Star Trek

You only have to wait until January 15th for the latest Star Trek series on Paramount+, but you may want to see this most recent trailer because it sets up some of the background on the characters.

Paramount+ has already shared quite a few details about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy on its site, so here are some important items:

• Plot: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is about a young group of Starfleet cadets navigating friendships and rivalries, as well as first loves and a new enemy that poses a threat not to just the Academy, but to the Federation.
  
  
• The Names of the Cadets:
  • Caleb Mir is an orphaned human who hasn’t yet declared his major, or focus, at Starfleet Academy.
  • Jay-Den Kraag is a Klingon cadet whose focus is the sciences.
  • SAM is a hologram – a Series Acclimation Mil, or SAM, for short. She’s the first of her kind at Starfleet Academy. SAM’s focus is operations.
  • Darem Reymi is a Khionian from a well-to-do background who aims to be in command – hence, the focus of his studies at Starfleet Academy.
  • Genesis Lythe is a Dar-Sha, a species new to the Star Trek universe. She’s the daughter of an admiral, and is also studying command.
    
    
• Time Period: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set in the 32nd century, at the upper end of the Star Trek timeline. More specifically, it takes place 125 years after The Burn, a catastrophic event that ravaged the galaxy, and hobbled the Federation. The cadets we meet represent a fresh start for the Federation; they belong to the first Starfleet Academy class since The Burn. You will need to watch Star Trek: Discovery season three to understand The Burn.
  
  
• Key Actors in Season 1:
  • Holly Hunter as Capt. Nahla Ake Hunter’s character is the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy – and the captain of the U.S.S. Athena.
  • Tig Notaro as Jett Reno Notaro reprises her role as Jett, an engineering whiz, from Star Trek: Discovery.
  • Robert Picardo as The Doctor Picardo reprises the role he originated on Star Trek: Voyager.
  • Gina Yashere as Lura Thok Yashere is billed as a recurring guest star. She plays a Klingon/Jem’Hadar hybrid who serves as the Chancellor’s First Officer and Cadet Master.
  • Stephen Colbert as the voice of Starfleet Academy’s Digital Dean of Students The Emmy® winner (The Late Show With Stephen Colbert) will be heard as the faculty member who makes daily announcements – and issues alerts.
    
    
• Number of Episodes: Season 1 will have 10 episodes.
  
  
• Number of Seasons: A second season has already been green-lighted.
  
  
• Your Mission: Simply enjoy this new Star Trek series.
  

Now that the Comic Con 2025 events are over, all we can do now is await the showing of the new Star Trek series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, slated to premiere early next year. We can also rewatch the first look teaser trailer a few times.

So what can be shared about the new series? Startrek.com provided a helpful summary of the new crew members of the U.S.S. Athena, which will be the location of much of the action. You might also remember a few actors rejoining the series, including Robert Picardo as The Doctor and Tig Notaro as Jett Reno. Finally, Holly Hunter will be playing captain of the U.S.S. Athena while a new half-Klingon villian will be played by Paul Giamatti.

Another familiar face behind the series is Rod Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who is the executive producer on other familiar Star Trek series, including Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

And what is the setting for this new series? While earlier discussions about a Starfleet Academy series looked to an earlier era, this version is set in the 32nd century after some rough times for the Federation (see the Star Trek: Discovery series to understand that mess). Co-creator of the series Alex Kurtzman explained it in this way to the Los Angeles Times:

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 recognizing 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.

So this is really a show for the Gen Z viewers out there who need to put this world back on track. I can understand the desire to be relevant to a new generation, as Star Trek was when it came out in the confusing and troubling 1960s. Though whether or not one is part of Gen Z, I believe we can all take something away from the new series, as we have with all of those that preceded it.