Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Episode 10 - "A Moral Star, Part 2"
With "A Moral Star, Part 2," Star Trek: Prodigy's stunning mid-season 1 finale reunites the heroic young crew of the USS Protostar as they defeat the Diviner (John Noble) and liberate the Unwanted slaves of Tars Lamora. "A Moral Star, Part 2" also brings shocking revelations about the Diviner's history and plan. But the biggest shock comes at the very end as the real Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) returns to Star Trek to chase after the Protostar as she searches for her missing dear friend, Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran).
Screen Rant interviewed Star Trek: Prodigy's creators and executive producers, Kevin and Dan Hageman. In a deep-dive into the mid-season finale, the Hageman brothers discussed Admiral Janeway's comeback, the details of the Diviner's time travel mission to destroy Starfleet, and what to expect when Star Trek: Prodigy returns for the second half of season 1 later in 2022.
Screen Rant: Congratulations on your mid-season finale. It must be a relief the show has been so well received and the mission to teach Star Trek to a new younger generation is working.
Dan Hageman: Yeah, to see parents and kids watching it together has been the greatest reward. That's not lip service. How can your heart not be moved by seeing families brought together?
Kevin Hageman: It's been two years of anticipation. For us, it was two years ago we made these first 10 episodes. We're so happy.
Let’s get into “A Moral Star Part 2." Starting at the very end: The real Admiral Janeway is looking for Chakotay aboard the USS Dauntless. That ship name is a callback to the Voyager episode “Hope and Fear” when they found a fake USS Dauntless. Why isn’t Admiral Janeway aboard Voyager?
Dan Hageman: Yes, the Dauntless! Well, Voyager is, I believe, a museum piece now. I believe that's in canon. And this is the Dauntless II. It's not the actual Dauntless. It's the Starfleet version of the Dauntless with slipstream [warp] technology.
How did Kate Mulgrew react to her getting to play the real Janeway again?
Dan Hageman: Oh, she loved it.
Kevin Hageman: Oh, she loved it. There just came a point in the writer's room where we [already] had [Kate] as Hologram Janeway, and when we knew the Diviner was going to step aside and there was gonna be a new antagonist, we wanted some new blood coming in.
Who better to hunt our kids down than Starfleet itself? They don't know who's behind the stolen starship. Oh my gosh! What if it's actually Janeway? Then you've got double Janeway! (laughs)
And we have to get into the fact that the Protostar is basically a Trojan horse right now. There's a weapon that the kids don't know about and Gwyn (Ella Purnell) forgot about.
Kevin Hageman: Yes. Only we know.
Dan Hageman: I think we just loved that idea where [the Protostar's crew] just got themselves together where they can do a mission, but now they're being tested greater than they've ever been tested. You've got Admiral Janeway on their tail trying to get them because that's where the answers to Chakotay lie.
At the same time, they have a weapon [that can destroy Starfleet]. They can't go to where they want to go. They can't go to Starfleet. They can't get caught by Janeway. What happens? That's the next ten [episodes].
“A Moral Star Part 2” has some huge revelations about the Diviner. We confirmed that he's a time traveler. Let's walk this through: He started off more than 50 years from 2383?
Dan Hageman: Yes.
And then he time-traveled back to 2366?
Dan Hageman: Yes, that's 17 years before [Prodigy starts]. He could have traveled back before the Protostar went back. Because he was searching for it for a few years. And the found out it was on Tars Lamora. Obviously he was there 17 years before because that's when he created his progeny [Gwyn].
Kevin Hageman: Let's just say he went back in time further than he wanted. Further than he planned on.
And the Protostar also time traveled since the Diviner was looking for it in the flashback when Gwyn was born in 2366?
Dan Hageman: Yes. You can assume that.
Okay. I'm just trying to piece it together based on the clues that have been dropped so far.
Kevin Hageman: Good. You're on the case. You're on the trail.
Dan Hageman: It's coming together, which is nice. I know a lot of people have been having these questions about it. Thank to Dr. Erin Macdonald [astrophysicist and science consultant], we actually do have a beautiful...
Kevin Hageman: Mind map.
Dan Hageman: We have a messy version on a white board and then we have beautiful version from Dr. Erin, and she gave us a thumbs up that [the time travel] works out.
What I loved about the backstory of the Diviner and Solum [his homeworld] is that First Contact with Starfleet led to the downfall of the Vau N’Akat. Because they went to war with each other. I loved that it’s a reversal of how First Contact with the Vulcans benefited humanity and launched us to the stars in Star Trek lore.
Dan Hageman: I haven't thought about that. That's great.
Kevin Hageman: Yeah, that's an interesting comparison.
The way the Vau N'Akat reacted to First Contact is kind of reflective of how, in the real world, we would react. There'd be factions involved, we'd be arguing...
Kevin Hageman: Yeah. You're right. There'd be divisiveness. It was tricky. The hardest part for us was we just wanted to make sure that Starfleet wasn't doing anything wrong. They did try to go in with good intentions. The planet wasn't ready for First Contact. The people reacted and fractured.
Dan Hageman: Yeah, Starfleet came in on a mission of peace. But if you really want to think about timelines, how did that lead to a civil war on Solum? Those are answers we'll talk about at another time.
There's also a joke in Star Trek: Lower Decks about that. How Starfleet is awesome at First Contact and horrible at follow-up. It makes sense they didn't check up on Solum.
Dan Hageman: (laughs) Yeah.
I did want to ask why does the Protostar land on planets so much? Will it land less now that the kids discovered the transporters?
Dan Hageman: It's got a small crew. Just taking one person off to transport people, who are you gonna leave off? We wanted to create a team and family that's going on missions together. So that's one of the reasons.
Kevin Hageman: It's a smaller ship. Honestly, I love transporters. We use those whenever we need to. But I also love having the ship land on alien worlds and having vehicles come out of it. And having toys. And they're kids. I just feel like there's something more tangible about that.
What can you tease us about the second half of Star Trek: Prodigy season 1?
Dan Hageman: I can say the crew's gonna go through an evolution. You're gonna start seeing some characters grow more towards their officers' stations and where they belong.
Kevin Hageman: Think of [episodes] 9 and 10 as kind of our midpoint in a 20-episode character arc. And you're gonna start to see Murf [Dee Bradley Baker] go through a character arc. Which we can't go into, but there's gonna be more than [Murf] just eating things.
Dan Hageman: You have two Janeways.
Kevin Hageman: We've got two Janeways.
Dan Hageman: Twice the amount of Janeways.
Kevin Hageman: More mysteries coming.
Dan Hageman: I will say this: We were so excited to have these first 10 episodes come out. We felt very strongly about every episode. We love those episodes. And as great as we love the first 10 episodes, we like the next 10 even more.
Kevin Hageman: There's more greatest hits. That's what we always wanted with the first 20 [episodes], introducing classic, greatest hit Trek episodes. There's so many that we haven't hit yet, that we will in the next 10.
Last question, it’ll be several months before Prodigy is back. In between, every other Star Trek show is airing new episodes. What are you guys most excited to see?
Dan Hageman: Oh gosh, all of it. Strange New Worlds. I think all of us are very, very curious about Strange New Worlds. Picard bringing Q [John de Lancie] back. Seeing how Discovery wraps up [season 4], where they're going to finish off their season.
Kevin Hageman: I grew up on the Star Trek films. That's what got me into [Star Trek]. Wrath of Khan was my first introduction. So I can't wait to see what's going to happen and what Paramount's gonna do with Star Trek movies.
Dan Hageman: And Lower Decks. All of it. I look forward to it. I feel like we finally hit that better future as Star Trek fans.
Star Trek: Prodigy returns with the second half of season 1 in late-2022 on Paramount+.