By
John Orquiola
Published 2 hours ago
John Orquiola is a New & Classic TV Editor, Senior Writer, and Interviewer with a special focus on Star Trek. John has over 4,000 published articles at SR, and he has interviewed the biggest names in Star Trek on the red carpet and VIP events, among other beloved shows, movies, and franchises.
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Star Trek: Starfleet Academy released a brand new 4-minute clip at CCXP, and here is what you need to know and what you might have missed. Executive produced by Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy premieres on Paramount+ with two episodes on January 15, 2026.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set in the late 32nd century after the end of Star Trek: Discovery, and the new series carries over numerous concepts introduced by Captain Michael Burnham's (Sonequa Martin-Green) show. In Star Trek: Discovery season 3, Burnham and the USS Discovery jumped to the 32nd century, where the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet have advanced technology.
Starfleet Academy's young cadets are the focus of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, but the series also balances classroom learning and coming-of-age drama with Star Trek's traditional starship missions and action. Bridging both is Captain Nahla Ake (Academy Award winner Holly Hunter), who is both Captain of the USS Athena and Chancellor of Starfleet Academy.
Here's what you may have missed in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's 4-minute clip, which includes scenes from the series premiere, or what you may not have known if you didn't watch or don't remember details from Star Trek: Discovery.
USS Athena Is Starfleet Academy
One of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's cleverest concepts is that the USS Athena is Starfleet Academy. Captain Ake's starship doubles as Starfleet Academy's facility, and the USS Athena docks in San Francisco to become Starfleet Academy's campus.
The USS Athena is like a "teaching hospital" where cadets get hands-on experience on a starship and perform outer space missions.
Another brilliant idea in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is that the USS Athena is like a "teaching hospital" where cadets get hands-on experience on a starship and perform outer space missions. This ingeniously solved the creative issue of Starfleet Academy needing Star Trek action and adventure, so that the series isn't just scenes of learning in classrooms.
At this early point in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, the USS Athena is brand-new and on its first run. Unfortunately, the starship will already need to be repaired after it's attacked by Nus Braka (Academy Award nominee Paul Giamatti) and the Vanari Ral.
Captain Ake Wears Glasses
When the USS Athena detects an unknown subspace instability in the Badlands, Captain Ake leaves the center seat of the bridge and dons a pair of glasses. It may seem unusual for someone in the 32nd century to need corrective lenses, but it's not unprecedented in Star Trek.
The first Lanthanite in Star Trek is Commander Pelia (Carol Kane) in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) himself needed reading glasses in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Captain Ake's spectacles may be a nod to Kirk when he turned 50 years old. Ake is also a 422-year-old half-Lanthanite, and perhaps her vision is tied to her age or species.
Lura Thok Is Starfleet Academy’s Cadet Master
Captain Ake calls Lura Thok (Gina Yashere) "Number One" because she is First Officer of the USS Athena. Like Captain Ake, Thok also has a role in Starfleet Academy as she is the school's Cadet Master in charge of the students' well-being. This is why Ake orders Lura to "get to the kids" when the USS Athena is attacked.
Lura Thok is a hybrid; she is half-Klingon and half-Jem'Hadar. Introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Jem'Hadar were cloned warriors and shock troops of the Dominion, built with a dependence on ketracel-white to ensure their loyalty. There were no female Jem'Hadar in DS9.
A Changeling was seen in Star Trek: Discovery season 4, episode 8, "All In."
However, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set 800 years after Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. All manner of changes could have happened to the Jem'Hadar in eight centuries, including evident cross-breeding with Klingons. It's also unknown if the Dominion still exists in the 32nd century.
Starfleet Has Personal Transporters In Star Trek’s 32nd Century
When the USS Athena is attacked, Captain Ake orders Lura Thok, the Cadet Master, to "get to the kids." Thok instantly beams out of the USS Athena's bridge and arrives in the Atrium to send the cadets into lockdown in their quarters.
Star Trek: Discovery introduced personal transporters, which are 32nd century technology built into combadges. Along with personal transporters, combadges also have virtual tricorders and can create phasers from programmable matter.
32nd century starships still have standard transporter rooms for beaming in equipment and personnel, but Starfleet Officers are assigned with combadges equipped with personal transporters.
USS Athena Was Attacked By A Programmable Matter Variant
Nus Braka and the Vanari Ral attack the USS Athena with a variant of programmable matter. Programmable matter is a revolutionary 32nd century technology introduced in Star Trek: Discovery. Programmable matter consists of nano-molecules that can redistribute and redesign themselves into pre-programmed shapes.
Programmable matter allows for tricorders and phasers to be emitted from Starfleet Officers' combadges. Anything from furniture to weapons to starships are built from programmable matter.
Programmable matter technology is the means for 32nd century starships to have detached nacelles, and for Nus Braka's ship to reconfigure and combine itself from separate components. Nus Braka has weaponized a variant of programmable matter in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Starfleet Has DOTs In Star Trek’s 32nd Century
The little robots and drones floating around the USS Athena's corridors are DOTs, which were introduced in Star Trek: Discovery. DOTs are versatile worker robots that perform maintenance and repair on the interior and exterior of starships and starbases.
DOTs also put out fires, as seen in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Star Trek: Picard established that Starfleet was already using DOTs in the early 25th century, and the little helper robots' technology has evolved since.
The Doctor Is USS Athena’s Chief Medical Officer
The Doctor (Robert Picardo) sees action in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's 4-minute clip. From helping evacuate the cadets into lockdown and aiding injured personnel when the USS Athena is attacked, the 800-year-old EMH is as crucial as he was on Star Trek: Voyager.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy establishes that The Doctor is also the Chief Medical Officer of the USS Athena, and he oversees a crew of holographic physicians who were offline when the USS Athena was damaged.
The Doctor was also a Starfleet Academy instructor and Chief Medical Officer of the USS Voyager-A, as seen in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2.
It was already known that The Doctor is an instructor at Starfleet Academy, but he also assumes the same role on the USS Athena that he did on Captain Kathryn Janeway's (Kate Mulgrew) USS Voyager.
Nus Braka Met Captain Ake Before
Nus Braka (in holographic form) beams onto the bridge of the USS Athena to confront Captain Ake. Braka taunts Ake that "it's been 15 long years," but the Captain looks "radiant as ever." This references how Nus Braka and Captain Ake are old foes, and the fact that Nahla is half-Lanthanite.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's trailer shows how 15 years prior, Captain Ake couldn't stop Nus Braka from kidnapping the mother (Tatiana Maslany) of Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta). Ake later recruits Caleb into Starfleet Academy with the promise that the Federation will find his mother.
Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr), Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro), and Lieutenant Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) will also appear in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, solidifying the new series' connection to Star Trek: Discovery.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
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Nahla Ake
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Series Acclimation Mil 'Sam'
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