Star Trek’s Next Show Honors The Vision Of Gene Roddenberry, Promises Showrunner

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy co-showrunner Noga Landau explains how Paramount+'s next Star Trek series honors the vision of creator Gene Roddenberry. Executive produced by Landau and Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy unveiled its teaser trailer at San Diego Comic-Con. Premiering in early 2026, Starfleet Academy is led by Academy Award winner Holly Hunter as Captain Nahla Ake, the Academy's Chancellor, with Paul Giamatti playing season 1's recurring villain, Nus Braka.

At San Diego Comic-Con, ScreenRant's Joe Deckelmeier sat down with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy co-showrunner Noga Landau and stars Robert Picardo, George Hawkins, and Kerrice Brooks. Discussing Starfleet Academy's 32nd-century era set after the end of Star Trek: Discovery, Landau detailed how "diversity" within the cast and the characters, which are comprised of "lots of alien cadets," reflects the original vision of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Read Noga's quote below:

ScreenRant: Now, we've seen glimpses of the Academy throughout Star Trek history, but this is an entirely new era. Talk to me about what you and Alex Kurtzman were looking for when crafting the next generation of cadets and new faces in this franchise.

Noga Landau: Yeah, so you'll get to see what our Starfleet Academy looks like now after being rebuilt after the events of The Burn, but it's really cool. I don't want to give anything away, but the world is going to witness it shortly. As far as the cadets themselves, it was really important to us to honor the vision of Gene Roddenberry, which was always diversity of background, of opinion, of look, of ambition, and we made sure that we have lots of alien cadets. Some were species we're very familiar with in the franchise, and others are brand-new.

How Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Follows Gene Roddenberry's Vision

Inclusivity Is Central To Roddenberry's Vision For Star Trek

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy consists of an eclectic mix of cadets who come from various backgrounds. Many of the cadets, like Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard) and Sam (Kerrice Brooks), are aliens who are new to Star Trek. However, there are humans, like Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta), and familiar aliens as well, like Klingon Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané), and Betazoid Tarima Sadal (Zoë Steiner), as well.

Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek vision was "infinite diversity in infinite combinations." Roddenberry believed humanity in the future would eliminate hunger, poverty, and want, devoting itself to the exploration of space and the betterment of the human race. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy reflects this, with the first class of cadets in 120 years since The Burn applying themselves to the United Federation of Planets' ideals to fulfill their dream of becoming Starfleet Officers.

Our Take On Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Following Gene Roddenberry's Vision

Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations

Noga Landau also told ScreenRant that "the decision to set [Starfleet Academy] in the 32nd century was very intentional. It is a time of rebuilding, it's a time when so much of the future is placed on the shoulders of the younger generation, and it's a mirror to our world now." This also follows Gene Roddenberry's vision. In the 1960s, Roddenberry used Star Trek's science fiction genre to address real-world issues in ways a traditional television series could not.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is poised to tackle current issues that face the younger generation, but through the lens of science fiction and using the metaphors of Star Trek. Meanwhile, Paul Giamatti's villain, Nus Braka, represents a tide of hostility sweeping the Federation that Starfleet Academy's cadets must counter. Yet the underlying optimism and hope for a better future driving Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's young heroes couldn't be more representative of Gene Roddeberry's Star Trek vision.