“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” the newest series in the nearly 60-year-old franchise, warped into San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday with an introduction of its full cast and the first trailer for the show, which will debut in early 2026.
The series takes place in the 32nd century after the events of “Star Trek: Discovery,” with Starfleet relaunching the titular educational institution outside of San Francisco after the Federation’s absence on Earth for more than 120 years.
“We look at the generation now that is inheriting all of this division and all these major issues,” executive producer Alex Kurtzman said on the Hall H stage. “We wanted to create a show that anchored us back to [Gene] Rodneyberry’s essential vision of hope. How do you find it, how do you rebuild it?”
Oscar-winner Holly Hunter plays Nahla Ake, the school’s chancellor and the captain of the USS Athena; she greets the new class of cadets in the teaser, as it cuts to the cast exploring various parts of the campus. “It was really interesting to get the offer to be the captain, but then also to combine that with being the chancellor,” Hunter said on the stage. “The captain is there to analyze in emergency situations, and then to delegate. And the chancellor is there to guide, to collaborate and to have tremendous empathy. It was just a wonderful combination of things.”
The teaser ends with a shot of Paul Giamatti as the season’s main villain, Nus Braka, who is part-Klingon, part-Tellarite and is described in a Paramount release as “a man with an ominous past connected to one of our cadets.”
The main cadets on the show were revealed as:
• Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta), “an orphan with a troubled past, and unlikely Starfleet cadet.” Rosta said that Caleb is “disillusioned” with Starfleet, but his journey to find his mother brings him into Starfleet Academy due to his connection to Nahla. “You’re going to be entering a Starfleet through the eyes of Caleb, who is an outsider,” he said.
• Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané), “a Klingon cadet who dreams of becoming a medical officer.” Diané said at first it took him five hours a day to put on the prosthetics to play the character, which was ultimately cut down to two hours by the end of the first season. He reached out to “Trek” alumni Michael Dorn (Worf on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”) and Doug Jones (Saru on “Discovery”) for advice on performing with so much makeup. “I just had so much support from everyone around me that made this process really seamless,” he said.
• Series Acclimation Mil (Kerrice Brooks), aka Sam, “the first of her kind to ever attend Starfleet Academy.” In the panel, Brooks — who was overcome with tears after seeing the trailer for the first time — explained that Sam is Kasqian, which is apparently another name for a hologram. “She was literally only created, like, weeks ago,” she said. “She brings absolutely no baggage. She brings such a freshness and a levity to so many things.”
• Darem Reymi (George Hawkins), “an aspiring captain from a wealthy home world.” “He comes from status and he comes from a lot of expectation,” Hawkins said on stage. “So when he comes to the Academy and he meets cadets like this, he wants to run them over, he wants to compete, and he wants to be the best.”
• Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard),” an admiral’s daughter determined to make her own name in Starfleet.” Shepard said she was a Dar-Sha, “a brand new species that no one’s ever seen before,” which was particularly exciting for her as a lifelong “Trek” fan.
Other new characters include Tarima Sadal (Zoë Steiner), “a Betazoid and daughter of the president of Betazed” and Commander Lura Thok (recurring guest star Gina Yashere), “a Klingon/Jem’Hadar hybrid who is the chancellor’s First Officer and Cadet Master.” Picardo is recurring his “Star Trek: Voyager” character the Doctor, and Tig Notaro and Oded Fehr are reprising their “Discovery” roles of Jett Reno and Admiral Vance, respectively.
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