Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Main

• Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake:
  The half-Lanthanite captain of the USS Athena and the chancellor of Starfleet Academy.^[5] Hunter enjoyed the dichotomy of playing both a captain and a teacher, saying the captain "is there to command, to analyze in emergency situations, and then to delegate" while the chancellor "is there to guide, to collaborate, and have tremendous empathy". She also enjoyed developing relationships with each of the cadets.^[6]
• Sandro Rosta as Caleb Mir:
  A human orphan who is disillusioned with Starfleet and has been on the run for most of his life. He joins the academy as part of a journey to find his mother. Rosta said Caleb is an outsider who is introduced to Starfleet's values at the academy, allowing the audience to learn about Starfleet through his eyes.^[5][7][6] Co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman said Caleb's relationship with Ake was a key part of the series.^[8]
• Karim Diané as Jay-Den Kraag:
  A Klingon cadet and aspiring medical officer. Diané reached out to Michael Dorn and Doug Jones, who respectively portrayed Worf and Saru in previous Star Trek media, about performing with the prosthetics needed to portray a Star Trek alien. His Klingon prosthetics initially took five hours to apply each day, but this was reduced to two hours by the end of the first season.^[5][7] Kraag is noted as Star Trek's first depiction of an openly gay Klingon.^[9]
• Kerrice Brooks as Sam (Series Acclimation Mil):
  The first Kasqian to attend Starfleet Academy. Kasqians are a kind of hologram, and Brooks explained that Sam is only weeks old but was programmed to be a young adult. She said the character is "like a newborn; everything is so fresh to her" and she "brings absolutely no baggage".^[5][7][6] Kurtzman said the character was originally written to be quite different, and was changed to match Brooks's approach after her casting.^[10]
• George Hawkins as Darem Reymi: A Khionian cadet and aspiring captain. Darem is from a wealthy home world which gives him certain expectations for his time at Starfleet Academy.^[5][7]
• Bella Shepard as Genesis Lythe: A Dar-Sha cadet who is the daughter of an admiral, and is determined to make her own name in Starfleet^[5]
• Oded Fehr as Charles Vance: The Fleet Admiral, the commander-in-chief of Starfleet^[11]
• Gina Yashere as Lura Thok: The part Klingon, part Jem'Hadar first officer of the Athena and the cadet master at Starfleet Academy^[5]
• Brit Marling as the voice of the USS Athena's computer^[12]
• Stephen Colbert as the voice of Starfleet Academy's Digital Dean of Students who gives daily announcements and important alerts to the cadets^[13]
• Robert Picardo as the Doctor:
  A 900-year-old holographic teacher at Starfleet Academy. Picardo said it was "mind-bending" to portray a character with such a long, digital memory that clearly remembers the "36 generations of organic colleagues" that have lived and died since his time on the original USS Voyager in the series Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001). Picardo said the Doctor in Starfleet Academy is "as we remember him, but deeper". Kurtzman decided to add the character to the series after he worked well as a teacher for young cadets in the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy (2021–2024), believing it made sense for the Doctor to still have that role in the future.^[14]
• Tig Notaro as Jett Reno: An instructor at Starfleet Academy^[11]
• Zoë Steiner as Tarima Sadal: The daughter of the president of Betazed, and a cadet at the War College and later Starfleet Academy.^[5]

Recurring

• Paul Giamatti as Nus Braka, a part-Klingon, part-Tellarite who has an ominous past connection to one of the cadets.^[5][7] Kurtzman said the character "represents a tide that has swept across the world in a very profound and upsetting way", reflecting a real-world rise in people who use hate to sow division and oppose empathy. Giamatti enjoyed the lengthy make-up process, saying it helped him get into character.^[8]
• Tatiana Maslany as Anisha Mir, Caleb's mother^[10]
• Raoul Bhaneja as Chancellor Kelrec, head of Starfleet's War College^[15]
• Romeo Carere as Ocam Sadal, Tarima's brother and the son of the president of Betazed
• Alexander Eiling as B'Avi, a Vulcan War College cadet who becomes rivals with Caleb and the rest of the academy cadets
• Dale Whibley as Kyle Jokovic, a friendly War College cadet who becomes romantically interested in Jay-Den

Guest

• Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly: An instructor at Starfleet Academy who served on the USS Discovery^[11][16]
• Rebecca Quin as Lieutenant Ya, a member of the USS Athena's bridge crew^[17]
• Jeremy Culhane, Brian David Gilbert, and Rekha Shankar as the voices of DOT robots^[18]
• Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko
• Tawny Newsome as Illa Dax, an instructor and the current host of the Dax symbiont.

Background

Ideas for a Star Trek production centering on cadets at Starfleet Academy have circulated for decades, taking two main forms: prequel origin stories of established characters, and spin‑offs with new protagonists.^[20][21]

According to writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Star Trek creator and producer Gene Roddenberry mentioned at the 1968 World Science Fiction Convention that he was considering a feature film about how Kirk and the crew of The Original Series (1966–69) first met at Starfleet Academy.^[22][23] When he ultimately produced The Motion Picture (1979), it was set after TOS, with its visibly aged cast portraying largely unchanged characters.^{[24]: 104, 112–3} Star Trek II (1982) already foregrounded younger Starfleet trainees, especially Saavik, in a supervised exercise with the veteran TOS crew.^{[25][26]: 108} After Star Trek III (1984), William Shatner was initially reluctant to return as Kirk. In response, writer-director Leonard Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett explored alternative premises for the fourth film. Among the proposals considered by Paramount was a Starfleet Academy prequel developed by Bennett and Ralph Winter, chronicling the early years of Kirk, Spock, and other established TOS characters, thereby recasting the core crew while allowing for Nimoy's Spock to appear either as narrator in a frame story or through a time-travel device. After seven to eight months, the issue with Shatner was settled and the prequel idea was set aside.^{[27][24]: 123 [26]: 116–7}

In the mid-1980s, as Paramount developed a new Star Trek TV series set a century after TOS, the studio initially commissioned writer/producer duo Sam and Gregory Strangis.^{[24]: 149 [28][26]: 129} The latter recalled envisioning a "Starfleet Academy on a ship", combining younger trainees with senior officer instructors.^[29] A 1986 Paramount memo outlined this precursor concept for Star Trek: The Next Generation.^[30][31]

Finalizing Star Trek V (1989), Bennett – encouraged by Paramount executive Ned Tanen – commissioned David Loughery to write a Starfleet Academy-centered script for the sixth film, planned for release in 1991.^[32] The storyline would have brought the young Kirk, Spock, and McCoy together at the academy for their first space adventure, involving a new struggle against slavery. One draft framed the prequel within a sequel narrative in which Shatner's Kirk considered a teaching appointment at the academy and reflected on his past while speaking with new cadets, later joined by Nimoy's Spock. The prequel was again not realized.^{[33][24]: 135–6 [26]: 123} With TNG unfolding a storyline about Wesley's Starfleet Academy career, the concept briefly resurfaced as one of several spin-off options discussed in the early 1990s, along with the space-station premise that ultimately became Deep Space Nine.^[26]: 170

As the concept shifted largely to tie-in media, several young‑adult novel series in the 1990s explored prequel stories for TV-series regular characters, such as Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (for TOS), Star Trek: The Next Generation – Starfleet Academy, and Star Trek: Voyager – Starfleet Academy.^[20] One early comic book titled Starfleet Academy! (DC, 1991) explored Kirk's academy years in a flashback.^[34] Another comic book spin‑off titled Starfleet Academy (Marvel, 1996–98), set within the DS9 continuity, followed recurring character Nog and his new group of cadets known as 'Omega Squad'.^[35][20] The concept also appeared in interactive media, including Interplay's 1997 FMV computer game Starfleet Academy (a follow-up to the similarly named 1995 console game).^[36][37] Featuring original Enterprise crew members – Kirk, Sulu, and Chekov, played by Shatner, George Takei, and Walter Koenig – in instructional roles, the story introduces Cadet David Forrester and his diverse classmates as they confront tensions with Klingons, Romulans, and Gorn pirates, uncovering a clandestine xenophobic faction within the Federation named 'Vanguard'.^[38][39][40] A tie-in novelization was published by Diane Carey the same year.^[41][20]

In the 2000s, Shatner, together with the Reeves-Stevens writing duo, developed a pitch for a TV series titled Star Trek: The Academy, following teenage versions of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. It was reportedly proposed in 2003 and rejected by Paramount's Sumner Redstone. The concept was reworked and partially realized within Shatner's Star Trek novel line.^{[42][26]: 241} According to a 2006 UGO interview, Bennett in 2004 again proposed a Starfleet Academy feature film to Paramount's Sherry Lansing. She responded positively and supported the idea, although it was declined at the television division's request shortly before her departure.^[43] (In a 2010 interview, Bennett recalled a similar exchange with Lansing in the 1990s.^[44]) The 2009 Star Trek reboot partially touched on the characters' time at the academy, echoing themes from the early concept.^[20][21] Following the Kelvin timeline established with this film, a series of Starfleet Academy novels and IDW comics was released in the 2010s.^[45][46]

Development

Starfleet Academy showrunners Alex Kurtzman (left) and Noga Landau (right)

In June 2018, after becoming sole showrunner of the series Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024), Alex Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with CBS Television Studios to expand the Star Trek franchise beyond Discovery to several new series, miniseries, and animated series. One series that was being planned as part of this deal was a "younger-skewing" project set at Starfleet Academy. It was being developed by Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz, who were known for creating other young adult-focused television series.^[47][48] The project was still in development in January 2020, but production was not expected to begin until 2021 at the earliest.^[49]

In February 2021, Kurtzman said a new series was unlikely to be added to streaming service Paramount+'s Star Trek Universe slate until one of the existing five series came to an end.^[50] Development on the Starfleet Academy series was re-confirmed that August,^[51] and a month later Kurtzman gave it as an example of a future Star Trek series that he was excited to make and that he had seen "a lot of conversations" about.^[52] In February 2022, Kurtzman said his team was planning Star Trek projects that would be released two or three years later, including a series based on Section 31 and another that he did not give details on.^[53] Soon after, a new version of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was reported to be in development with writer Gaia Violo. It was expected to be pitched to Paramount+ shortly, with production planned to begin within a year as the next Star Trek series after Section 31.^[54] In May, Kurtzman confirmed that Section 31 and Starfleet Academy were the two projects in development that he and his team were focusing on.^[55]

Kevin and Dan Hageman, showrunners of the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy (2021–2024), revealed in December 2022 that they wanted the young protagonists of their series to join Starfleet Academy, but this was changed in part to avoid covering the same ground as the planned Starfleet Academy series.^[56] In March 2023, after revealing that Discovery would be ending with its fifth season, Kurtzman expressed interest in making more limited event series and television films for the franchise rather than just traditional ongoing television series;^[57] Star Trek: Section 31 was re-developed into a streaming "event film" that was released in January 2025.^[58][59] At the end of March 2023, Paramount+ announced that Starfleet Academy had been ordered to series. Kurtzman and Noga Landau were set as showrunners and executive producers alongside Violo, Aaron Baiers, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa, and John Weber.^[3] A year later, Kurtzman confirmed that there would be 10 episodes as with previous Star Trek series.^[60] Olatunde Osunsanmi returned from Discovery as producing director and was added as another executive producer by August 2024.^[61][62] In October, Kurtzman announced that a second season had been ordered.^[63] That season completed filming on February 24, 2026, though with the acquisition of Paramount by Skydance Media, this raised a question as to the future of Trek beyond 2027, when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds would air its fifth and final season. As this was the first time in nine years that no new Trek was in production, that future would be decided by the newly merged company, Paramount Skydance.^[64]

Writing

The writers' room was based at Kurtzman's Secret Hideout offices in Santa Monica.^[1] By the time of the series' official announcement, Violo had written the first episode,^[3] and Tawny Newsome had been hired as a writer.^[65] Newsome, the voice of Beckett Mariner on the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020–2024), was the first Star Trek actor to be hired for a staff writing position on a Star Trek series.^[66] Kurtzman approached Newsome about joining the series after being impressed with her improvisation skills during the filming of the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds crossover episode "Those Old Scientists" (2023).^[67] Other writers included Jane Maggs, Alex Taub, Kiley Rossetter, Eric Anthony Glover, Kirsten Beyer, and Kenneth Lin.^[68] The writers were expected to finish work by the end of 2023, but this was delayed by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.^[69] They returned to work in mid-October after the strike ended in late September,^[70] and were halfway through the first season by March 2024.^[60] The writers were working on the second season by January 2025.^[71]

The series is set in the 32nd century, the far-future era of the Star Trek franchise that was introduced in Discovery.^[1] It follows the first new class of Starfleet cadets in over a century as they come of age and train to be officers.^[3] Kurtzman felt the characters, who are a new generation of cadets that are inheriting "massive, massive challenges", were relatable to the "generation now" who would be watching.^[70] He said the cadets' mission is to "reinstate the original vision of Star Trek";^[6] the series champions the Star Trek ideals of empathy, unity, and peacemaking over intolerance and hate.^[8] In addition to serving as a metaphor for real world challenges,^[72] the 32nd century setting gave the writers some freedom from the existing Star Trek canon and helped them introduce new young fans to the franchise without needing to have seen past projects.^[1] Despite this, Newsome said there were writers on staff who were "real canon hound dogs" and wanted to ensure the series remained true to the franchise for long-time fans.^[66] Characters from previous Star Trek projects are referenced as famous Starfleet officers.^[8]

Kurtzman said the series would follow some cadets through graduation and beyond while also introducing new students in later seasons.^[60] He said it had "kind of a hybrid format".^[73] Previous attempts to develop Starfleet Academy struggled with not being able to use traditional Star Trek ideas of adventure and space exploration in a classroom-based series. Their solution was to set the series on the USS Athena, a starship that docks at the Starfleet Academy campus in San Francisco but can also be deployed with the rest of the fleet. Kurtzman compared this to teaching hospitals, with the cadets able to learn in the field with real Starfleet officers, allowing for episodes where the cadets meet new species, learn about diplomacy, and find their place within Starfleet.^[6][4] Landau said each episode also explores a different coming of age aspect, combining pranks and romance with alien encounters and conflicts. She wanted the audience's takeaway from each episode to be a feeling of wanting to attend Starfleet Academy.^[8] Kurtzman said the writers had a rule that the instructors needed to be as interesting and fun as the cadets, similar to the teachers at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter franchise.^[74] He encouraged the writers to ground the series in science and have the main characters use science to solve their problems.^[1]

Casting

In the fourth season of Discovery (2021–2022), Mary Wiseman's Sylvia Tilly becomes a teacher at Starfleet Academy. This storyline led to speculation about whether Wiseman would be reprising her role in Starfleet Academy.^[16][75][76] There was also speculation about other Discovery stars making guest appearances in the series.^[77][78] In March 2024, Doug Jones expressed interest in reprising his Discovery role of Saru as a "guest speaker" at Starfleet Academy.^[78][79] In May, Tig Notaro expressed interest in reprising her Discovery role of Jett Reno in the series, saying she was "hoping that I can continue on somewhere, somehow" in the Star Trek franchise after Discovery's conclusion. Notaro first joined Discovery due to being long-time friends with Kurtzman.^[80]

In March 2024, Kurtzman said casting for the cadets was yet to begin but some of the adult roles had been filled.^[60] Holly Hunter was revealed in May to be cast in the lead role of the chancellor of Starfleet Academy.^[81] The character was written with Hunter in mind, but the writers did not expect her to be interested and were surprised when she "signed on right away".^[72] Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, and Zoë Steiner were set to star as cadets in July,^[82][83] when Notaro and Oded Fehr were announced to be reprising their respective roles of Jett Reno and Admiral Charles Vance from Discovery. Robert Picardo was also announced to be starring in the series, reprising his role as the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001) and other Star Trek media.^[11] Sandro Rosta was cast as another cadet a month later,^[84] while attending drama school.^[74] Roles for the main cast were revealed in July 2025: Hunter as Captain Nahla Ake; Rosta as Caleb Mir, Diané as Jay-Den Kraag, Brooks as Sam (Series Acclimation Mil), Hawkins as Darem Reymi, and Shepard as Genesis Lythe, all cadets; and Steiner as Tarima Sadal.^[5]

Paul Giamatti was cast in the recurring guest role of the season's main villain in June 2024,^[85] later revealed to be named Nus Braka.^[5] Kurtzman contacted Giamatti about joining the series after the actor expressed his love for Star Trek and wish to portray a Klingon while promoting his film The Holdovers (2023). Giamatti was given the first five scripts and his choice of five different guest roles, and chose the villain.^[8] Kurtzman was surprised by the choice, assuming that Giamatti would only want a one-episode role due to his busy schedule.^[73] In July, Gina Yashere was cast in the recurring role of an instructor,^[86] revealed to be cadet master Lura Thok,^[5] and Wiseman was confirmed to be returning as Tilly for a guest role.^[11] Tatiana Maslany was revealed in October to have a recurring guest role in the season,^[63] and Becky Lynch said in December that she had been cast as a member of a Starfleet bridge crew.^[17] In October 2025, Stephen Colbert was revealed to be the voice of Starfleet Academy's Digital Dean of Students.^[13] The next month, Brit Marling was revealed to be the voice of the Athena's computer.^[12]

Design

Matthew Davies was working as production designer for the series by March 2024. The set for the atrium of Starfleet Academy is the largest ever built for a Star Trek series and fills the biggest soundstage in Canada, which is 45,900 square feet (4,260 m²). The atrium set is two stories and features a mess hall, amphitheater, multiple classrooms, catwalks, trees, and a view of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.^[1] Gersha Phillips returned from Discovery as a costume designer and was joined by Avery Plewes. Phillips said Kurtzman directed them to make the Starfleet uniforms feel "hip and cool and appeal[ing] to the young audience".^[87]

Filming

Filming was expected to begin in early 2024,^[88] before production was delayed by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.^[69] In March 2024, Kurtzman said filming would begin later that year,^[60] at Pinewood Toronto Studios in Toronto, Canada,^[1] where Discovery and Section 31 were filmed.^[89] Filming began on August 26, 2024,^[61] with Kurtzman directing the first two episodes.^[72] Philip Lanyon returned from Discovery as a cinematographer.^[90] Location filming took place that week in the Uptown area of Waterloo, Ontario, under the working title Ivory Tower.^[91] Kurtzman was still filming his episodes in late October.^[63] Osunsanmi also directed for the first season,^[62] as did frequent Star Trek director Jonathan Frakes,^[92] who directed the penultimate episode.^[93] Frakes previously said he was unable to direct an episode of the season because the schedule clashed with his son's wedding.^[94] In late January 2025, Kurtzman said there was two weeks of production left for the first season and he expected filming for the second season to begin in the middle of that year.^[71] Filming for the first season officially wrapped in the week of February 10.^[95] Pre-production on the second season began that June, with filming beginning on August 27 at Pinewood.^[96] On February 24, 2026, the production completed filming of season 2, with ten episodes filmed; actor Diané celebrated the twenty episodes produced for the series.^[64][97]

Music

Jeff Russo was hired to compose the score for the series by December 2024, returning from Discovery, Section 31, and other Star Trek series.^[98] Additional music is by Dan the Automator.^[99]