Director Jonathan Frakes reveals new details about the upcomingStar Trek: Starfleet Academy. Set in the 32nd century, the Paramount+ series follows a new generation of Starfleet cadets as they train at the legendary Academy for the first time in over a century. Unlike previousTrekseries, this show will primarily take place on Earth. The cast is a mix of veteranTrekactors and newcomers, with Holly Hunter playing the Academy’s chancellor and Paul Giamatti cast as a recurring villain.Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s castalso features franchise stars Oded Fehr, Tig Notaro, Robert Picardo, and Mary Wiseman.
During a Star Trek panel hosted byColliderat the Indiana Comic Convention,Frakes confirmed thatStarfleet Academyhad completed filming and assured that it will resonate with longtime fans.Frakes, who is set to direct several episodes of the series, also revealed thatStarfleet Academyhas an impressive set design, including a gigantic spaceship. Read what he had to say below:
[Robert] Picardo’s in it, Tig Notaro’s in it. [Audience cheers] Right? I love Tig. Butit has the most massive set of any Star Trek ever. There’s also a spaceship on the show, which I think, I hope that’s not a fucking secret. I have been known—I’ve had a bad experience with oversharing, and I hope that wasn’t an overshare, but it’s fabulous. The sets are great. The scripts are—they’re funny, which is always helpful on Star Trek… It’s [aimed at] much morehardcore Star Trek fans.
What This Means For Starfleet Academy
New Faces, Familiar Legends, And Starfleet’s Next Era
Moving away from deep-space exploration for the first time ever,Star Trek: Starfleet Academycenters on a new group of young cadets, including fresh faces George Hawkins (Gassed Up) and Bella Shepard (Wolf Pack), as they train to become the future leaders of Starfleet on Earth. However, some galactic-traveling is bound to happen with a gigantic"spaceship on the show." While details about the story remain scarce,the cadets will likely have to face complex moral dilemmas as they attempt to reunify Starfleet’s utopian idealsamid the political instability ofStar Trek’s 32nd century.
The Academy is set to become a battleground for major ideological conflicts within theStar Trekuniverse, andseveral beloved characters will be returning to uphold Starfleet’s continuity in the franchise. Fehr is set to reprise his role as Admiral Charles Vance fromDiscovery, alongsideDiscoveryalums Notaro as Jett Reno and Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly. In a surprising franchise return, Picardo will once againportray The Doctor, a holographic physician from the 1995 seriesStar Trek: Voyager.
Although filming wrapped in February 2025,no official release date has been announced. Frakes is directing the upcoming series alongside longtimeStar Trekcreators Alex Kurtzman and Olatunde Osunsanmi. Frakes, famous for playingWilliam Riker inStar Trek: The Next Generation, has an extensive directing history within the franchise, including episodes ofThe Next Generation,Deep Space Nine,Voyager,Discovery,Strange New Worlds, andPicard, as well as the filmsStar Trek: First ContactandStar Trek: Insurrection.
Our Take On Starfleet Academy’s Fan Fare
A New Frontier For The Franchise
Star Trek: Starfleet Academyarrives at a time whenthe franchise is scaling back after years of consistent television output. Since 2020, at least threeStar Trekseries have aired annually on Paramount+ (with Netflix picking up international distribution in 2024). However, in 2025, the only confirmed series is the highly-anticipatedStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3—unlessStarfleet Academypremieres late in the year.
Like every newTrekseries since the award-winning 1987 showThe Next Generation,Starfleet Academywill likely be met with skepticism from some fans, especially as a spinoff ofDiscovery, which itself had a divisive reception. No matter its quality,it will take time to win over doubters. However, with the return of franchise veterans in front of and behind the camera,Starfleet Academymay help define the next phase ofStar Trekstorytelling.
