Star Trek: Prodigy’s Dal R’El and Dr. Arik Soong are forever tied together

Star Trek: Prodigy just gave Dal R’El and Arik Soong a haunting connection

Throughout the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy, we’ve been given several mysteries to work through. What happened to Chakotay? When exactly is the Protostar from? What species is Dal? All among a few other smaller ones. Well, one of those questions got answered in the latest episode of Prodigy, “Masquerade”.

In the episode, Dal and company find themselves in the Neutral Zone with Thadiun Okona. The group escorted Okona to a meeting with a geneticist who revealed that she knew what Dal was. As this has been a big focus of the character’s arc, obviously there was a desire to find out who and what he was.

Yet, when it came to pass, Dal found out he wasn’t of any one species. He was from many, in fact. Dal wasn’t born to parents, the parents he was hoping to meet. No, instead he found out he was a hybrid creature, created by scientists who followed the work of Dr. Arik Soong,

Soong, of course, was the ancestor of Noonian Soong, the man who create Data, Lore, and B4. This descendant of Soong, however, was not into robotics but genetics.

Tying Arik Soong and Dal R’El together was a smart choice

From a character standpoint, revealing that Dal has DNA from the Bajoran, Breen, Cardassian, Ferengi, Gorn, Hirogen, Kazon, Krenim, Orion, Reman, Risian, Romulan, Son’a, Species 8472, Tholian, Vidiian and Xindi species was a very interesting move.

From a storyline standpoint, it opens up plenty of possibilities going forward. Not only is Dal now going to be perpetually trying to understand who and what he is, but the quest to join the Federation has become so much more difficult.

We know the Federation has a history of not trusting augments like Dal, and now that he’s been revealed to be one, it’ll be fascinating to see how the real Vice Admiral Janeway and Starfleet react to this.