Prodigy's Version of Wesley Crusher Was Inspired by 'Doctor Who'

Editor's Note: This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2.

The Big Picture

• Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 features the return of Wesley Crusher, played by Wil Wheaton, after decades away from the screen.
• Prodigy creators Dan and Kevin Hageman designed Wesley's evolved character with inspiration from Doctor Who and Willy Wonka, aiming for an unstable yet trustworthy mentor.
• All 20 episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy are now available on Netflix

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is finally here after a harrowing journey from Paramount+ to Netflix. With all 20 episodes of the new season hitting its new streaming home at once, there's an abundance of joyful new Star Trek content for fans to feast upon this week. Those who've already binged the new episodes know that this season heavily features the return of Wil Wheaton's Wesley Crusher many years after he left the Enterprise-D to join the Travelers. Aside from a brief cameo in Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard, we haven't seen Wesley on screen in decades, so naturally, he's a bit evolved from the gangly teenager we know and love.

Collider's Maggie Lovitt recently sat down with Prodigy creators Dan and Kevin Hageman for an in-depth interview on all things Season 2, and she made sure to ask about how they designed this version of Wes and where his new and improved swagger comes from. "We talked a little bit about a Doctor Who/Willy Wonka — some guy whose mind would be fritzed," said Dan. "And in playing into that scruffiness, he had to have a sweater," he continued, honoring Wesley's iconic tri-color sweater from TNG. "I mean, it starts with a sweater. I think even, like, the fabric of time, the tapestry, was inspired by his sweaters. I think we wanted the scene, too, that we never got to where Rok got one of his sweaters, and it fits her," he laughed.

Part of making Wes even more charming than one might have expected him to become, is rooted in reality as Kevin explained, "If you remember, one of our writers, Jen Muro, she grew up with Next Gen. She had a poster of Crusher on her wall." Though Muro and Wheaton are pals now, the team behind Prodigy wanted to turn Wesley into a "heartthrob." Kevin continued with the Doctor Who comparison, drawing a picture-perfect connection between the two sci-fi franchises for those of us who are huge fans of both. He said:

"I love the Doctor Who of it all, how very discombobulated he is. He's really an unstable and almost trustworthy mentor to come into these kids’ lives."

'Star Trek: Prodigy' Boldly Brings Back Wesley Crusher for a New Adventure

Wesley has rarely been seen on screen since his TNG days having only made a brief cameo appearance in Picard Season 2. Kevin explained that "a lot of the other shows were maybe scared to touch Wesley because he became this character…" "Too powerful," Dan supplied. But for the Hagemans, including Wesley was a must, "He's like the original prodigy, so we need him in our show," said Kevin. He explained:

"No rules, all power. What do you do with this character? But we loved that challenge. We wanted to make it that he’s not just a super being, but, my gosh, it must be a lot going on in his head. It's probably a little damaging, and it's hard to keep it together. So, I love his character in this."

Now we just need Russell T. Davies and the Hagemans to team up and make the Star Trek x Doctor Who crossover of our dreams a reality so that Wesley and the Doctor can actually meet.

You can watch Season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy now on Netflix. And don't miss Lovitt's full conversation with the Hagemans here at Collider.

Star Trek: Prodigy

A group of enslaved teenagers steal a derelict Starfleet vessel to escape and explore the galaxy.

Watch on Netflix

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