What did Wil Wheaton say about his return to Star Trek? Details revealed

Prior to his comeback on Star Trek: Prodigy, actor Wil Wheaton was last seen on the space opera franchise back in 1994, in The Next Generation episode “Journey's End.” Although Wil Wheaton kept up appearances, showing up at conventions and events from time to time, it is fair to say that he was missed on board the starship.

Thereafter, it was a moment of joy for his fans when they learned of his comeback to the franchise, with an appearance on the second season of Prodigy, which dropped last year.

Here, we take a look at what Wil Wheaton said about this return.

Wil Wheaton explains the process that led to his Star Trek comeback

Wheaton revealed the journey that led to his comeback in an exclusive interview with the website Daily Star Trek News, wherein he stated:

"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."

He further added:

"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."

Wil Wheaton opens up about his time on TNG

In another interview with Cinemablend back in 2022, ahead of Picard's Season Two finale, Wheaton expressed that his comeback to the franchise was more pronounced owing to the nature of his exit from The Next Generation. He explained:

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"If I had remained on Next Generation – which is a thing I lamented a lot for years, leaving the show – I would have been part of it, but I would have been part of only The Next Generation. In my role now as the host of The Ready Room, I have this opportunity of a member of legacy Star Trek, as a lifelong fan of Star Trek, as the guy who played Wesley Crusher who is now an adult to sit in a place where I get to touch every single Star Trek series. I get to interact with everybody in the universe."

Star Trek: The Next Generation is exclusively available on Netflix.

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