Summary
- Star Trek: Prodigy creators aim to right the wrongs done to Wesley Crusher on TNG, giving him the closure he deserves in season 2.
- Wesley Crusher becomes the 'original prodigy' and integral to repairing broken Star Trek timelines in Prodigy, a long-awaited treatment.
- Bringing Wesley Crusher into Prodigy allows the animated series to tie into greater Star Trek canon, correcting TNG's unsatisfying ending.
Star Trek: Prodigy creators and executive producers Kevin and Dan Hageman set out to right the wrongs Star Trek: The Next Generation inflicted on Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton). Wesley was a derided part of TNG, and the boy genius who often saved the USS Enterprise-D didn't endear himself to viewers at the time, nor was Crusher's character best served by TNG's writers. In Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, however, Wesley Crusher is the 'original prodigy' who is integral to the story of repairing the broken Star Trek timelines. Wesley achieves his full potential as a Traveler and, as a Star Trek legacy character fans have waited decades to see treated properly in Star Trek.
In an interview with TrekMovie about Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, Kevin and Dan Hageman spoke about how bringing in Wesley Crusher allowed the animated series to "be at the adult table" and tie even more directly into the greater Star Trek canon. Dan Hageman specifically spoke about the unsatisfying ending Star Trek: The Next Generation gave Wesley, and how Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 is "making up for it." Read Dan's quote below:
Dan Hageman: I would say they did Wesley Crusher wrong–how they finished Wesley Crusher on TNG–and we are making up for it. TNG just had him stop the frame and walk off and never gave him any closure. We’re taking that baton and doing something with it.
Why Wesley Crusher's Star Trek: TNG Ending Was Unsatisfying
Star Trek: Prodigy is doing Wesley Crusher right
When Wil Wheaton left Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wesley Crusher's character was already a troubled Starfleet Cadet who took part in the cover-up of a classmate's death. Wesley returned in TNG season 7 to say goodbye to the show as he accepted a greater cosmic destiny as one of the Travelers. However, audiences (and Wil Wheaton himself) wondered for over 30 years what Wesley did as a Traveler. Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 finally delivered on Wesley Crusher's promise as a Traveler, and as a character.
Wil Wheaton cameoed as Wesley Crusher, who was inexplicably back in a Starfleet uniform, in Star Trek: Nemesis.
Wesley Crusher didn't quite work as the USS Enterprise-D's resident boy genius, nor did he click as a member of Starfleet, which made his Star Trek: The Next Generation tenure unsatisfying. Yet decades passing can do wonders, especially when Star Trek: Prodigy's Kevin and Dan Hageman had the ambition to present the best version of Wesley Crusher Star Trek has ever seen. Motormouthed and scatterbrained, but ingenious and heroic, Star Trek: Prodigy season 2's Wesley Crusher does make up for his mistreatment by Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it's obvious Wil Wheaton truly enjoyed playing Wesley again.
