Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Gets A Very CW-Looking Poster

Star Trek 90210? Hey, at least the first clip looks good.

I am not sold on the first poster for Paramount‘s upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series, which looks like it’s promoting something that would have been lucky to last two seasons on the CW network back in the day:

…just not a lot there that says Star Trek to me. Not feeling it.

But I am feeling the first clip that just dropped. Not a trailer, mind you, but a full five minute sequence that features, among many other delights, acting powerhouse Holly Hunter commanding a starship, plus beloved character actor Paul Giamatti clearly having the time of his life slathered in latex as an alien space pirate. Check it out:

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Clip

What’s the plot?

Set shortly after the events of Star Trek: Discovery – which I noped out of a couple seasons in, so you’re on your own, Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy follows the first class of the brand spankin’ new *points to title*. Why brand spankin’ new? Because some weird galactic catastrophe destroyed all the dilithium (spaceship fuel to non-nerds) and so the Federation is slowly clawing its way out of the resulting chaos and trying to put the Quadrant back on an even keel. Which is a pretty good premise, all things considered.

Who’s in it?

• Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake, the half-Lanthanite captain of the USS Athena and the chancellor of Starfleet Academy.
• Sandro Rosta as Caleb Mir, an orphan who joins the academy as part of a journey to find his mother.
• Karim Diané as Jay-Den Kraag, a Klingon cadet and aspiring medical officer.
• Kerrice Brooks as Sam, the first Kasqian to attend Starfleet Academy. Kasqians are a sort of hologram-based lifeform, apparently, so that’s interesting.
• George Hawkins as rich kid Darem Reymi, a Khionian cadet and aspiring captain.
• Bella Shepard as Genesis Lythe, a Dar-Sha cadet.
• Zoë Steiner as Tarima Sadal, the daughter of the president of Betazed.
• Robert Picardo as the Doctor – and yes, it’s the Doctor from Voyager, still bumming around the galaxy centuries later.
• Tig Notaro as Jett Reno, the engineer on the USS Discovery.
• Oded Fehr as Charles Vance, the commander-in-chief of Starfleet.
• And though it’s just a recurring role, the great Paul Giamatti as Nus Braka, a part-Klingon, part-Tellarite space pirate. He’s just having so much fun.

When’s it out?

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy hits Paramount+ on January 15, 2026.

What’s the vibe?

Cautiously – very cautiously – optimistic. The official site is very cute, though.