Producer Aaron J. Waltke talks Star Trek fandom, Prodigy, and growing up in Captain Janeway's hometown

Star Trek: Prodigy on Paramount+

JANUARY 19, 2022 -  For Star Trek: Prodigy producer and writer Aaron Waltke, the writing process is one steeped in decades of passion for the Star Trek franchise. In an interview with TrekCore, the second part of which was published Tuesday, Star Trek: Prodigy producer and writer Aaron Waltke gave audiences a detailed look inside what it really takes to write for the series.

Star Trek: Prodigy has quickly become known for it’s thoughtful storytelling and out-of-this-world animation. For Waltke’s part as a writer, the river runs deep. A native of Bloomington, Indiana, Waltke grew up watching Star Trek in the heyday of the 1990s, falling in love with the franchise, and with science fiction. According to Waltke, he was “binge watching” Star Trek: Deep Space Nine back “when they didn’t have a word for that”. The writer also boasted he was the very first person to donate via Kickstarter toward the Captain Janeway statue, which resides in his hometown. As a student of Indiana University, Waltke was fortunate to be able to study the donated materials of long-time Star Trek producer Jeri Taylor. “I literally learned how to write screenplays by reading her personal drafts with the annotations of Voyager scripts,” Waltke told TrekCore.

With his passion for the franchise firmly established, Waltke jumped into the writing process behind Prodigy - and he didn’t hold back. 

“Each episode has its own identity — and a beginning, middle, and end or a character arc. There’s an ongoing mission, or story, or want, or need, that we broke up into many little seasons,” he said. To define those arcs or “little seasons”, the writing staff must know where each character’s path will lead by the season’s end. 

“They’re kids with a starship,” Waltke said, “finding purpose and meaning in working together and scientific curiosity and exploration, while [...] exploring their individuality in ways that maybe they never had the opportunity to before.” It is this process that leads to ideas that come “organically”. Waltke used the lovable Rok-Tahk as an example, saying, “What if Rok-Tahk was always perceived as this big hulking behemoth that everyone assumed would be the security officer…but actually has an interest in animals and xenobiology and science?”

From there, Waltke takes fans on a ride through the motivation and struggles of each character, and how they relate to each other. You can read the full interview (parts one and two) at Trek Core. As a fair warning to those who haven’t seen Star Trek: Prodigy, Waltke went on to reveal numerous spoilers from the first season. If you haven’t seen it, no worries! Getting caught up on Prodigy is easy. The first seven episodes are available to stream now on Paramount+.