Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

The Star Trek franchise has been in a stage of major growth over the last few years, leveraging the Paramount+ streaming service to bring on a whole host of new stories into this world. And now we have another one on the way. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is confirmed to be in development with some familiar faces taking up the challenge.

In an effort to appeal to younger audiences, and bring on a new generation of viewers to the franchise, Star Trek has been working at warp speed in recent years to pay homage to characters and stories of the past while also keeping an eye to the future. It’s one of the things that’s kept this franchise in the collective conversation going on six decades now.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set up to be the next installment in this push, a show geared towards a slightly different demographic than we’ve seen from the franchise in some time.

Let’s take a look at everything we know about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and what to expect from this new series. 

The Series Will Follow Cadets At Starfleet Academy

The new Star Trek series will take its location and premise from the titular place itself, the vaunted Starfleet Academy. According to the initial notes about the series, the show is set to follow the adventures of an incoming class for cadets who are vying to be part of the Starfleet as their future endeavors.

Check out the Tweet Star Trek sent out describing the new series, this in the form of an open recruitment advertisement for the Starfleet itself.

The call describes what the Starfleet is looking for in its cadets and future recruits, setting up a show about just what it takes to be part of this elite group.

The Starfleet motto, “Ex astris, scientia” translates to  “From the stars, knowledge,” and there will likely be an academic focus here, detailing the exact processes necessary to be eventually helm pr work on an actual ship.

The series will focus on a group of teenagers who are vying to be part of Starfleet, in training at the academy. Though the Academy itself has been referenced and visited plenty in the course of the different series and many movies, a full production focused solely on the place and its machinations hasn’t been done yet. Most notably, Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk got his start there in Star Trek, but that’s about as long of a look as we’ve gotten for this particular place.

There have been plans in place for a similar series in the past, but it never came to fruition. In this way, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is a new venture for the franchise.

While the specific plot points and details of the series aren’t known at this point, there is word that not only will the show follow the incoming cadets and the staff, but there will also be forces that threaten both the Academy and the Federation.

In this way, it appears Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will be grounded in the school itself but will deal with the larger franchise world at the same time.

The Series Will Be Geared Towards A Younger Audience

This has been a goal of the Star Trek franchise in recent years, focusing on attracting a new generation of fans to the stories in this world. They’ve taken a few different avenues to make this possible.

Most notably, the series Star Trek: Prodigy is an animated show that deals with a rag-tag group of teens and pre-teens who stumbled on a Starfleet ship. They end up commandeering it, having to learn the ins and outs of the ship and, by proxy, the nuances of the franchise itself. The show has been a hit and is entering its second season. 

This push to bring in new viewers of a different demographic has been a core strategy for Star Trek in recent years now that they have the different platforms to make it happen. In addition to the Paramount channel, there is Paramount+ and also Nickleodeon which is where Prodigy streams as well. 

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is clearly a play towards the teenage and above crowd, focusing on the school and students itself. Putting the specific age of the recruits right there in the messaging wasn’t an accident either, adding context around just who will be coming to this school.

Alex Kurtzman Is Showrunner Along With Noga Landau

For Star Trek fans, it should come as no surprise that Alex Kurtzman leading this new series. He’s been in charge of basically all Star Trek series projects in recent years, helming much of what the franchise is doing on a larger scale. 

He’s been on as executive producer and writer for series like Star Trek: Picard, Discovery, and Strange New Worlds. This will be the case with Starfleet Academy as well, though it’s unclear if he will be directing any of the episodes.

Along with Kurtzman, Noga Landau is also on as co-showrunner and this will be her first credited work in the Star Trek universe. Previously, Landau has worked on series like Nancy Drew which she developed as well as The Magicians. She’s also set to helm the upcoming series Tom Swift. 

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Will Stream On Paramount+

As has been the case with all new Star Trek franchise series additions over the last few years, Starfleet Academy will be a Paramount+ production, airing on the streamer when it eventually comes out. 

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Will Release In 2024

The proposed timeline for the new series has been set with a 2024 window on Paramount+.