Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is not just an easy entry point for new and casual fans, according to legendary franchise director Jonathan Frakes. He spoke about the upcoming series this weekend at the Indiana Comic Convention, and he assured fans that there is plenty in this series for “hardcore” Trekkies to look forward to. Frakes also revealed that the series has finished filming, but it’s still not clear when it will premiere — or even whether it will be this year or next. As different as this series is, Frakes says it will build out the world we know in ways that are exciting to long-time fans and newcomers alike.
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“[Robert] Picardo’s in it, Tig Notaro’s in it,” Frakes said according to Collider, as the live audience cheered. “Right? I love Tig. But it has the most massive set of any Star Trek ever. There’s also a spaceship on the show, which I think, I hope that’s not a f—ing secret. I have been known — I’ve had a bad experience with oversharing, and I hope that wasn’t an overshare, but it’s fabulous. The sets are great. The scripts are—they’re funny, which is always helpful on Star Trek… It’s [aimed at] much more hardcore Star Trek fans.”
Frakes directed several episodes of Starfleet Academy, which was created by Gaia Violo and overseen by showrunneres Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau. The show is set in the 32nd century — far ahead of most Star Trek stories we’ve seen on screen, and contemporary with the furthest into the future we’ve gone so far on Star Trek: Discovery. The show is also unique because it is set on Earth, following the first new generation of Starfleet cadets to be trained in over a century. We’ll watch them study to become officers.
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The show starts with the United Federation of Planets trying to recover from a cataclysmic event that was already depicted in Discovery. The Federation needs to bolster Starfleet with new talent, but Picardo and Notaro will be familiar faces. Notaro played engineer Jett Reno on Discovery, while Picardo has The Doctor since Star Trek: Voyager. Holly Hunter joins the franchise as the contemporary chancellor of the Starfleet Academy, while Paul Giamatti plays a mysterious new villain.
Starfleet Academy wrapped filming just last month, but there’s no word yet on when it will premiere. A second season is already in development. You can stream most Star Trek titles now on Paramount+.
