers looking at what Pixar did. There's no reason you can't tell great stories with great stakes and make them so kids and adults can watch them. Finding Nemo is one of my favorite movies!

We've always used that in all of our writing, too. We never want to have Keystone Cops; we never want the stakes to be like, "They're kids, so make it easy." No, they're kids, so make it hard. I would've wanted that as a kid; I would've wanted to be on the edge of my seat going, "Oh my god, how are they going to get out of this situation?" That's what we're constantly writing towards.

You're now on Netflix, a powerhouse in animation (including Powerhouse Animation) with one of the largest streaming audiences in the world. How did the Netflix connection for Star Trek: Prodigy come about?

Kevin Hageman: It's a good question, and we really don't know. It's above our pay grade. This was Alex Kurtzman and the heads of CBS Studios; they loved our show.

Dan Hageman: And they were paying for a Season 2. They had a plan.

Kevin Hageman: They knew the importance of what our show means for the next generation of Star Trek. They were the ones shopping it around, and they just said that they were really confident that they could find a home someplace because this show is too good.

Dan Hageman: We were confident because no one spends money without making money. Why would they spend money to finish Season 2 if they didn't have an idea?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but even after Prodigy was removed from Paramount+, there was never a pencils-down moment, and you continued working on Season 2 as planned.

Kevin Hageman: We finish Season 2 at Christmas, actually. There was never a pencils-down. They delivered the bad news to us, but they delivered it with a silver lining that there was hope, that they were not going to give up on our show, and that CBS Studios still loves it.

Dan Hageman: And we had our own belief in our show.

Kevin Hageman: Yeah, we felt that our show is too good for this B.S. We knew that it was going to find a new home somewhere. [laughs]

How was it holding the Playmates Star Trek: Prodigy figures and seeing them sell out at launch earlier this year?

Dan Hageman: That was a great moment; seeing everything get sold out and seeing the fans really make a push for that stuff. I'm still hoping that we see Hologram Janeway with Playmates.

Kevin Hageman: We had a Hologram Janeway, we had a Rok-Tahk in development. We had a Protostar that was amazing.

Dan Hageman: Yeah, when we saw the Protostar, it was bonkers.

Kevin Hageman: We only have half the toys out, so our hearts have broken there. There is a lot of ancillary stuff on hold right now as we all wait to see how it does on Netflix.

Dan Hageman: Our job is not done until we hold a Protostar in our hands that lights up and makes sounds.

You've got a Tellarite and a Medusan in this ensemble, but the rest are relatively new alien species to Star Trek. Was there a lot of talk about creating this lineup and giving everyone their own unique silhouette?

Dan Hageman: We worked on Ninjago, so we were very in tune with what looks good on a shelf and what people want to play with.

Kevin Hageman: The show needs to be toyetic.

Dan Hageman: The show needs to be toyetic, but we don't do that from a place of greed, but from a place of --

Kevin Hageman: Fun! We want toys, we want action figures. Like with Zero, we have this frame that could light up, so there could be a light on the action figure.

Dan Hageman: We always knew, too, that there was a problem with female characters like Rey from Star Wars. We did this with Ninjago, with this character Nya, so we gave her all the coolest weapons and this massive mech suit so kids could go, "Oh, that's awesome!" We gave Gwyn this weapon that could turn into anything that she wants. We were always thinking about it in terms of kids playing with these characters and bringing these stories to life in their own bedrooms.

Star Trek: Prodigy hits the ground running, but it is definitely deliberated paced in how you gradually introduce familiar Star Trek elements in the story as a sort of gateway into Star Trek.

Kevin Hageman: It was very deliberate; we spent a lot of time and thought about that.

Dan Hageman: We filled our [writers] room with super Trek fans and people who weren't fans of Trek. We wanted that constant debate of if something was too Trekkie and what we needed to pull out, what is a Ferengi if we needed to explain what this thing was.

Kevin Hageman: We really wanted to make sure that we took our time. We didn't want to throw out, like, "In Episode 2, here comes a Vulcan and a Romulan! Let's explain the differences between these two species that look highly similar to one another!" [laughs] Episode 3 was literally just them on a ship; they're a bunch of kids, and they don't know jack about this ship.

Dan Hageman: Yeah, like, one of the cool things on the ship is a vehicle replicator. That's a cool and new idea for the Star Trek Universe. If they can have a food replicator, why can't they just make new vehicles?

Kevin Hageman: It's more toys. We wanted more toys. We have a runaway Jeep that hasn't come out yet!

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How creatively liberating was it to stay in the Alpha Quadrant for most of the season?

Dan Hageman: We had to be, and we wanted to be because Kevin and I aren't confident enough in our Star Trek canon knowledge because we knew we were going to step on so many toes. That's why we got the Benson sisters, Aaron Waltke and David Mack. We got people who could help us stay in our lane and figure out what to do.

I think the first person we ran to after we pitched it was going to Waltke, and saying, "We know we want Janeway as our mentor." And he was like, "Okay, it's got to be the Delta Quadrant." That set the stage.

With that relatively blank creative canvas, what are some of the things you're proud of adding to the ongoing Star Trek tapestry?

Kevin Hageman: Our introduction to Star Trek was watching The Wrath of Khan, and the ending of The Wrath of Khan is highly emotionally charged. That's what I love. It was heady, but it was really heartfelt. Sometimes, when I watch some Star Trek, it's a lot of head.

Dan Hageman: Because they're doing, like, 26 episodes, and everything resets after each episode.

Kevin Hageman: Yeah, because of the nature of the episodic series, you can't draw that out. I really wanted to bring a lot of heart because I wanted to see the Pixar version of what Star Trek would look like. I'm really proud, and if you watch Season 1, it's a highly emotional story.

Dan Hageman: I would say the perspective of it coming from aliens outside Starfleet makes it interesting and more hopeful because they're looking at this idea of what Starfleet is. I think in today's shows, you lose that hopefulness because you're mired in these dark America themes or a distrust in bureaucracy. If you're having kids just trying to get to a better place, all of a sudden, you're rooting for them as they're looking at the Statue of Liberty, so to speak.

Kevin Hageman: I'm so happy that worked for a lot of the adult Star Trek fans, that our show was reminding them of why they love Star Trek and these things that you just take for granted. Like, "Here's a Ferengi for the first time! This is why Ferengi are great!"

Created by Kevin and Dan Hageman, Star Trek: Prodigy arrives on Netflix on Dec. 25. The second season is expected to premiere on Netflix sometime in 2024.