Giving Star Trek: Prodigy a potential ending with season two makes total sense

Sar Trek: Prodigy has found a second home thanks to Neflix. After Paramount+ canceled the show, in the midst of production on its second season, Netflix picked up Prodigy's second season and started airing the first season over Christmas to huge numbers. It quickly debuted in the Top 10 of children's programming and has given many hope that the second season will do big numbers as well.

And if it does big numbers, it's likely that we'll get more than just two seasons of Prodigy. That said, it doesn't mean that we're guaranteed to get a third season. The performance of season two will determine that, so it's entirely possible that Prodigy gets a third season or gets canceled; it all depends on how it does with the ratings.

And the creators of Star Trek: Prodigy know that. They've opted to write and edit season two in a way that if it is the end of the series, it ends on a strong note. As Rachel Carrington wrote in her piece, Kevin and Dan Hageman have set up the show to end should it need to after this next season, saying;

"Worst case scenario, we never get picked up again and [even if] there’s no more Star Trek: Prodigy ever, we feel like the end of season 2 is a really beautiful closing. It will feel complete. But what we do is there is a great little promise of something more to come.”

And while it may be sad to see the situation develop this way, it's the right call. We're not sure what's going to happen next with the franchise, especially with the ever-changing landscape of both television and streaming. Prodigy could find itself as the latest victim that has come for so many quality projects. And if that's the case, having a potential ending that satisfies the fans is a smart move.

We've seen this a time or two before and with different results. A very notable example is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who had season five set to end the series. Supernatural wasn't sure they'd be back a number of times and so sometimes you have endings, like in season five, that felt very final. One Tree Hill season four is another example of a show that tied everything up ahead of another renewal.

So Prodigy doing it isn't surprising, and we'll see if it was warranted or not after season two comes out and finishes airing.