Prodigy Brings on the Youngest Writer in Franchise History

Produced by the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and CBS Studios’ Eye Animation Production, the animated kids series Star Trek: Prodigy from Alex Kurtzman, whose intention with the series was to attract young fans to the franchise while creating content that appeals to legacy fans too, was recently renewed for a second season. Premiering with a one-hour episode on Thursday, October 28th, the motley crew of the U.S.S. Protostar is a smash hit amongst Paramount+ subscribers.

With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 88 percent, and a premiere that had what the ViacomCBS streaming service is calling “the top-performing premiere day out of any original animated kids series on the service,” it’s no surprise that ahead of Prodigy’s midseason finale, the show has been renewed for a 10-episode second season to debut sometime next year. To celebrate the announcement, the series creators took to social media to welcome new writers to Prodigy, and joining the behind-the-scenes Starfleet crew is the franchise’s youngest staffed writer of all time, Keith Sweet.

On Twitter, show creators Dan and Kevin Hageman celebrated Prodigy’s renewal announcement by welcoming new staff writers to the children’s show, including Jennifer Muro, Erin McNamara, and Keith Sweet. The brothers tweeted, “With news of S2 renewal officially out, we want to welcome life-long Trek fan and one of our favorite people @jennifermuro to our Writers’ Room. Also our S1 assistants @E_Mac777 and @TheKeithSweet have been promoted to Staff Writers! Thank you for making this show special.”

With news of S2 renewal officially out, we want to welcome life-long Trek fan and one of our favorite people @jennifermuro to our Writers’ Room. Also our S1 assistants @E_Mac777 and @TheKeithSweet have been promoted to Staff Writers! Thank you for making this show special.

— Dan & Kevin Hageman (@brothershageman) November 8, 2021

Muro has a background in writing strong female characters, who empower women of all ages, for children’s animation. The writer has contributed scripts for projects across fandoms focusing on strong female characters, just like the women in Prodigy, including Star Wars: Forces of Destiny, Mickey and the Roadstar Racers, LEGO DC Super Hero Girls, and Disney XD’s Spider-Man series. Muro is also the co-creator of the comic book hero Ashley Rayburn, having penned the graphic novel Primer from DC Comics.

In the Hageman brothers’ tweet, it was also revealed that the season one writers’ assistants Erin McNamara and Keith Sweet II were promoted to official staff writers on the series. McNamara is new to the industry, having only worked as an assistant on several other Hollywood productions, including Room 104 and Allegiance. Similarly, Sweet is a young writer and new addition to Prodigy’s staff writers’ team, having previously worked as an assistant for the series. Excitingly, with Sweet’s hiring, this means that Prodigy has the youngest staffed Star Trek writer of all time.

Upon the announcement of the season two renewal, Sweet tweeted, “Baby’s first writing gig Yah boy will be writing on Star Trek: Prodigy Season Two!!! This makes me the YOUNGEST STAFFED STAR TREK WRITER OF ALL TIME!! It’s such a blessing and honor to be apart of 55+ years of story telling! We only going up from here.”

Baby’s first writing gig 🥺 Yah boy will be writing on Star Trek: Prodigy Season Two!!! This makes me the YOUNGEST STAFFED STAR TREK WRITER OF ALL TIME!! It’s such a blessing and honor to be apart of 55+ years of story telling! We only going up from here 🖖🏾 https://t.co/FMA30x5luO

— Keith Sweet II (@TheKeithSweet) November 8, 2021

As an up-and-coming writer, there isn’t much information about Sweet’s background online. However, back in 2019, the Hageman brothers first introduced us to the Prodigy writing team and production crew, including the two recently promoted assistants, McNamara and Sweet, as well the rest of the show’s first season writers’ room, which included Julie and Shawna Benson, former writers of DC Comics’ Green Arrow and Batgirl & the Birds of Prey; Chad Quandt and Aaron Waltke, whose writing credits include Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia and Unikitty; Lisa Boyd, whose major film writing credit is Black Sails; Diandra Pendle-Thompson, who previously worked as an assistant on Stranger Things and Star Trek: Picard season one; and Nikhil Jayaram, former writer on Shades of Blue.

Every ship needs a crew. Welcome aboard!

We are proud to announce our very talented Writers’ Room for @Nickelodeon‘s untitled @StarTrek animated show: @TheJulieBenson@shawnabenson@DiandraWrites@QuandtumTheory@GoodAaron @Shoopeedoobydoo @nsjayaram@E_Mac777@TheKeithSweetpic.twitter.com/LflgH34Oq2

— Dan & Kevin Hageman (@brothershageman) July 30, 2019

In addition to introducing fans to the new staff writers, the Hageman brothers introduced the new writers’ assistant for the second season of Prodigy, Alex Hanson, who worked as the script coordinator and social media advisor for the Star Trek: Prodigy Writer’s Room during the first season of the series.

Shout out to MYSELF @heyAlexHanson 🤪 https://t.co/1nQxHQweew

— Star Trek: Prodigy Writers (@TrekProdigyRoom) November 8, 2021

New episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy season one will continue to roll out weekly on Thursdays through November 18th. Following a just-announced midseason break, the second half the season will return starting on Thursday, January 6th, 2022. The Prodigy season one voice cast includes Kate Mulgrew as Hologram Kathryn Janeway, Brett Gray as Dal, Ella Purnell as Gwyn, Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk, Angus Imrie as Zero, Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog, Dee Bradley Baker as Murf, John Noble as The Diviner, and Jimmi Simpson as Drednok. In addition to the series regulars, the animated show will also feature the voice talents of many guest stars, including Robert Beltran as Chakotay, Daveed Diggs as Tysess, Jameela Jamil as Asencia, and Jason Alexander as Noum.

Topics: Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Trek

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