Star Trek: Starfleet Academy - A Love Letter To Deep Space Nine In Episode 5

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau tease an upcoming episode's tribute to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy premieres with two episodes on Thursday, January 15, on Paramount+.

Set in the late 32nd century, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has the benefit of drawing from the full breadth of Star Trek's canon, which spans a thousand years. Starfleet Academy's cadets can potentially learn from and be inspired by Starfleet's greatest heroes, including Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks).

At Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's press junket, TrekMovie's Laurie Ulster asked Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau how they balance the goal of attracting new viewers while retaining longtime Star Trek fans.

Landau and Kurtzman spoke about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's numerous Easter eggs to Star Trek canon, and discussed (without spoilers) how Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 5 is "essentially a love letter" to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Read their quotes below:

Noga Landau: I think for us, it starts in our writers room. There’s a lot of people who’ve loved Trek their whole lives. And then there’s people who really have come to Trek only recently. And they’re very valuable perspectives to make sure that everything is making sense to them, and everything’s making sense to the Trekkies. And it all balances out.

But I think, in the show itself, there’s so many Easter eggs to Trek. One of the ones that really stands out to the fans is Harry Kim being an admiral on the Wall of Heroes. Our atrium is named Sato Atrium. We have Uhura Pavilion. We have so many honors to the people who came before us. And episode 5 is essentially a love letter to Deep Space Nine.

TrekMovie: It’s so good.

Noga Landau: It’s so good.

Alex Kurtzman: Well, that’s the point, right? The idea is that if you don’t know Deep Space Nine and you’ve never seen it, it’s a wonderful introduction. If you do know Deep Space Nine, it’s really meaningful. And that was the goal. Yes, of course, if we don’t make shows for a new generation, and then the new generation after that, Trek is going to die, right? Our goal is to keep it alive. So, as much as people may complain that it doesn’t feel like old Trek: If you want old Trek, watch it. It’s there for you forever. But we are doing so much to honor canon and to honor old Trek in the way we are approaching it now.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's first trailer, released at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, included a shot of cadet SAM (Kerrice Brooks) approaching a screen with a photo of Captain Sisko, and a caption that said, "The Fate of Benjamin Sisko, Emissary of the Prophets" that left fans' tongues wagging.

Essentially, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy promised to address the "mystery" of what really happened when Captain Sisko disappeared at the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Fans know that Sisko was a demi-god and became one with the Prophets of Bajor, but Ben's fate has been an open question for Starfleet since 2375.

One of the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy writers "who've loved Trek their whole lives" that Noga Landau described is Tawny Newsome, who is a co-producer of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. An avowed Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fan, it's no coincidence that Newsome co-wrote Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 5 with Kirsten Beyer.

Whatever it ultimately entails, Tawny Newsome indulging her love for Captain Sisko in episode 5's love letter to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is poised to be a very special hour of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy that DS9 fans could be talking about for years to come.

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  Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

  Release Date January 15, 2026

  Network Paramount+

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    Karim Diane

    Jay-Den Kraag

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    Kerrice Brooks

    Series Acclimation Mil 'Sam'