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The idea of a show set around Starfleet’s own university body, Starfleet Academy, has been around for ages, but now we’re finally getting one—and it’s set in Star Trek‘s current farthest future, to boot. Now that future’s getting a little closer, and Paramount’s giving that new series some extra runway.
During today’s Star Trek Universe panel at New York Comic-Con, the streamer revealed it’s already renewed Star Trek: Starfleet Academy for another season. Set during the 32nd century (and presumably after the initial events of Star Trek: Discovery‘s series finale earlier this year), the show will follow a new cast of bright young hopefuls as they become members of the first new class of students accepted at Starfleet Academy in years, after a period of crisis that Discovery found itself warped into during its own third season.
The show, developed by Trek architect Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau, will star Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, and Zoë Steiner as just some of the several Academy students that will appear in the series, which will also star Holly Hunter as the Academy’s chancellor and feature Paul Giamatti as a mysterious villainous figure. But they’ll have some familiar faces joining them too: from Discovery, Tig Notaro will reprise her role as the blunt engineer Jet Reno as a series regular, while Mary Wiseman and Oded Fehr will appear in guest capacities as Lieutenant Tilly and Admiral Vance, respectively. But there’s also a wholly new addition to the cast: as revealed during the panel, She-Hulk’s Tatiana Maslany will appear.
In an interesting twist, it’s not just Discovery regulars who are making a comeback. Robert Picardo, who played Star Trek: Voyager‘s iconic Doctor—aka the Emergency Medical Hologram that became the ship’s key medical officer when it was stranded in the Delta Quadrant at the start of the show—will also appear as a series regular. Just whether or not he’s the latest incarnation of the EMH technology of the 32nd century or if he’s an incredibly long-lasting version of the acerbic Voyager Doctor we all know and love remains to be seen.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set to begin streaming on Paramount+ some time in 2025, marking itself as the first brand-new Star Trek series to launch on the platform since Star Trek: Strange New Worlds began in 2022, and after the conclusion of several high-profile parts of the Trek streaming portfolio have come to an end in recent times. Picard and Discovery both came to their ends in 2023 and 2024, respectively, while Star Trek: Lower Decks is set to begin its final season later this month.
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