Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Casts Gina Yashere

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has added Gina Yashere to its cast as a recurring guest star playing the role of a Starfleet Academy instructor. Yashere is an actor, writer, and comedian who created the CBS series Bob Hearts Abishola. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the upcoming series following the adventures of a new class of Starfleet cadets coming of age at one of the galaxy’s most storied institutions. CBS Studios produces the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which begins production this summer. Yashere joins previously announced cast members Holly Hunter as a Starfleet captain serving as the current chancellor of Starfleet Academy, Paul Giamatti as the first season’s villain, and Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, and Zoë Steiner as Starfleet Academy students.

According to the series’ official 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.”

What is Star Trek: Starfleet Academy?

Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau are Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s co-showrunners and 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.

CBS Studios produces Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, working with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Paramount Global Content Distribution will distribute the series. 

The casting news comes ahead of Paramount+’s Star Trek panel in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the newest project to join Paramount+’s Star Trek offerings. Star Trek: Discovery debuted its fifth and final season earlier this year. Star Trek: Lower Decks will have its final season later this year. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 is currently in the works with Season 4 on the horizon. Star Trek: Section 31 starring Michelle Yeoh, Paramount+’s first original Star Trek movie, wrapped filming earlier this year. Ahead of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5’s premiere, ComicBook asked Kurtzman about Star Trek’s future.

“I spent a lot of time that first season [of Discovery] really kind of meditating on, you know, this incredible universe that has been around for so long and how much more can be done with it, how many amazing stories there are to tell. There’s really an infinite number of stories to tell. I only want to make another Star Trek show if there’s something to say. I don’t wanna do it just to do more. I think that would be a huge disservice to Star Trek; it would be a huge disservice to the fans, and I think the fans would feel it instantaneously. They would know this is not authentic. Because if there’s one thing that Trek fans know, it’s authenticity.”

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy does not yet have a release window. Fans may get new information about the series during Star Trek’s panel in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday.