Billy Campbell will return to Star Trek as the outrageous Okona in Nickelodeon’s Prodigy
Billy Campbell as Thadiun Okona in Star Trek: The Next Generation “The Outrageous Okona”
FEBRUARY 15, 2021 - The Outrageous Okona is heading back to the final frontier in Star Trek: Prodigy. Actor Billy Campbell made the announcement in a recent episode of the podcast Comic Book Central, along with a few more details about the upcoming series, and a story about how he nearly landed a much bigger role in Star Trek.
“The Outrageous Okona” was an episode in the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Campbell played the title character, Thadiun Okona, a lovable rogue who charmed the female crew and ended up helping broker peace between two warring houses on twin planets in the Omega Sagitta system. And now he’ll have his chance to get up to more shenanigans in the new series for Nickelodeon.
After host Joe Stuber asked Campbell a question about sci-fi and superheroes, he mentioned Star Trek: Prodigy (which he referred to as a “comedy” animated series) and said, “they're bringing back some characters from the Star Trek universe that are like [...] legacy characters. So my guy is coming back.” Host Stuber then asked him to confirm that he meant “The Outrageous Okona”, to which Campbell replied, “Yes! And it’s hilarious.”
Later on, Campbell gave some more details about his part, saying that in it, the show’s female lead “goes over the moon” for him, much to the chagrin of the male lead. At the time the podcast episode was recorded, Campbell said his recording was imminent.
While Campbell seemed thrilled about reprising his role, he did also mention that he wishes he could take back his original performance. “If I could eradicate that performance, I would. I was so uncomfortable,” he said. “It was really bad dialogue, and to be honest, I was not experienced enough to make bad dialogue good. [...] Patrick [Stewart] tried to help, but bless him. I think I was beyond redemption.”
Later in the interview, Campbell related the story of how he was nearly cast as Riker for the series. To listen to the entire Comic Book Central interview, which covers not only Star Trek, but The Rocketeer, and a whole host of other topics, look for Comic Book Central wherever you get your podcasts.
