Ronny Cox is back as Edward Jellico in Star Trek: Prodigy.
One of the best parts of the newest era of Star Trek television shows is seeing all of the legacy characters get a second chance at doing something new. Now, sometimes, like with Picard, it’s done poorly. Other times, like with Prodigy, it’s done perfectly. We all know that Kate Mulgrew came back to Star Trek with Prodigy and she’s been used magnificently as Kathryn Janeway. What some may not know is that The Next Generation’s Ronny Cox is back as Edward Jellico.
Jellico, now an Admiral, once served as the captain on the Enterprise in the Season 6 two-parter, Chain of Command. In that two-parter, he served as interim captain while Jean-Luc Picard went on a secret mission, and was ultimately captured by the Cardassians. Jellico, though stern and rigid, proved to be a formidable captain, and not only dealt with the Cardassians but saved Picard as well.
His biggest flaw was that he wasn’t Picard, and the crew let him know it. Yet, he was arguably a very good and efficient captain.
In an interview with Inverse, Cox revealed that Jellico did a lot of things right and firmly stated that he felt the now-admiral was one of the best to ever sit in the Enterprise’s chair;
"I mean, Jellico did a lot of things that were right. There are several people on the internet who say Jellico is maybe the best captain they ever had. And you know what? Maybe they’re right."
Edward Jellico is getting a second shot with Star Trek: Prodigy
One of the worst tropes in Star Trek is the “mean” superior officer, and it’s so overplayed at this point. Jellico on Prodigy has been anything but and has been a source of support for Janeway in her search for the Protostar and Chakotay.
While Jellico is getting more play on Prodigy, his views on his time on the Enterprise may not be completely unfounded. While Picard will always be beloved due to how popular the series was, Jellico was every bit the captain Picard was. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of him in his captain-prime because it would’ve been very interesting to see how he would’ve handled the interdepartmental conflicts.
Maybe we can get some more of that on Prodigy. After all, every captain has had their own style and flare, and it would be great to see more of Jellico’s.