Summary

• Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 introduced a large number of Star Trek legacy characters, voiced by the original actors.
• The animated series was originally on Paramount+, but following a fan campaign, it is now available on Netflix for a global audience.
• The season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy will feature even more legacy characters and references to prior Star Trek TV series and movies.

The Emmy Award-winning Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 showcased over a dozen Star Trek legacy characters, many of whom were voiced by the original actors. Originally streaming on Paramount+, Star Trek: Prodigy season 1's 20 episodes premiered on Netflix on Christmas Day, following a dedicated fan campaign to find the popular Star Trek all-ages animated series a new streaming home. With Netflix's global audience now able to access and enjoy Star Trek: Prodigy, season 2 is set to premiere on Netflix later in 2024.

Set in the late 24th century, Star Trek: Prodigy centers on the ragtag young alien crew who commandeered the derelict USS Protostar: Dal R'El (Brett Gray), Gwyndala (Ella Purnell), Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas), Zero (Angus Imrie), Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), and Murf (Dee Bradley Baker). The Protostar kids are mentored by Hologram Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and then, later, by Vice iral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) from Star Trek: Voyager. Star Trek: Prodigy touches upon the breadth of the Star Trek franchise, and Prodigy season 2 is set to feature even more legacy characters and references to prior Star Trek TV series and movies. But the amount of Star Trek legacy characters in Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 is already remarkable.

13 Hologram Janeway / Vice iral Kathryn Janeway

Voiced by Kate Mulgrew

Star Trek: Prodigy is a tacit sequel to Star Trek: Voyager, with iral Kathryn Janeway and her virtual doppelganger, Hologram Janeway, as central figures. Hologram Janeway is introduced as the USS Protostar's training program, who begins the ragtag crew's education in the values of Star Trek. The Protostar kids then meet the real iral Janeway, who leads a mission to find Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran), aboard the USS Dauntless. By the end of Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, Hologram Janeway sacrifices herself to save the galaxy while iral Janeway takes the Protostar crew under her charge arguing for their acceptance into Starfleet Academy, and making them her warrant officers in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2.

iral Janeway and Dal R'El hilariously swapped bodies in Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 18, "Mindwalk."

12 Captain Chakotay

Voiced by Robert Beltran

Promoted from his position as First Officer of the USS Voyager, Captain Chakotay initially commanded the USS Protostar on a mission to the Delta Quadrant to "clean up Voyager's mistakes." A temporal anomaly deposited the Protostar in the 25th century, where it landed on Solum, the homeworld of the Starfleet-hating Vau N'Akat. Although taken prisoner, Chakotay was able to send the Protostar back in time to safeguard it from the Vau N'Akat. After she found out what happened to Chakotay, Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 will center on iral Janeway's mission aboard the USS Voyager-A to rescue her dear friend Chakotay from his alternate future prison.

11 USS Enterprise-D

Star Trek: The Next Generation's USS Enterprise-D is not just a character in its own right, but it's also one of the most beloved starships in the franchise. In Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 6, "Kobayashi", Dal discovers the USS Protostar's holodeck and takes Starfleet's Kobayashi Maru test a hundred times to prove his mettle as Captain, alongside a cavalcade of holographic Star Trek icons, aboard the holographic Enterprise-D. Showcasing Galaxy Class starship's distinctive bridge, Star Trek: Prodigy featured the USS Enterprise-D two years before Star Trek: Picard season 3 resurrected the D and sent it back into action with its original crew.

The USS Enterprise-D was destroyed in Star Trek Generations but was secretly restored and rebuilt by Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) in Hangar 12 of the Fleet Museum on Athan Prime in Star Trek: Picard season 3.

10 Spock

Voiced by Leonard Nimoy (archival audio)

A hologram of Spock (voiced by Leonard Nimoy) served as Dal R'El's Science Officer in Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 6, "Kobayashi". Dal took an immediate liking to the pointy-eared Vulcan, who also gave the Protostar's self-styled Captain the same inspirational speeches he gave Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). Spock ed Dal when he beamed over to the Klingon ship to beat the Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario. Star Trek: Prodigy's archival audio of Leonard Nimoy spanned generations of Spock, which noticably alternated the actor's vocal pitch as the Vulcan hero.

9 Odo

Voiced by Rene Auberjonois (archival audio)

's Constable Odo (voiced by Rene Auberjonois) took the USS Enterprise-D's conn position in Dal R'El's Kobayashi Maru. Dal liked calling Odo "Jellyman," but DS9's holographic, Changeling top cop didn't warm up to the Protostar's genetically engineered Captain. Rene Auberjonois ed away in December 2019, and Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 6 would count as the beloved actor's final appearance as Odo.

8 Scotty

Voiced by James Doohan (archival audio)

Dal R'El selected Scotty (James Doohan) as his Chief Engineer during his Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario. Mr. Scott, the former Chief Engineer of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 ("No bloody A, B, C, or D") ironically manned the engines of the Galaxy Class Enterprise-D, a starship the real Scotty visited in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6 episode, "Relics." Scotty appeared in Star Trek: Prodigy's "Kobayashi" as he did in the Star Trek: The Original Series movies.

7 Uhura

Voiced by Nichelle Nichols (archival audio)

Lieutenant Nyota Uhura (voiced by Nichelle Nichols) took the helm of the USS Enterprise-D in Dal R'El's Kobayashi Maru tests, although she also doubled as Communications Officer. Uhura is a Starfleet legend for her decades of service aboard the USS Enterprise, but it was the more experienced version Nichelle Nichols played in Star Trek: The Original Series selected on the holodeck, rather than the younger incarnation of Uhura played by Celia Rose Gooding in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds had yet to premiere when Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 6, "Kobayashi," premiered in January 2022 on Paramount+.

6 Dr. Beverly Crusher

Voiced by Gates McFadden

Dal R'El wisely selected Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) as his Chief Medical Officer during his Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario. Affectionately nicknamed "Big Red" by Dal, Crusher was, of course, the Chief Medical Officer of the USS Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation. McFadden's return as Beverly in Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 6, "Kobayashi," can now be seen as a harbinger for Dr. Crusher's flesh-and-blood comeback in Star Trek: Picard season 3.

5 Kobayashi Maru Captain

Voiced by David Ruprecht (archival audio)

Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 6, "Kobayashi", utilized archival audio of David Ruprecht, the Captain of the Kobayashi Maru freighter. The Kobayashi Maru's Captain was heard but not seen in the opening scene of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan when Lieutenant Saavik (Kirstie Alley) failed the no-win scenario test, and the same thing happens in Star Trek: Prodigy.

4 Thadiun Okona

Voiced by Billy Campbell

Close

Decades after making his lone but memorable appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation's season 2 episode, "The Outrageous Okona," Captain Thadiun Okona (Billy Campbell) returned for the Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 episodes "Crossroads" and "Masquerade." Now older and wearing an eyepatch, Okona becomes a temporary role model to the USS Protostar's ragtag crew as they tried to escape iral Janeway.

Okona also appeared (but wasn't heard) in the Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2 episode "An Embarrassment of Dooplers" when he was the DJ at an exclusive Starfleet party.