NYCC: Star Trek: Prodigy Adds Infamous Next Generation Alum

During the Star Trek Universe panel at New York Comic Con 2022, which took place on Saturday, October 8th, 2022, plenty of new details about upcoming Trek releases were revealed. During the second segment of the panel, which focused on Star Trek: Prodigy, these included the fact that not one but two characters who originated in Star Trek: The Next Generation would be appearing in the upcoming second half of the animated show’s first season. While we already knew that William O. Campbell would be reprising the role of Thadiun Okona, the Star Trek Universe panel revealed that he would be joined by an additional alum from TNG: Admiral Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox).

The character of Jellico was first introduced in TNG Season 6, Episode 10, “The Chain of Command: Part I.” In that episode, Jellico was originally assigned to the USS Cairo. He took command of the USS Enterprise-D after Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) was assigned to Celtris III for an undercover mission. Jellico appeared again in the following episode, “The Chain of Command: Part II,” but by the conclusion of the story, command of the Enterprise-D had been returned to Picard, and Jellico returned to the Cairo.

However, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season six, Episode nineteen, the fate of the Cairo was revealed. The vessel was presumed destroyed by the Dominion… but it had been under the command of Captain Leslie Wong, not Captain Jellico. This reassignment allowed Jellico to survive to reappear in Prodigy, a series set roughly a decade after the character first appeared on TNG.

An Animated Jellico Also Appeared in Star Trek: Lower Decks

This isn’t Jellico’s only recent appearance in Star Trek canon. Star Trek: Lower Decks has previously paid homage to the character on several occasions. In one instance, in the season two finale “First First Contact,” Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) worries that Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) will be replaced with “a babysitter Jellico-type.” And in the Lower Decks season three opener, “Grounded,” the news ticker below a FNN: News of the Galaxy report reveals that Jellico had banned a popular band known as the Zebulon Sisters from performing on active duty starships.

But you might recognize Jellico’s name from another source: social media. The unofficial Twitter parody account “Captain Edward Jellico” (@STDeltaShift) centers on the eponymous Captain, utilizing stills from TNG and other Trek shows to illustrate memes that frequently see Jellico torturing those under his command with excruciating puns.