Star Trek Day: Full Prodigy trailer delivers extra Janeway, while Lower Decks teases callbacks aplenty

One of Star Trek Day’s many gifts today was getting to see more from the animated side of the expanding Trek universe. The much-anticipated animated Nickelodeon series, Star Trek: Prodigy, finally dropped its full trailer. And Star Trek: Lower Decks, which is currently halfway through its second season, dropped a mid-season trailer teasing what’s to come for the worker bees on the USS Cerritos. 

With Star Trek: Prodigy set to return to Paramount+ in late October, there’s been a steady trickle of details about the more youth-oriented series, which features a hologram Captain Janeway voiced by Kate Mulgrew. Along with plenty more Janeway, this full trailer finally reveals the various alien kids who stumble upon a Federation ship, which they ultimately commandeer in order to take them off their bleak planet. 

Watch the Star Trek: Prodigy trailer:

During the Star Trek Day Prodigy panel, co-creators Dan and Kevin Hageman, director and co-executive producer Ben Hibo, and voice talent Brett Gray ("Dal") and Dee Bradley Baker ("Murf") were all on hand to talk about how the younger-skewing series will be different than the more adult Trek fare.

"Kids are smart and I love that the show doesn’t pander down to kids. We don’t pull any punches," Hageman said. "In that way, kids will enjoy it, but anyone yearning for Star Trek or feeling intimidated to enter the universe, this is the one to jump in with."

"Prodigy starts in a far away, remote, mysterious new place," Hibo added. "It's like a blank slate. And through the journey, the kids [in the series] are discovering the qualities and values of Trek. It's such a rich universe from a kid’s perspective. And it's the first series to look at Starfleet from the outside in."

Credit: Paramount+

Also in the Trek animated universe, the second season of Star Trek: Lower Decks has been throwing the callbacks and deep cuts at audiences at a breakneck pace so far, and the mid-season trailer promises even more to come.

Watch the Star Trek: Lower Season 2 mid-season trailer:

During the 2021 Star Trek Day panel for Lower Decks, showrunner Mike McMahan admitted that his favorite callbacks are always anything Gary Mitchell related, which he has pulled off twice already in the series.

As to what to expect for the close of Season 2, McMahan said, "The rest of the season is freaking crazy! If you saw the first season, you know the last three episodes were big. I think we’ve doubled down [for Season 2] and went even bigger and do stuff you won’t see coming."

The next six episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 will continue to air Thursdays on Paramount+. Star Trek: Prodigy, another Paramount+ exclusive, premieres Oct. 28. Both Star Trek Day panels can be viewed at Paramount+'s official YouTube channel.