2026 is already shaping up to be an exciting year for Trekkies as the Star Trek franchise continues to boldly go where no one has gone before. As the franchise celebrates its 60th anniversary throughout 2026 with fans looking ahead to plenty of new releases, from the anticipated return of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 later this year to games like Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown, the wait is nearly over for the newest series in the Star Trek franchise.
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On January 15th, the first two episodes of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy drop on Paramount+. The new series, created by Gaia Violo as the 12th Star Trek series and part of executive producer Alex Kurtzman’s expanded Star Trek Universe, marks a change of pace for the franchise, shifting focus from a captain and crew aboard a starship to the first new class of Starfleet cadets in over a century. As they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers, they must also deal with blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves, and a new enemy.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Is a Successful and Ambitious Addition to the Franchise
There are still a few days left before Star Trek: Starfleet Academy kicks off its debut season, but the show is already promising to be one of the best modern additions to the franchise. Starfleet Academy currently holds a “fresh” 86% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the highest-rated Star Trek TV shows of all time, even outranking Star Trek: Prodigy and the iconic original series, but it’s still too early for the series to gain an audience score.
The series has been lauded for successfully carving out its own identity as a hopeful, character-driven story for a new generation that successfully blends classic Star Trek ethos with modern YA storytelling. However, critics largely agree that it’s still too early to say if Starfleet Academy will maintain its strong, if not universally perfect, start. ComicBook gave the series a 3.5 out of 5, describing Starfleet Academy as “Star Trek: Hogwarts.” While the series “does well on both fronts” as “a YA ‘magical school’ story and something that’s recognizably Star Trek,” “it hasn’t yet earned its right to be called great.” San Francisco Chronicle’s Zaki Hasan wrote that “Star Trek endures because it keeps returning to the radical idea that hope is something you build patiently over time. Whether this series can live up to that legacy remains an open question, but it’s planting some of the right seeds.”
Will There Be a Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 2?
Star Trek fans won’t have to wait around on pins and needles waiting to learn the fate of Starfleet Academy. Trekkies can enjoy the show with the guarantee that there are more episodes in the future past Season 1. Well before the show’s debut, the series secured an early Season 2 renewal in October 2024. Production on Starfleet Academy Season 2 began in August 2025, so there hopefully won’t be too long of a wait after Season 1 wraps.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy kicks off its 10-episode debut season with two episodes on Paramount+ on January 15th. New episodes will then drop weekly on Thursdays at 3 a.m. ET leading into the Season 1 finale on March 12th.
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