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Just a decade ago, there wasn’t a single Star Trek show on the air, it’s safe to say that Gene Roddenberry’s long-running science fiction franchise is in the middle of a boom period, with the likes of Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds, Section 31, Prodigy, and Lower Decks all arriving on the small screen between 2017 and 2025.
The latest entry in the Alex Kurtzman-helmed franchise Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, swaps the bridge of a starship for the interior of a classroom, following a fledgling class of cadets as they train to become the next generation of Starfleet captains. Though Star Trek: Starfleet Academy shares many of the flaws that plague the other Kurtzman-led Trek shows, the series’ talented young cast and memorable new crop of characters make for a shaky if promising freshman year.
Created by Gaia Violo and co-showrun by Kurtzman and Noga Landau, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy follows Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) a centuries-old Lanthanite who resigned her commission out of guilt for her part in separating young Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta) from his mother (Tatiana Maslany) while following Starfleet orders. Though she’s channeled her residual guilt into a life as a teacher, Nahla is enticed back to serve as the Chancellor of the newly-reopened Starfleet Academy when she learns that Caleb (now a young man) is one of the cadets.
As Caleb struggles to acclimate to the rigidity of Starfleet life after growing up on the run/in and out of prison, Nahla navigates the muddy internal politics of Starfleet with the help of her first officer Lura Thok (Gina Yashere) and Discovery’s Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) as she strives to right the wrongs of her past and prove herself a worthy chancellor.
Since its inception, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has been described by its creators and marketed as a younger, sexier entry in the franchise: a teen drama in the vein of Gen V that follows a new group of interstellar heroes from the very beginning of their young journeys. It’s strange, then, that so much of Starfleet Academy’s series premiere is bogged down by flashbacks to the inciting incident that separated Caleb from his mother and eventually prompted Nahla to resign.
Certainly, understanding the simultaneous bond and tension between Caleb and Nahla is a necessary piece of what makes Starfleet Academy’s story so narratively compelling, but in frontloading the first episode with extended flashback sequences full of characters that are otherwise absent from the next five episodes wildly skews the tone and pacing of the premiere, much to the show’s ultimate detriment.
A large chunk of the strange tonal ping-ponging can be laid at the feet of Paul Giamatti’s Nus Braka, a crude, foul-mouthed criminal whose attempt to steal the USS Athena (with an underutilized bridge crew including WWE wrestler Becky Lynch) is what led to Captain Ake separating Caleb from his mother. With a tic-tac-toe board shaved into the side of his head and rings on every finger, Braka is a broad, obnoxious character whose style eccentricities and propensity for violence are reminiscent of countless other forgettable psychopathic baddies in Kurtzman’s Trek universe.
Between Kurtzman’s direction, Violo’s script, and Giamatti’s hammed-up performance, the opening moments of Starfleet Academy are strangely emotionally ineffectual when they should be devastating – instead of feeling the loss of Caleb’s mother, the viewer is left baffled by the choices being made by Giamatti and Hunter in their many cat-and-mouse-like exchanges.
The context of the Braka/Caleb/Ake dynamic is important, yes, but when the episode spends more time with Braka than most of the Cadets (the show’s actual protagonists), the entire series feels aimless and lacking in a crucial early establishment of thematic and tonal identity. Thankfully, though, Braka is sparsely used in episodes 2-5, giving the series (and Hunter herself) much-needed breathing room to establish its actual tone and uncover the playful, often mischievous side to Ake that’s almost entirely absent from the series premiere.
Hunter’s performance only becomes more charming and lived-in as the series progresses and Ake’s bonds with the cadets continue to deepen: especially when playing opposite the sullen, self-serious Caleb, her chaotic sense of humor shines through, positioning Ake as a dual parental/leader figure a-la Captain Sisko, with a hint of the wise-beyond-her-apparent-years charm that made Jadzia Dax such a beloved part of Deep Space Nine.
But, just as opening on the Braka flashback tints the overall tone of the series premiere, the viewer’s impression of Ake too is tainted: it’s difficult to truly buy the whimsy she seems to move through the world with (Chancellor Ake often can’t be bothered to wear shoes or sit in the Captain’s chair properly) when our first introduction to Ake was her cold-hearted separation of a mother and child.
Ake’s strange narrative positioning undercuts the kindly, almost maternal figure she blossoms into once season one of Starfleet Academy begins to truly hit its stride (around episode 3), but the further the series distances itself from the Braka storyline, the more Hunter’s natural charisma and chemistry with the show’s young cast truly shines. But it isn’t just Chancellor Ake guiding the minds of Starfleet’s best and brightest: familiar faces from across the Trek universe, including Discovery’s Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) and Voyager’s EMH Doctor (Robert Picardo), return to teach as professors at the Academy.
But a classroom is only as vibrant as its students, and this crop of Cadets includes an intriguing assortment of characters from various planets, species, and backgrounds, though some characters are allotted decidedly more screentime than others. Early standouts from season one include Kerrice Brooks as Series Acclimation Mil (SAM, for short), Starfleet’s first-ever photonic (ie, holographic) cadet. Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and perpetually eager to make new friends, Brooks brings an infectious warmth to Sam that makes her a welcome fixture in any scene, especially opposite her perpetually angsy peers like Caleb.
Karim Diane also shines as Jay-Den Kraag, the Academy’s only Klingon cadet and a pacifist who has dedicated himself to the pursuit of medicine, not combat. Whether navigating his anxieties with public speaking or chafing against Klingon cultural norms, Jay-Den delightfully subverts viewer expectations and proves one of Starfleet Academy’s most memorable characters, with episode 4 standing out as a particular highlight for not just Diane but the entirety of the young ensemble.
As for the unwilling hero at the center of it all, Sandro Rosta’s Caleb is an unfortunately milk toast hero, who is painted in broad, broody strokes and complete with a token tragic backstory (lampshaded in the script on several occasions), an inability to open up emotionally, and plenty of hulking muscles. Though Rosta flounders in the early emotional moments of the premiere, he too finds his footing as the series progresses, especially when playing off warmer scene partners like Hunter’s Ake or Zoë Steiner as Tarima, a charming Betazoid Cadet whose blossoming romance with Caleb is thwarted by the fact that she attends the Academy’s rival school, the War College.
Love interests at rival schools, campus prank wars, tryouts for varsity sports, after-class electives: these are the kinds of things the cadets are juggling in-between learning how to save the universe, and Starfleet Academy is undeniably at its best when it’s relishing and reveling in the joy and nostalgia of the collegiate experience and letting its young ensemble cast’s tangible chemistry shine through.
Though Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is undeniably bogged down by many of the unfortunately familiar habits that plague a number of other recent Trek projects (tone issues, lackluster direction, inconsistent scripts, and glib, vaguely-motivated villains), the series boasts an undeniable solid framework that (given the time to grow and faith in its characters) could blossom into a singular entry in the Star Trek universe.
Grade: C
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Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
A young group of cadets come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they will 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.
Release Date: January 15, 2026
Director: Alex Kurtzman Noga Landau
Cast: Holly Hunter , Sandro Rosta , Karim Diane
