Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Starts Production With First Cast Photos

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has officially started production, as marked by new photos shared from the set of this latest Star Trek Universe TV series. The Photos show the principal cast of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy outside “The Star Trek Stage” studio where Paramount shoots its Star Trek content; the second Photo reveals the cast and crew (like Star Trek Universe head Alex Kurtzman) gathered around for what looks like a table read. 

A caption on the photos reads: “School is in session, cadets! Today marks the official start of production as the #StarTrek Stage welcomes #StarfleetAcademy.”

As you can see in the comments on the post, there is some muted hype for Starfleet Academy, right now. A lot of Star Trek fans were hoping that hype for Star Trek: Picard’s third and final season would segue into a “Star Trek: Legacy” spinoff – which was admittedly teased by the ending of the Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Finale. The son of Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher and daughters of Geordi La Forge all came together and stepped up to help their parents (and the rest of the Enterprise-D crew) defeat the Borg and save Starfleet. That epic origin story looked like it would segue into a series following the next generation after Star Trek: TNG; instead, we’re getting the successor series to Star Trek: Discovery, which took things into the 32nd Century, and a time when the Federation’s presence was greatly diminished, after the cataclysmic event known as “The Burn” caused every active warp core to denoate. The Discovery crew helped solve the mystery of The Burn, and restore the values and mission of Starfleet – leading to a new generation of cadets being recruited for the interstellar organization. 

Synopsis: “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy introduces viewers to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself.”

The new series features Star Trek newcomers like Holly Hunter, playing a Starfleet captain serving as the current chancellor of Starfleet Academy, and Paul Giamatti as the season’s main villain. Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, and Zoë Steiner star as Starfleet Academy students, while Gina Yashere (Bob Hearts Abishola) will have a recurring role as an academy instructor. 

There will also be a number of legacy characters from previous Star Trek projects returning for Starfleet Academy – including actors Tig Notaro (Jett Reno), Oded Fehr (Fleet Admiral Charles Vance), and Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly) of Star Trek: Discovery and Robert Picardo (The Doctor/Lewis Zimmerman) of Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Prodigy

Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau are the showrunners of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, as well as serving as executive producers. Other executive producers working on the series include Gaia Violo, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa, and John Weber. Violo wrote Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s premiere episode.

Star Trek: Starfleet Acadeemy does not yet have a premiere date. It will stream on Paramount+.