Where Star Trek’s New Starfleet Academy Series Fits Into the Timeline

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy introduces a whole new generation of heroes – and it’s set in a distant timeline we’re still learning more about. The Star Trek timeline is a wonderful thing, exploring a future in which the Human race has fulfilled its potential as part of the United Federation of Planets. The Star Trek franchise is now celebrating its 60th anniversary, and there’s a sense in which Gaia Violo and Alex Kurtzman’s Starfleet Academy is a homage to that entire history. Starfleet Academy was first mentioned 60 years ago, and we finally have a series.

You could technically set Starfleet Academy at any point in the timeline. It was already well-established by the time of James T. Kirk (explaining why it was mentioned in The Original Series), and The Next Generation added to its legend with Jean-Luc Picard’s reminiscences. But the Starfleet Academy series is in a much-less familiar (although much more recent) part of the timeline, spinning out of Star Trek: Discovery.

Starfleet Academy is as Far Forward in the Timeline as We’ve Ever Gone

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set in the year 3191, the same year as Discovery Season 5. This is a distant part of the timeline even in Star Trek terms; the USS Discovery jumped there at the end of Season 3 as a result of time travel, stumbling upon a time period in which the Federation had dwindled after a galactic disaster known as the Burn. The crew of the Discovery uncovered the truth about the Burn, and in doing so were able to guarantee it wouldn’t happen again; now, space travel has resumed, and the Federation is re-establishing itself. Starfleet Academy is a key part of that.

The Federation was already in the process of setting up Starfleet Academy as early as Discovery Season 4, and there was some interest in getting Discovery crew to act as instructors. That explains why the cast of Starfleet Academy includes some returning characters from Discovery, notably Mary Wiseman’s Sylvia Tilly and Tig Notaro’s Jett Reno. Earth itself has only recently rejoined the Federation less than a year ago, which explains why the Academy is only just reopening in San Francisco.

What Starfleet Academy’s Place in the Timeline Means for the Stars

This is a pretty unique setting for Starfleet Academy, in that the central institution must boldly reinvent itself for a dangerous galaxy. The Federation is still struggling to get back on its feet, eager to recruit new members, and there will no doubt be a lot of pressure on the first generation of cadets. Those cadets are united by the common heritage of having lived in a post-Burn timeline, meaning they grew up in the shadow of galactic catastrophe and will no doubt find the ideals of the Federation difficult to live up to.

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