Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Brings Historic Firsts For The Franchise

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy makes history in several ways when it premieres as the first new Star Trek series in four years. Executive produced by Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy arrives on Paramount+ with two episodes on January 15.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was previously the newest Star Trek series when it premiered in 2022. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy joins Strange New Worlds as the two remaining Star Trek series on Paramount+. Both Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy have two seasons coming in 2026 and 2027.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy introduces a slew of new characters led by Academy Award winner Holly Hunter as Captain Nahla Ake, the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy centers on a group of new young cadets who are mentored by Star Trek legends like The Doctor (Robert Picardo) and face the villainous Nus Braka, played by Academy Award nominee Paul Giamatti.

How Starfleet Academy Makes Star Trek History

Not just another Star Trek series, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is a history-making affair. Starfleet Academy is the 6th new Star Trek series executive produced by Alex Kurtzman and Secret Hideout since Star Trek: Discovery premiered in 2017. Secret Hideout has produced more Star Trek series than Rick Berman did in the 1990s and 2000s.

In addition, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the second direct spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Number One (Rebecca Romijn), and Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) were introduced in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, and Strange New Worlds picked up months after Discovery season 2.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy takes place after the end of Star Trek: Discovery, and expands upon the late 32nd century, an era where the United Federation of Planets is rebuilding after The Burn. Starfleet Academy's cadets are the first class to study at San Francisco on Earth in 120 years.

While Star Trek has always featured actors of the highest caliber, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the first Star Trek series led by an Academy Award winner, Holly Hunter. Paul Giamatti is also an Oscar nominee and a Best Actor Emmy winner. Previously, Star Trek: Section 31 was the first Star Trek movie led by an Academy Award winner, Michelle Yeoh.

In addition, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané) is the first full-blooded Klingon to be a Star Trek series lead character since Michael Dorn portrayed Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Star Trek: Voyager introduced Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), a Klingon and human hybrid. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy follows suit with two different hybrids, half-Klingon/half-Tellarite Nus Braka, and Commander Lura Thok (Gina Yashere), a half-Klingon and half-Jem'Hadar from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is even rumored to answer the over 25-year-old mystery of what really happened to Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) after the Emissary became one with the Prophets of Bajor at the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Starfleet Academy Has Been A Star Trek Plan For Decades

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the first Star Trek series to center on young cadets and Starfleet hopefuls in their late teens and early 20s, injecting a youthful perspective and optimism into Star Trek. However, Starfleet Academy manifests an idea that has percolated in Star Trek for decades.

After the box office failure of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, executive producer Harve Bennett planned a Starfleet Academy-set movie titled Star Trek: The First Adventure (also known as Star Trek: The Academy Years), which would have depicted the young James T. Kirk and Spock meeting at Starfleet Academy.

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009) reboot ultimately showed cadet James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) meeting Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto) as rivals at Starfleet Academy. Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 also brought the young crew of the USS Protostar to Starfleet Academy in the late 24th century, where they were mentored by The Doctor (Robert Picardo), who returns 800 years later in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy does involve a starship crew engaging in outer space action and adventure, but Paramount+'s newest series incorporates multiple elements of Star Trek, introduces new concepts, and draws from the full breadth of Star Trek's canon to bring a historic Star Trek show unlike any other to audiences.