Erick Crawler 
A dawn of a new future, a rousing speech from a Federation captain, a young squad of cadets mixing and mingling, multiple references to Deep Space Nine and Voyager… if the last few years of new Star Trek wasn’t for you, Starfleet Academy is working hard to win you back.
At Saturday’s epically sized Star Trek Universe panel out of the 2025 San Diego Comic-Con, Starfleet Academy co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau took to the stage to introduce the newest show to the slate. While a Muppet version of Strange New Worlds sounds like a hoot and a narrative podcast centered on Khan could successfully indulge the TOS nostalgia in a way that Star Trek Into Darkness could not, SDCC is always the most exciting when something fresh hits the stage. Starfleet Academy has been long anticipated since it was announced in 2023, and now we have our first look at the 2026 series, and a taste for what’s in store for season 1.
Set in the Star Trek: Discovery timeline of the 32nd century — deep breaths! — Starfleet Academy picks up after the Federation’s training program accepts a new class of cadets after a 120-year hiatus. Much like Saved by the Bell: The College Years, the school looks populated by young hot people who are both striving for success but are extremely hormonal, alien species be damned. The legendary Holly Hunter leads the cast as Nahla Ake, the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy and Captain of the U.S.S. Athena, “who also happens to be a long-lived half-Lanthanite,” according to Paramount (and who gives the big speech over the trailer). And none other than Paul Giamatti is popping up as the season’s villain Nus Braka, a part Klingon, part Tellarite do-badder “with an ominous past connected to one of our cadets.”
Who are the cadets? Here’s the official rundown of new recruits:
- Sandro Rosta as a human named Caleb Mir, “an orphan with a troubled past – and unlikely Starfleet cadet”
- Karim Diané as a Klingon named Jay-Den Kraag, a “cadet who dreams of becoming a medical officer”
- Kerrice Brooks as Series Acclimation Mil, a.k.a. Sam, “the first of her kind to ever attend Starfleet Academy”
- George Hawkins as a Khionian named Darem Reymi, “an aspiring captain from a wealthy home world”
- Bella Shepard as as Dar-sha named Genesis Lythe, “an admiral’s daughter determined to make her own name in Starfleet.”
The real joy here is watching the history of Trek collide in a new location. Some of it is blunt force fan-service: Robert Picardo is back as The Doctor from Voyager, while Tig Notaro reprises her role as Jett Reno from Discovery. But it’s the little things that made me yelp. “James T. Kirk Pavilion.” A wall of names of those key figures who have shaped Starfleet. A quiz on the life and times of one Benjamin Sisko.
A quick shot at the end also introduces a new character: Recurring guest star Gina Yashere as Commander Lura Thok, the chancellor’s First Officer and Cadet Master. Brace yourself: Lura is a Klingon-Jem’Hadar hybrid!
Let’s dwell on how that happened until Starfleet Academy premieres in “early 2026.”
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