'I Didn't Think I Could Love Wesley More:' Wil Wheaton And I Both Got Emotional As He Candidly Opened Up About Why Watching His Character In Star Trek: Prodigy Was So Moving
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It took some cross-collaboration between the good people of Star Trek: Picard and Prodigy to make it happen, but finally, Wesley Crusher's story continued in the new era. Wil Wheaton's character gets a big arc throughout Season 2 of Prodigy, and the actor was thrilled to bring the character back for many reasons. Wheaton recently talked to CinemaBlend about the return, and we both got a little emotional.
It's no secret that Wil Wheaton's first run on Star Trek: The Next Generation was a struggle. The young actor was facing private struggles at home, and while his co-stars were there for him, there was a rampant community of Star Trek fans who were very anti-Wesley Crusher. Even William Shatner was rude to him at what should've been a high point in his career, so I couldn't blame Wheaton if he just said goodbye to Trek after he left TNG.
He remained active in the franchise, however, via The Ready Room and convention appearances. He was eventually approached by the Hageman brothers to play out Wesley's first big adventure as a Traveler. Wil Wheaton recently watched the season, presumably with a Netflix subscription, having forgotten large chunks of it since he recorded his parts a couple of years ago. During my conversation with him, he shared an experience he had watching himself that was a career first:
For the first time in my career, I watched something I did with absolutely no self-consciousness. I wasn't watching one of my performances to see what I did wrong so I don't do that in the future. I was just loving Wesley and the way he was interacting with these kids and the production design and the visual design and all of it. I texted Jen [Muro] and I said, ’I didn't think I could love Wesley more, and I was wrong. I know him in a way now that I never did before. I feel like I get what kids when I was a kid got. I feel like I understand. I can feel Wesley Crusher the way people who love him, feel him, and it's different. I feel him as a fan in a way that I had only felt him as the guy that brings him to life.’
It's wonderful to hear Wil Wheaton's experience watching Wesley again on-screen was so eye-opening and a testament to my repeated statement that Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is the best serialized story we've seen in the franchise. The show gave us the new Wesley, who definitely feels like the unofficial 16th Doctor from Doctor Who in this adventure, in case Russell T. Davies is reading and wants to pitch him for a crossover event.
Shoutout to staff writer and co-producer Jennifer Muro, who not only coined that term, which Wil Wheaton wished me to share, but talked to Wheaton about how Traveler Wesley is practically like the Trek universe's iteration of The Doctor minus the fact he doesn't have two hearts. After a pause, she retracted that statement and the actor shared what she shared with him via text message:
‘He does have two hearts. One heart is Wesley Crusher's heart, and one heart is your heart. And they both exist inside of this character.’ And I was like, ‘Well, I'm wiping away the tears now, and I'm also going to steal that and make sure the world knows that because I love that.’ And it's gorgeous. For every kid who loved Wesley and got made fun of for it, for everyone who felt like they had to defend a character because they cared about him and like the cool kids were making fun of him and the big kids were mean about it. I feel that I, you know, like not only was I a kid who loved that character and wanted to be represented on Star Trek. I was the kid who played it.
It is hard to see Wesley Crusher without seeing Wil Wheaton, but that's not at all a bad thing. Both have gone on a long journey to reach where they are right now, and a lot has changed since then. He once was the guy that even a tech writer tried to make life difficult for and has become a real advocate for the franchise beloved by fans.
That transformation is not lost on Wil Wheaton, who became emotional talking about what it means to see Wesley Crusher finally get his comeuppance with the fans. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a little choked up as well as he spoke about it, having just a vague idea of how big this moment truly was for him:
I was the teenager who adults, who knew better, were so viciously cruel to about this character. The love that he is receiving now. The love I'm receiving now. It's been a really long time, man. It's been 35 years, and oh my God, is it worth the wait [gets choked up]. It's just such a gift, and it's so special for everyone who loves and loved Wesley. I just feel this sense of, ‘Hey, look, you guys, we got there.’
We sure did get there, and as I and others continue to petition Netflix and Paramount to reach a deal on Season 3 or maybe even a Travelers series, there are opportunities for Wesley Crusher to appear elsewhere. Living outside of the confines of space and time does have its benefits, so if the prior two scenarios can't happen, perhaps we can keep our fingers crossed for a Wesley cameo in Strange New Worlds Season 3, or even the upcoming Section 31 movie. Just put him in every upcoming Trek series because we need as much info on him and the Travelers as we can get!
Star Trek: Prodigy is available to stream right now on Netflix. Hopefully, we'll get some news about the status of Season 3 or something else on the way with SDCC around the corner, so stick with CinemaBlend as we'll be on the scene and ready to provide updates.
