Wil Wheaton Reflects on Wesley Crusher's Return for STAR TREK: PRODIGY

First, let me start with a personal message as the author of this article. I am an unashamed Wesley Crusher fan! So when season two of Star Trek: Prodigy was underway and I saw one of my favorite characters appear, a wide smile spread out on this longtime fan’s face.

The Traveler, better known to us as Wesley Crusher has beamed back on to our screens. Having not seen him since 1994’s TNG episode, Journeys End, (unless you count a quick scene in Nemesis of him sitting with his mother at the wedding reception and another one in Star Trek: Picard season 2) it was a delight to see him again, and learn who his character is now.
 Our friends over at TrekCore caught up with him and asked him about the process that led up his being a part of the second season. He told them,

Well, a good friend of mine is on the Prodigy writing staff, and she called me up and said, “How do you feel about being Wesley again?” I was like, “Uh, I’m extremely into it!” 

She pitched me the broad idea of what they were thinking about, and then asked me if I had any ideas. I said, “You know, I don’t want to overstep, but I’ve been writing fan fiction about Wesley the Traveler for years… and in my stories he’s kind of like The Doctor from Doctor Who.” She got really excited and said that the Prodigy writers were thinking the same thing – so we were all leaning in the same direction.

She asked me, “What do you think about this? What do you think about that?” I couldn’t believe it — I’d never been invited into the creative process as early as on Prodigy, so I feel even closer to this character than I already would have. And then a few days, I got the official request to join the show, which of course was operating under a code name at that point; we were calling it ‘Captain Video’ during production.

He shared how his cameo in Star Trek: Picard’s second season and the comic that he wrote in 2022 in IDW’s 400th issue all tied into his appearance on Prodigy, and how The Loom that he was facing in this series tied into the other two. 

Yet in Prodigy, he was able to be seen as Wesley Crusher doing what he does best, it felt as if Wesley had finally ‘come home’ after all of these years.  He had a hand in the creative process as well. From the orange sweater, an homage to his first episode on TNG, to the boots that he wore as a kid. (Counterfeit Doc Martins.) 

When asked what he thinks of Prodigy as a whole, he had some very insightful things to say. 

There are three things that really stand out to me about Prodigy. First, I love that Wesley is in the show because Wesley was written into Trek to bring people into the universe and get kids interested in making a better tomorrow — and Prodigy is doing the same thing. I’ve heard Kevin and Dan say that Wesley was the original prodigy, so we need him in Prodigy — that’s just a gift.

Second, I love that Prodigy doesn’t talk down to kids, it reaches kids where they are. It gives their parents something to watch so they can watch it together. I agree with all the fan feedback I’ve seen saying this was probably the best Trek season since Deep Space Nine… just in terms of satisfying, great storytelling, it’s checking all the different boxes.

Third, I love that at its core, Prodigy is about teamwork. It’s about outsider kids who have no place to call home, all coming together and finding a home in Starfleet. That is just a gorgeous message for kids who feel weird, feel like they don’t fit in — there is a place for you to fit in.  It’s with your fellow weirdos, and the Star Trek world is a place where you’re special and you matter — so welcome aboard!

To read more about how this came to be, as well as his thoughts on being a child actor in a tough industry, warp on over to trekcore.com.