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Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
Genre	Drama Science fiction
Created by	Gaia Violo
Based on	Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry
Showrunners	Alex Kurtzman Noga Landau
Starring	Holly Hunter Kerrice Brooks Bella Shepard George Hawkins Karim Diané Zoë Steiner Tig Notaro Robert Picardo Sandro Rosta
Composer	Jeff Russo
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Alex Kurtzman Noga Landau Gaia Violo Aaron Baiers Olatunde Osunsanmi Jenny Lumet Rod Roddenberry Trevor Roth Frank Siracusa John Weber
Production location	Toronto, Canada
Production companies	Secret Hideout Roddenberry Entertainment CBS Studios
Original release
Network	Paramount+
Related
Star Trek TV series

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is an upcoming American television series created by Gaia Violo for the streaming service Paramount+. It is intended to be the 12th Star Trek series and part of executive producer Alex Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe. Set in the 32nd century, it follows the first new class of Starfleet cadets in over a century as they come of age and train to be officers.

Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, Zoë Steiner, and Sandro Rosta portray the Starfleet Academy cadets, starring alongside Holly Hunter, Tig Notaro, and Robert Picardo. Versions of a Starfleet Academy-based series were in development for several years before it received an official series order in March 2023, with Kurtzman and Noga Landau as showrunners. Production began in August 2024 at Pinewood Toronto Studios in Toronto, Canada.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is expected to be released on the streaming service Paramount+ in 2025 or 2026 and consist of 10 episodes. A second season is in development.

Premise

The series is set in the 32nd century, a time period in the far-future of the Star Trek franchise where Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets are recovering from a cataclysmic event, as depicted in Star Trek: Discovery. Starfleet Academy follows the first new class of Starfleet cadets in over a century as they come of age and train to be officers.

Cast and characters

Main

• Holly Hunter as the captain and chancellor of Starfleet Academy
• Kerrice Brooks as a Starfleet Academy cadet
• Bella Shepard as a Starfleet Academy cadet
• George Hawkins as a Starfleet Academy cadet
• Karim Diané as a Starfleet Academy cadet
• Zoë Steiner as a Starfleet Academy cadet
• Tig Notaro as Jett Reno: An engineer on the USS Discovery
• Robert Picardo as the Doctor: An Emergency Medical Hologram on the USS Voyager
• Sandro Rosta as a Starfleet Academy cadet

Recurring

• Paul Giamatti as someone with a dark past who is connected to one of the cadets
• Gina Yashere as a Starfleet Academy instructor
• Tatiana Maslany

Guest

• Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly: An instructor at Starfleet Academy who served on the USS Discovery
• Oded Fehr as Charles Vance: An admiral and the commander-in-chief of Starfleet

Episodes

Kurtzman is also directing the second episode, and Olatunde Osunsanmi is directing for the season.

Production

Development

In June 2018, after becoming sole showrunner of the series Star Trek: Discovery, Alex Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with CBS Television Studios to expand the Star Trek franchise beyond Discovery to several new series, miniseries, and animated series. One series that was being planned as part of this deal was a "younger-skewing" project set at Starfleet Academy. It was being developed by Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz, who were known for creating other young adult-focused television series. The project was still in development in January 2020, but production was not expected to begin until 2021 at the earliest. In February 2021, Kurtzman said a new series was unlikely to be added to streaming service Paramount+'s slate of Star Trek Universe series until one of the existing five series came to an end, but development on the Starfleet Academy series was re-confirmed in August, and a month later Kurtzman gave it as a specific example of a future Star Trek series that he was excited to make and that he had seen "a lot of conversations" about.

Kurtzman said in February 2022 that his team were planning Star Trek projects that would be released two or three years later, including Star Trek: Section 31 and a new series that he did not want to give details about. Soon after, a new version of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was reported to be in development with writer Gaia Violo. It was expected to be pitched to Paramount+ shortly, with production planned to begin within a year as the next Star Trek series after Section 31. In May, Kurtzman confirmed that Section 31 and Starfleet Academy were the two projects in development that he and his team were focusing on. That December, Kevin and Dan Hageman said they changed plans for their animated series Star Trek: Prodigy, which would have originally shown its young protagonists joining Starfleet Academy, in part to avoid covering the same ground as this series.

In March 2023, after revealing that Discovery would be ending with its fifth season in 2024, Paramount+ announced that Star Trek: Starfleet Academy had been ordered to series. Kurtzman and Noga Landau were set as showrunners and executive producers alongside Violo, Aaron Baiers, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa, and John Weber. Olatunde Osunsanmi returned from Discovery as producing director and was added as another executive producer by August 2024. The first season has 10 episodes. Kurtzman announced in October 2024 that a second season of the series had been ordered.

Writing

The writers' room was based at Kurtzman's Secret Hideout offices in Santa Monica. By the time of the series' official announcement, Violo had written the first episode, and Tawny Newsome had been hired as a writer. Newsome, who voices Beckett Mariner on the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks, is the first Star Trek actor to be hired for a staff writing position on a Star Trek series. Kurtzman approached Newsome about joining the series after being impressed with her improvisation skills during filming of the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds crossover episode "Those Old Scientists". The writers were expected to finish work on the series by the end of 2023, but this was delayed by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. They returned to work in mid-October after the strike ended in late September, and were halfway through the first season by March 2024.

The series is set in the 32nd century, the far-future era of the Star Trek franchise that was introduced in Discovery. It follows the first new class of Starfleet cadets in over a century as they come of age and train to be officers. Kurtzman felt the characters in the series, who are a new generation of Starfleet operatives that are inheriting "massive, massive challenges", were relatable to the "generation now" who would be watching the series. Newsome also said the series was aimed at a younger generation than past live-action Star Trek series, but added that there were writers on staff who were "real canon hound dogs" and wanted to ensure that the series remain true to the franchise for long-time fans. In addition to serving as a metaphor for real world challenges, the 32nd century setting gave the writers some freedom from the existing Star Trek canon and helped them introduce new young fans to the franchise without needing to know the details of past Star Trek series. Kurtzman encouraged the writers to ground the series in science and have the main characters use science to solve their problems. The series has a new format for the franchise which Kurtzman described as "kind of a hybrid format".

Casting

In the fourth season of Discovery, Mary Wiseman's Sylvia Tilly becomes a teacher at Starfleet Academy. This storyline led to speculation about whether Wiseman would be reprising her role in Starfleet Academy. There was also speculation about other Discovery stars making guest appearances in the series. In March 2024, Kurtzman said casting for the cadets was yet to begin but some of the series' adult roles had been filled already. Later that month, Doug Jones expressed interest in reprising his Discovery role of Saru as a "guest speaker" at Starfleet Academy, but said he had not been contacted about the series.

Holly Hunter was revealed in May 2024 to be cast as the chancellor of Starfleet Academy, which was described as a lead role. The character was written with Hunter in mind, but the writers did not expect her to be interested and were surprised when she "signed on right away". Paul Giamatti was cast in the recurring guest role of the first season's main villain in June. Kurtzman approached Giamatti about joining the series after the actor expressed his love for Star Trek and wish to portray a Klingon while promoting his film The Holdovers (2023). Giamatti was excited to be cast and was given his choice of guest roles in the season. Kurtzman was surprised when the actor chose to portray the main villain, assuming that he would only want a one-episode role due to his busy schedule. Further casting was announced in July: Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, and Zoë Steiner were set to star as cadets; Gina Yashere was added in the recurring role of an instructor; Tig Notaro and Robert Picardo were announced to also be starring, reprising their respective roles of Jett Reno from Discovery and the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager; and Wiseman was confirmed to be returning as Tilly in a guest role alongside Discovery's Oded Fehr as Admiral Charles Vance. Sandro Rosta was cast as another cadet in August, and Tatiana Maslany was revealed that October to have a recurring guest role in the first season.

Design

Matthew Davies was working as production designer for the series by March 2024. The set for the atrium of Starfleet Academy is the largest ever built for a Star Trek series and fills the biggest soundstage in Canada, which is 45,900 square feet (4,260 m). The atrium set is two stories and features a mess hall, amphitheater, multiple classrooms, catwalks, trees, and a view of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.

Filming

Filming was expected to begin in early 2024, before production on the series was delayed by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. In March 2024, Kurtzman said filming would begin later that year, at Pinewood Toronto Studios in Toronto, Canada, where Discovery and Section 31 were filmed. Kurtzman is directing the first two episodes of the series. Frequent Star Trek director Jonathan Frakes was asked to direct an episode, but the schedule clashed with his son's wedding. Frakes expressed interest in directing an episode of a potential second season. Filming began on August 26, 2024, with location filming that week taking place in the Uptown area of Waterloo, Ontario, under the working title Ivory Tower. Kurtzman was still filming his episodes in late October. Osunsanmi will also direct for the first season.

Marketing

Kurtzman and Landau promoted the series during a "Star Trek Universe" panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024, where cast members returning from previous Star Trek series were announced. They released a video during the panel which shows the young cadet actors learning that they had been cast in the series. Picardo made a surprise appearance at another "Star Trek Universe" panel that October, at New York Comic Con, and introduced a livestream from the series' set featuring Kurtzman, Rosta, Brooks, Shepard, Hawkins, Diané, and Steiner. They announced the second-season order and Maslany's casting.

Release

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is expected to premiere in 2025 or 2026 on the streaming service Paramount+. The first season consists of 10 episodes.

References

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External links

• Star Trek: Starfleet Academy at IMDb

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Outline Timeline Canon Lists
Television series	Broadcast The Original Series episodes The Animated Series The Next Generation episodes Deep Space Nine episodes Voyager episodes Enterprise episodes Streaming Discovery episodes Short Treks Picard Lower Decks Prodigy Strange New Worlds Starfleet Academy
Films	The Original Series The Motion Picture The Wrath of Khan The Search for Spock The Voyage Home The Final Frontier The Undiscovered Country The Next Generation Generations First Contact Insurrection Nemesis Reboot (Kelvin Timeline) Star Trek Into Darkness Beyond Television Section 31
Setting	Characters A–F G–M N–S T–Z Crossovers Concepts Games Kobayashi Maru Law Prime Directive Materials Dilithium Sexuality Stardate Locations Class M planet Galactic quadrant Mirror Universe Cultures and species Andorian Bajoran Borg Breen Cardassian Dominion Ferengi Rules of Acquisition Gorn Kazon Klingon High Council culture language grammar Maquis Orion Q Romulan Species 8472 United Federation of Planets Starfleet Academy Section 31 Tribble Vidiians Vulcan nerve pinch salute Xindi Technology Cloaking device Communicator Deflector shields Holodeck Hypospray Impulse drive Jefferies tube LCARS Medicine Replicator Spacecraft Deep Space Nine Defiant Earth Spacedock Enterprise NX-01 NCC-1701 A D E Klingon starships Shuttlecraft Voyager Transporter Tricorder Uniforms Warp drive Weapons Bat'leth
Production	List of staff Gene Roddenberry Norway Corporation Composers and music musical theme "Where no man has gone before" "Beam me up, Scotty" Redshirt Accolades (film franchise)
Unmade projects	The God Thing Planet of the Titans Phase II Star Trek 4
Spin-off fiction	Games Comics Novels Reference books Stage A Klingon Christmas Carol Klingon opera Very Short Treks
Aftershows	After Trek The Ready Room
Documentaries	Trekkies Mind Meld Trekkies 2 How William Shatner Changed the World Beyond the Final Frontier The Captains Trek Nation For the Love of Spock What We Left Behind
Cultural influence	First Contact Day Star Trek Day Kirk and Uhura's kiss Comparison to Star Wars Fandom productions Kirk/Spock Memory Alpha Shakespeare and Star Trek The Exhibition The Experience "The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise" (1976 SNL sketch) Free Enterprise (1999 film) Galaxy Quest (1999 film) "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (2002 Futurama episode) The Orville (2017 television series) Please Stand By (2017 film) "USS Callister" (2017 Black Mirror episode)
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