Some franchise make it difficult to keep everything in line with what’s come before. Star Trek is one of those franchises. There are hundreds of episodes and over a dozen films, it’s a lot to keep in mind when making a new project. Starfleet Academy won’t have that problem, though, because some custodians of the lore have been drafted to point out any discrepancies.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will follow cadets of the eponymous school. As a Star Trek series, it’ll present a different perspective on the franchise, looking more towards younger audiences rather than established crewmates, a bit like the animated series Lower Decks.
Fertile ground for fleshing out the Federation of Planets, but to keep contradictions to a minimum, Star Trek actor and writer Tawny Newsome revealed they’ve enlisted some deep Trekkies. “I will say that there are some people in that room – I might be one of them – that are real canon hound dogs,” she tells Trekmovie.com. “We got some real canon-heads in there with very intense conversations about keeping the Star Trek of it feeling really Star Trek-y.”
Newsome should be familiar with Trek by now, considering she’s one of the voices on Lower Decks. In fact, she’s actually doing an incredible first for the sci-fi series, by being an actor who’s jumped into the writers room.
“Someone told me that I’m the first Star Trek cast member to be in on the [writing] staff of a show, that’s such an honor,” she says. “And I’m going to be thinking about that. It’s rare that you get to be a first in something that you really care about.”
We’re in unprecedented times with Star Trek at the moment. Including Starfleet Academy, we have four Paramount Plus shows drawing from the franchise at the moment, with Lower Decks, Discovery, and Strange New Worlds. Then we have the new Star Trek movie, Section 31, on the horizon as well.
What excites me more than having so much Trek to watch is that all of it feels unique and necessary. Lower Decks and Starfleet Academy especially, since they’re about more than a Star Trek captain leading their crew aboard a starship. What Trek is and could be is changing, and for the better as far as I’m concerned. I sat through the Enterprise years; this all feels like a miracle in contrast.
And amid all of that we have the Star Trek 4 release date, too. Keep an eye on our Starfleet Academy release date guide for when you can check it out for yourself. Check out our guides to the Strange New Worlds season 3 release date and the Lower Decks season 5 release date for where else we’ll be boldly going in the future. Or, boldly go to a very different frontier, with all we know about Avatar 3.