Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

The series is set in the 32nd century, 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 (2017–2024). Starfleet Academy follows the first new class of Starfleet cadets in over a century as they come of age and train to be officers. They are taught aboard the USS Athena, a starship that docks at the Starfleet Academy campus in San Francisco but can also be deployed with the rest of the fleet. == Cast and characters ==

Main • Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake:The half-Lanthanite captain of the USS Athena and the chancellor of Starfleet Academy. • Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko • Tawny Newsome as Illa Dax, an instructor and the current host of the Dax symbiont. ==Episodes==

Background Ideas for a Star Trek production centering on cadets at Starfleet Academy have circulated for decades, taking two main forms: prequel origin stories of established characters, and spin‑offs with new protagonists. Writing The writers' room was based at Kurtzman's Secret Hideout offices in Santa Monica. The writers were expected to finish work by the end of 2023, but this was delayed by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. == Marketing ==

Kurtzman and Landau promoted the series during a "Star Trek Universe" panel at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 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 a different "Star Trek Universe" panel that October, at New York Comic Con (NYCC), and introduced a livestream from the set featuring Kurtzman, Rosta, Brooks, Shepard, Hawkins, Diané, and Steiner. They announced the second-season order and Maslany's casting. Picardo moderated another SDCC "Star Trek Universe" panel in July 2025, where Kurtzman, Landau, Hunter, Rosta, Diané, Brooks, Hawkins, and Shepard revealed character and story details. The first trailer was shown, before being released online. Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter said the producers would have to "work on building enthusiasm" for the series based on reactions to the trailer from fans at the panel, while his colleague James Hibberd said online responses to the trailer were divided. Another trailer was shown at an NYCC "Star Trek Universe" panel in October, where the series was promoted by Kurtzman, Landau, Hunter, Rosta, Diané, Brooks, Hawkins, Shepard, Steiner, and Giamatti. Hibberd and Gizmodo James Whitbrook both found that the second trailer put more emphasis on drama and intensity over the classroom and youth-focused elements seen in the first trailer. The website StarfleetAcademy.com was also launched at that time, allowing fans to sign up for updates and explore information about Starfleet Academy's campus, academics, and faculty. == Release ==

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy premiered on the streaming service Paramount+ on January 15, 2026, with its first two episodes. The other eight episodes of the first season were released weekly through March 12. On March 23, 2026, CBS and Paramount announced that the ten-episode second season in post-production would be the series' last. The ten-episode second season is expected to premiere in 2027. ==Reception==

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 85% of 62 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus for season 1 reads: "Injecting a heavy dose of hormones and humor into the Star Trek universe, Starfleet Academy marks a refreshing tonal shift that proves this franchise still has plenty of new thematic territory to explore." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 66 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. In January 2026, audience scores for the series on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb were review bombed after the release of the first two episodes. Forbes staff writer Conor Murray noted a user rating of 4.9 out of a possible 10 on IMDb on January 16, 2026, detailing anti-"woke" criticisms from Stephen Miller, End Wokeness and The Babylon Bee, and comparing the review bombing to that of Star Wars: The Acolyte in 2024. Following the announcement of the end of the series, William Shatner wrote on X, "I for one would love to see its continuity. It's with sorrow that I hear about the cancellation of the new Star Trek series." On April 7, 2026, the Critics Choice Association announced the series was to receive the Ensemble Award at the 3rd Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television, scheduled for May 29, 2026, honoring cast members Tig Notaro, Karim Diané, Gina Yashere, and Kerrice Brooks. == Tie-in media ==

A five-issue tie-in comic series titled Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact was announced by IDW Publishing in January 2026, with publication beginning in April 2026. The series follows the cadets from the television series and is written by Layne Morgan, with artwork by Coralí Espuña and Nora Serrano. == References ==