A Star Trek movie or TV series about Starfleet Academy has been proposed for decades. Star Trek executive producer Alex Kurtzman planned a "younger-skewing" Starfleet Academy series soon after signing a development deal with CBS Studios to oversee the Star Trek TV franchise. Paramount+ formally announced Star Trek: Starfleet Academy in 2023, and the cast was unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, soon after the announcement that Academy Award-winner Holly Hunter is leading the series and Academy Award-nominee Paul Giamatti is playing season 1's villain.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1 wrapped filming in February 2025, although it isn't expected to premiere on Paramount+ until 2026, which is Star Trek's 60th anniversary year. However, Paramount+ ordered Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 2 during the production of season 1, signaling confidence in the next Star Trek series. While most details about Starfleet Academy are top secret, what has been revealed so far indicates that the new show is designed to be what Star Trek needs to ensure the franchise's future.
5Starfleet Academy Isn’t A Star Trek Prequel
Star Trek: Discovery's 32nd Century Continues In Starfleet Academy
Fans also hope that Paramount+ will greenlight Star Trek: Legacy, which would continue Star Trek: Picard season 3's early 25th century era.
However, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is following in Star Trek: Discovery seasons 3 to 5's footsteps by moving the franchise forward, potentially into the 33rd century. Starfleet Academy introduces a brand new crop of young characters who represent the hopeful, diverse, and eclectic future of the Federation. This also mirrors Star Trek's multi-generational audience that consists of people from every walk of life. Starfleet Academy continues Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's hopeful and inclusive vision of the future.
4Star Trek Needs To Gain New Young Fans
Starfleet Academy Can Attract A New Demographic
A prevalent concern about the overall Star Trek franchise is that it skews towards an older audience. Star Trek isn't as readily attractive a franchise to younger general audiences as Marvel or Star Wars are. Star Trek: Prodigy was a laudable attempt to teach young viewers the virtues and majesty of Star Trek and hopefully create a new generation of Trekkers. Despite the incredibly high quality of Star Trek: Prodigy, however, the beloved CGI animated series was pigeonholed as a 'kids' show.'
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy runs the risk of being branded a YA show because of its young cast. Yet teenagers and college-aged people are exactly the audience Starfleet Academy hopes to attract. Star Trek needs an injection of youth and lacks coming-of-age sagas for characters in their late teens and early 20s, apart from Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) and Nog (Aron Eisenberg) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Star Trek needs the Gen Z demographic that Starfleet Academy hopes to turn into Trekkers.
3Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Has An Incredible Cast
Oscar Caliber Actors Lead A Crop Of Fresh Faces
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's cast is comprised of several jaw-dropping coups. Academy Award-caliber actors Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti are a signal to general audiences and critics that Starfleet Academy is another level of Star Trek. In addition, Starfleet Academy is bringing in acclaimed actors like Tatiana Maslany and out-of-the-box casting picks like WWE superstar Becky Lynch (Rebecca Quin). Several Star Trek legacy actors also provide crucial links to the franchise's venerable history and canon.
However, the beating heart of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is its young cast of fresh-faced Starfleet hopefuls. Playing Starfleet Academy's young heroes are Bella Shepard, Kerrice Brooks, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, Zoe Steiner, and Sandro Rosta. Although their characters' identities and even what species they belong to are being kept under wraps, Starfleet Academy will rise or fall based on how engaging and accepted by the audience the young characters are.
2Starfleet Academy Is Pushing Star Trek's Production Forward
Starfleet Academy's Production Is Another Level
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's production is all-in on taking the series to another level. Starfleet Academy's Star Trek Stage in Toronto houses the largest sets ever built for the franchise. Starfleet Academy's A-list cast also conveys the high bar the series is setting. While Star Trek's TV shows and movies are produced for a fraction of the budget of a Star Wars series like Andor, Starfleet Academy will upgrade the impressive production values and visual style that have become hallmarks of the franchise since J.J. Abrams' Star Trek and Star Trek: Discovery.
1Starfleet Academy Can Call Back To Star Trek’s Entire History
Star Trek's Timeline Spans 1,000 Years In Starfleet Academy
Star Trek: Lower Decks' Tawny Newsome is one of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's writers and a 'continuity cop' in the writer's room.
Through holograms, time travel, and other sci-fi means, potentially any aspect of Star Trek can appear or be referenced in Starfleet Academy. Meanwhile, Starfleet Academy's cadets must face a new threat to the Federation involving Paul Giamatti's mystery villain, and they will also learn that their futures in Starfleet mean coming to terms with the sins of the Federation's past. With two seasons assured to stream on Paramount+, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's vaulting ambition is to create and ensure a future for Star Trek and generations of Star Trek fans, old and new.
