# Aaron Waltke

Aaron John Waltke (born August 8, 1984) is an American screenwriter and Emmy and Peabody Award-winning executive producer and showrunner. He is best known for his work on Guillermo del Toro's Trollhunters (2016–2018), Wizards: Tales of Arcadia (2020), Unikitty! (2018–2020), and Star Trek: Prodigy (2021–present). In 2020, he was named by The College Magazine as one of its "20 under 40" List.

## Early life

Aaron Waltke was born and raised in Greenwood, Indiana and spent some of his childhood on the islands of Sanibel-Captiva in the Gulf of Mexico. He attended Indiana University Bloomington, where he began directing live theatre, performing sketch comedy, and writing screenplays. He moved to Los Angeles, where his work was shown at venues including The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, iO West, The Comedy Store, and the L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival.

## Career
### Film and television

Waltke began his television career producing and directing documentaries for PBS affiliate WTIU. After moving to Los Angeles, he was hired by The National Lampoon as a writer and producer to create original content.
In 2012, he was hired to write a live-action feature film adaptation of The Brave Little Toaster. He was later hired to adapt a live action feature film version of the popular comic strip Heathcliff for the same company.
In 2014, he joined Guillermo del Toro's award-winning Netflix series Trollhunters produced by DreamWorks Animation, for which he was twice-nominated and won an Emmy Award in the category of "Best Writing for an Animated Program," and was nominated for an Annie Award.
He became co-executive producer and co-showrunner on the final installment of the franchise, Wizards: Tales of Arcadia, for which he co-wrote the pilot with del Toro. He was nominated for an Emmy in the category of "Outstanding Children's Animated Series" and won a Kidscreen Award for "Best New Series".
In 2017, he served as a head writer for a Cartoon Network spinoff of The LEGO Movie entitled Unikitty! produced by Warner Bros. Animation. While there, he co-wrote an episode of Teen Titans Go! for the same creative team.
In July 2019, Waltke joined the television show Star Trek: Prodigy as a writer and producer, later co-executive producer and co-head writer for the series. He previously collaborated with the show's creators, The Hageman Brothers, on Trollhunters. In 2022, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Series" for his work on the show. In 2023, his work received a nomination for a Television Critics Association Award in the category of "Outstanding Achievement in Family Programming." In 2024, his and others' contributions to Star Trek were honored with a Peabody Institutional Award.
In October 2020, Legion M announced that Waltke was attached to develop and executive produce an adult animated feature film with Powerhouse Animation based on George Mann's Ghosts of Manhattan novels, an action sci-fi noir story set in an alternate history 1920s New York.
In 2023, Waltke was hired to develop the story and script for the feature film Transformers One, a prequel film in the Transformers franchise.

### Comics and graphic novels

In 2023, Waltke was announced as a writer for DC Comics in the anthology, How to Lose a Guy Gardner in 10 Days. The collection explores the strange world of superhero romance in the DC Universe.
In 2025, Waltke became co-writer of Stan Lee'sThe Excelsiors, a graphic novel series based on Lee's final unpublished works for an original superhero universe.

## Personal life

Waltke is married to fellow writer and published mystery author Ellen Tremiti. They reside in Los Angeles.
Waltke engages in youth activism and outreach. He was the keynote speaker at the 2018 RESET Technology & Creativity Conference, a bi-national event between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, aimed at encouraging youth innovation, creativity, and opportunity across the Mexico–US border.

## Selected filmography

Aaron Waltke film and television work :
| Year | Title | Credit |
| 2008–2010 | National Lampoon's College Network | Writer, Producer, Director |
| 2012–2013 | Game Program Attack | Writer (7 episodes) |
| 2016–2018 | Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia | Writer (24 episodes) |
| 2017 | Teen Titans Go! | Writer (1 episode) |
| 2018–2020 | Unikitty! | Head Writer (56 episodes) |
| 2020 | Wizards: Tales of Arcadia | Showrunner, Co-Executive Producer, Head Writer (10 episodes) |
| 2021–2023 | Star Trek: Prodigy | Producer, Co-Executive Producer, Writer, Head Writer (40 episodes) |
| 2024 | Transformers One | Story Development |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 2013 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media | The 3rd Annual Streamy Awards | Nominated |
| 2018 | Kidscreen Awards | Best Writing | Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia | Won |
| 2018 | Annie Awards | Outstanding Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production | Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia | Nominated |
| 2018 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program | Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia | Won |
| 2019 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Writing for an Animated Program | Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia | Nominated |
| 2021 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Children's Animated Series | Wizards: Tales of Arcadia | Nominated |
| 2021 | Kidscreen Awards | Best New Series | Wizards: Tales of Arcadia | Won |
| 2022 | Children's and Family Emmy Awards | Outstanding Animated Series | Star Trek: Prodigy | Nominated |
| 2023 | Television Critics Association Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Family Programming | Star Trek: Prodigy | Nominated |
| 2024 | Peabody Awards | Peabody Institutional Award | Star Trek, Star Trek: Prodigy | Won |