Star Trek: Prodigy was canceled by Paramount+ after a successful first season.
The news broke recently that Paramount+, as part of a budget cut and tax incentive measure, canceled several shows from their lineup and will be removing them from the streaming services shortly. Among the shows cut included Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Queen of the Universe, The Game, and of course, Star Trek: Prodigy.
Originally, Prodigy was thought to be canceled outright with season two ending production. That’s apparently no longer the case, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The new current idea for the show is to finish the second season’s production after all, and instead of outright canceling the show, shopping it around to different streaming providers.
Why Hollywood streaming companies are getting tax-based write-offs for underperforming series is beyond us. Nor are we sure how tax-based write-offs are even being considered, as Prodigy’s second half of the season had a higher rate of engagement than Strange New Worlds (but significantly lower than Picards’ last season). In fact, of all the shows, it looks like Lower Decks was the least engaged show of the four, yet they’re renewed for another season.
It’s likely to do with the rate of engagement as opposed to the cost of the show, as Prodigy’s animation is likely more expensive than Lower Deck’s.
Where could Star Trek: Prodigy land?
Sadly, there really isn’t a market for Prodigy or any other of the shows. Most cable channels you would think would take on this type of show; Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon, would just farm it out to their streaming services.
Therein lies the problem, as none of their respective streaming services are doing well financially as well. So where could it land? My first thought is that Paramount will just eat the loss, air it on Nickelodeon and call it a day.
Due to the mismanagement of converting everything from television to streaming, there’s just no longer money in an expensive show like Prodigy.