Check out the first look at Paul Giamatti as the villain of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
Paul Giamatti is a big Star Trek fan, and he finally got the chance to live out his dream when he joined the cast of Starfleet Academy. He plays the main villain of the show, and Entertainment Weekly has the first look at his character. You can check out more first-look photos of other characters over at Entertainment Weekly.
Star Trek franchise producer Alex Kurtzman said they started seriously considering Giamatti when the actor revealed that he always wanted to play a Klingon during The Holdovers press tour. “We looked at each other and we went, ‘Is he kidding?! Well, let’s call his agent and find out,’” Kurtzman said. “Within, I think, less than an hour, [his agent] called back and said he would love to meet.”
Giamatti was given the choice of five different parts, and he chose the main villain. Kurtzman didn’t reveal any specifics about Giamatii’s character, only to say that he “represents a tide that has swept across the world in a very profound and upsetting way. I say this without taking a political stance. That is part of what it means to invite everybody into the tent. One of my favorite things about Star Trek is that it reaches across the aisle. People on all sides of the political spectrum love it for different reasons. That is something that we really wanted to hold true to here.“
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Taking place in the 32nd-century era of Star Trek: Discovery, Starfleet Academy will follow a new class of Starfleet cadets as they come of age in one of the most legendary places in the galaxy. “They’ve got a lot riding on their shoulders, and they are meant to reestablish and rebuild everything that we all know and love about Star Trek,” Kurtzman explained. “They convey hope and they search for hope, and that felt like an extremely relevant message to talk about now.“
Noga Landau, who serves as showrunner on the series alongside Kurztman, added, “It’s wish fulfillment. Every week it’s about a new part of coming of age. One week that can be a prank, war erupts another week, a romance begins another week, we encounter an alien species for the first time and we don’t know what the hell we’re doing [another week]. But at the end of every episode, what we want our audience to feel is, ‘I want to go to Starfleet Academy.’ Even in the deepest, darkest depths of character problems and drama, you get such a good feeling from watching this show [of] how much you want to be there so badly.“
The series stars Kerrice Brooks (My Old Ass), Bella Shepard (Wolf Pack), George Hawkins (Tell Me Everything), Karim Diané (One Of Us Is Lying), Zoë Steiner (Significant Others), and Sandro Rosta (Snitches Get Stitches). The cast also includes Holly Hunter (The Incredibles) as the captain and chancellor of Starfleet Academy. There will also be a few familiar faces. Tig Notaro, Oded Fehr, and Mary Wiseman will be reprising their Discovery roles of Jett Reno, Admiral Vance, and Sylvia Tilly, respectively. Additionally, Robert Picardo will be playing the Doctor, reprising the role in live-action for the first time since Star Trek: Voyager. The show has already been renewed for a second season, which will start shooting later this year.
We may find out even more at the Star Trek panel taking place at San Diego Comic-Con tomorrow.
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