Star Trek: Starfleet Academy release date speculation, cast, latest news
A new Star Trek series is on its way!
Following the success of recent Star Trek spin-offs like Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds, a new series is on the way. This time round, rather than depicting the adventures of a typical starship crew, it will take place at Starfleet Academy.
Starfleet Academy has a long history in Star Trek canon as the institution where every Starfleet officer received their education. It's located in San Francisco, and while we've visited this location many times before, we can expect Star Trek: Starfleet Academy to look very different. That's because this show takes place in the 32nd century, around 800 years after the events of The Next Generation.
This far-future setting ties into the events of Star Trek: Discovery, and although we'll see a few crossover characters, it sounds like Starfleet Academy will have a pretty different tone.
Here's everything you need to know about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, from its release date to its plot and cast!
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy release date speculation
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is expected to arrive in early 2026, airing on Paramount+.
Season 1 will consist of 10 episodes, and Paramount must be pretty confident in the show's success, because season 2 is already in the works.
We'll update this page once we know more about the specific release dates for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy!
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy cast
Thanks to the show's setting, the main cast will skew younger than previous Star Trek spin-offs. Most of the lead characters are Starfleet trainees played by relative newcomers, including Sandro Rosta, Karim Diané, Kerrice Brooks, and George Hawkins.
Some of those cadets will be as young as 16 (or the equivalent age for their species), so we can expect some elements of teen drama in the show.
However, we'll also see some familiar stars playing older characters, with Holly Hunter leading the cast as the chancellor of Starfleet Academy, Nahla Ake. She's both a captain and a teacher, and commands the USS Athena, which is used as an educational vessel for Academy students.
Paul Giamatti will play Nus Braka, a part-Klingon, part-Tellarite character with an antagonistic role.
And longtime Star Trek fans will recognise several crossover characters from other corners of the franchise: Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) and engineer Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) from Star Trek Discovery, and the holographic Doctor (Robert Picardo) from Star Trek: Voyager – who is now 900 years old.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy plot
We can expect Star Trek: Starfleet Academy to be a combination of college drama and more typical Star Trek missions, based on the idea that these cadets often train onboard a working ship. Co-creator Alex Kurtzman compared this setting to a teaching hospital.
One of the most interesting elements of this show, however, is its place in the Star Trek timeline. The 32nd century may feel very different from the setting of previous Star Trek series, featuring a more diverse range of alien characters.
Continuing on from Star Trek: Discovery, this series takes place after a catastrophic event known as the Burn, which almost led to the collapse of the Federation. The tone is meant to be hopeful and optimistic, introducing a cast of young characters who are essentially rebuilding Starfleet and rebooting its mission to explore the galaxy.
Speaking to the LA Times in 2024, Kurtzman explained that the setting was designed to be relatable to younger audiences today.
"As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognising he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set Starfleet Academy in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now."
Is there a Star Trek: Starfleet Academy trailer?
Yes! You can watch the first Star Trek: Starfleet Academy trailer here, introducing the main cast and their 32nd century setting.
In the voiceover, Holly Hunter's character reveals that the cadets in this series are "the first academy class to return to our campus in San Francisco after more than 120 years."
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Authors
Gavia Baker-Whitelaw is a freelance critic and entertainment journalist specialising in geek culture, TV and film. She has written for numerous outlets including Empire, TV Guide, Wired and Vulture, and hosts the film podcast Overinvested.
