Interviews: Tig Notaro, Robert Picardo, and more discuss the new generation in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
The current era of Star Trek has been a divisive one for fans. Dedicated Trek aficionados are ecstatic to have multiple new series to enjoy across multiple eras of Gene Roddenberry’s future galaxy, including animated fare, sequels, and new properties. With Discovery, Picard, and Lower Decks having come to an end and just one more season of Strange New Worlds on the horizon, franchise producer Alex Kurtzman and his creative team have decided to forge a new series set in the 32nd Century that presents a new generation to Star Trek mythology in the new show Starfleet Academy.
Led by Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake and Paul Giamatti as villain Nus Braka, Starfleet Academy follows the first class of cadets at the new Federation school for officers in Starfleet. They are taught aboard the USS Athena, a starship that docks at the Starfleet Academy campus in San Francisco but can also be deployed with the rest of the fleet. As these cadets learn the rules and mission of Starfleet, they must also learn how to work as a team to defeat an enemy that threatens the peaceful balance that the Federation has restored after The Burn.
I spoke with the cast and creative team of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy about the new series. Producer and director Alex Kurtzman discussed how the opening act of the 2009 J.J. Abrams Star Trek film inspired this new series. Writer Noga Landau discussed the goal of not writing a show for teens, but rather a show about teens. Andro Rosta discussed emulating Chris Pine as he plays the protagonist, Caleb Mir, while Karim Diane talked about drawing inspiration from Michael Dorn to portray his Klingon character, Kay-Den Kraag. Kerrice Brooks discussed the enjoyment of playing a holographic character, while George Hawkins echoed the sentiment of playing a Khonian. Zoe Steiner and Bella Shepard discussed their roles as Betazoid character Tarima Sadal and cadet Genesis Lythe, and how enjoyable it was to play in this world. Tig Notaro and Gina Yashere talked about the connection between their characters of Jett Reno and Lura Thok, while legendary actor Robert Picardo discussed what makes The Doctor different in this series. Check out all of the interviews in the embed above.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streams new episodes on Thursdays on Paramount+.
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