Star Trek: Prodigy may be giving us a Starfleet Academy show.
The mass expansion of the Star Trek universe under Alex Kurtzman has been a bumpy ride for sure. Some hits, some misses. Lots of expectations, some delivery. And part of the reason for the nature of the unevenness of the Nu Trek era of Star Trek is that not every property has been something fans truly wanted. One show fans do want is a Starfleet Academy show.
Fans will be getting one in due time, but Star Trek: Prodigy may be jumping the gun on the Starfleet Academy idea. Prodigy ended its first season with just about everyone entering Starfleet as probational cadets, where they’ll be able to prove their talents and aptitude for the institute, to see if they can actually become full-fledged cadets.
Not only that, but they’ll be serving under the real Vice-Admiral Kathryn Janeway on her newest ship, setting up a storyline that would greatly mirror what fans could expect from a show based at the actual Starfleet headquarters in San Francisco.
Star Trek: Prodigy is right to move in the direction of Starfleet Academy
Now, when the academy series does finally go into production, we have how long it’ll have been between season two of Prodigy and the eventual season one of the academy series. And we’re operating under the assumption that the rumor of the show’s eventual production is in fact true. We have no way of knowing what’s coming next in the pipeline.
So there’s no harm in Prodigy encroaching on the concept. In theory, both Prodigy’s change of direction to focus more on Starfleet Academy, and less on the Delta Quadrant would seem on paper to be an issue for any academy-based series. But with the focus being on them on a starship with Janeway as their captain, there already are some serious differences in what you can expect from an academy-based series.
More than that, Prodigy has already delivered, so there’s no reason to think they’ll let fans down by exploring this concept. A concept that may not make it through the second season anyway.