Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is finally here. The series we’ve been hearing whispers about since before the pandemic lands today on Paramount+. Following the end of Star Trek: Discovery, we meet the next generation of Starfleet Cadets at the freshly reopened campus. A fine concept for the series that, even though it is skewed toward a younger audience, introduces teen drama to the franchise. Today, the next live-action Star Trek series kicks off with a double episode premiere.
It’s not the ordinary school drama, however. The school is, in fact, the starship USS Athena, taking the cadets out for hands-on experience. Under the command of Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter), they’re pushed to excel. There’s also reluctant cadet Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta), the rogue audience surrogate. An interesting setup for a show, but is it worth the years-long wait?
WARNING – Full spoiler discussion below for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s first two episodes, “Kids These Days” and “Beta Test”.
Mother and Son
The series first episode, “Kids These Days”, opens promisingly. Beginning with a flashback to Caleb’s childhood, everything about the character descriptions becomes immediately clear. Wasting no time getting the connection Caleb and Ake established, with the separation of Caleb from his mother (Tatiana Maslany). Sure, she spells the regret out later, but Hunter’s performance establishes itself as one of the series’ greatest strengths.
I’d have liked to see more of Caleb’s mother, if only to better sell Caleb’s delinquency and immediate escape. Maslany is a talented actress who sells her distress and desperation well, and her character’s journey is the show’s main arc. While we’re sure to see her again, I didn’t quite get a hardened criminal, or even something that would earnestly justify Caleb’s behaviour. Oh, it’s worth noting that this first episode is around 75 minutes long! A great amount of time to jump into a new series.
Interestingly, it’s here that we’re also introduced to the show’s main villain, the scene-stealing Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti). Within the first 10 minutes of the series, we’ve established the show’s antagonist and explained the emotional drama between Ake and Caleb. It’s an efficient introduction that’s emotional enough, with elements that are intriguing enough to make the show worth sticking around for.
Second Chance City
It’s when we cut to the present day, some fifteen years later, where the show hits the brakes for a while. Caleb’s now a young adult, on the run and still searching for his mother. Nahla has since left Starfleet, ashamed of the ordeal, and is working at a school for young children. Interestingly, she is teaching on the planet of Bajor. The show’s all the better for slowing down here, as it allows us to get to know the lead characters more intimately.
Particularly Ake, who’s brought back to service with the promise of being Chancellor at the newly-opening Academy. She also drops a couple of decent Lanthanite lines, though she’s far more reserved than other characters we’ve met. It was also nice to see Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) again. He’s on the show’s main cast list, and he gets some nice material here playing off Hunter.
Meanwhile, Caleb’s scene is the first big action spectacle of the show, losing control of a shuttle, he takes control of it. He’s eventually captured, but it shows off his ingenuity, and perhaps how he’s been able to survive the world on his own for so long. This is something Ake points out when she visits him in prison: that his brain could be put to better use. It’s here that the show finally gets the characters to the titular Academy.
Officers in Training
It’s best to get this out of the way now. The Academy and the Athena exterior are gorgeous. The main atrium has been touted as the biggest set ever built for a Star Trek series. As soon as Caleb, who becomes the audience surrogate here, steps onto the set, everything falls into place. The nostalgia wall of names gets way too much focus, but the scope of everything else is genuinely gorgeous. I can’t wait for the show to spend more time here.
A set’s nothing without the characters who inhabit it, however. After half an episode of getting to know the lead characters intimately, the show introduces us to the rest. First Officer and Cadet Master Luna Thok (Gina Yashere) has a very commanding presence. She has a tough exterior, but she delivers a lot of the show’s comedy, making me laugh multiple times. Also on staff is The Doctor (Robert Picardo), who juggles seriousness and levity just as he did on Star Trek: Voyager.
On the student side, Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané) is the antithesis to every Klingon warrior stereotype. It’s played completely genuinely, and it’s the sort of positive masculinity I adore. There’s also Darem Reymi (George Hawkins), a Khionian who’s introduced as a sort of bully foil for Caleb. I just wish that outside of getting their hero moments during the episode’s climax, they were developed.
Big Bads and Diplomacy
The showdown at the conclusion of the first episode is representative of the best of modern Star Trek. Giamatti remains a scene stealer, and there’s a fistfight between Braka and Caleb that’s well done. It’s some intense stuff that also propels the series’ mystery box about Caleb’s mother forward. With all the cadets doing something, we also get to see what they’re like under pressure. In theory, this sets the scene for a cadet team that should carry the show forward.
Unfortunately, this regresses somewhat substantially for the series’ second episode, “Beta Test“. Instead of the established team dynamic, learning about space, the Athena arrives on Earth and meets a Betazoid delegation. It brings back memories of other Betazoid visits on Star Trek: The Next Generation, particularly. However, it becomes a young romance story between Caleb and Tarima (Zoë Steiner), the Betazoid president’s daughter.
This could speak to the audience shift, but it’s so unlike anything that the franchise has done in recent memory. But with episodes like “The Dauphin”, it’s hard to say that young love and diplomacy have never been done. With a hopeful ending, the President was dragged back to the table by her daughter’s insistence; it’s not a bad way to include such an element. It just takes up far too much of the episode, leaving the actual diplomacy and other characters shortchanged.
The Backseat
The second episode, “Beta Test“, is suffocated by Caleb’s subplot, and it does come at the expense of the team dynamic that the first episode took time to establish. I’m glad the show’s found a protagonist, and the chemistry between Caleb and Ake is amazing. But the other cadets feel like little more than set dressing for classroom antics. Of course, this could change over the next 8 weeks, but I found myself upset at none of the other cadets getting anything to actually do.
Landing on Earth also presented a dynamic shift of sorts. With the series not feeling at home on Earth or in space, it’s harder to nail down what a Starfleet Academy episode is supposed to be. It doesn’t help that the other characters are so thin they could fit on a post-it note, rather than interacting with the story meaningfully.
At least one episode inched the mystery box plotline forward slightly, unmasking the planet behind the Betazoid wall. Simply having a mystery box isn’t enough to call a show great; it just means a season has been carefully planned. Touching it every episode, especially at the expense of other characters, is an interesting way to start the show. Hopefully, this changes over the coming weeks.
The Beauty of Starfleet Academy as a Series!
While we’ve discussed the episode’s plot and stories, it’s worth noting how fantastic the series looks. Simply put, while unique, the USS Athena looks beautiful in the episode’s many b-roll shots. Throughout the first episode of Starfleet Academy, we’re treated to some epic shots of the USS Athena. We’re also seeing great establishing shots of what a somewhat rebuilt Federation looks like. There are space stations, along with more 32nd Century starship designs we’ve seen in Star Trek: Discovery.
Even when the starship is attacked, we see these great beauty shots. However, these special effects are not just limited to the hero vessel. We actually see some beautiful locations, such as Bajor, along with other worlds where the Federation has a presence. Even the area near the Badlands – another iconic Trek location – is shown to be fantastic looking. Simply put, Starfleet Academy looks fantastic so far. The arrival on Earth is another prime example of these shots.
Conclusion
The premiere of Starfleet Academy is an interesting affair. Not nearly as bad as certain reactionaries would have you believe, but also not great enough to be considered prestige television. However, bolstered by a great performance from Holly Hunter, Starfleet Academy is a worthy entry in the Star Trek canon. With Caleb as an audience surrogate, it’s also a nice introduction, especially for younger viewers drawn in by the teen drama aspects.
The show still needs time to find its voice, especially when it comes to fleshing out most of the character roster. Yet, assuming this will likely be fixed over the coming weeks, Starfleet Academy is off to a promising enough start. I’m definitely excited to see where this goes. There are familiar characters, classic action spectacles, and diplomacy on display for older Trek fans. It’s a show with a bit of something for everyone; let’s just hope it all comes together nicely enough by the end.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy beams down to Paramount+ on Thursday, January 15th 2026, with a double episode premiere. Weekly episodes of the new series arrive on Thursdays through to March 12th 2026. Check back to Trek Central for weekly reviews, breakdowns and analysis of the latest episodes.
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