Holly Hunter's Captain Nahla Ake is already one of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's biggest highlights, but she very arguably wouldn't exist at all if not for Strange New Worlds. Despite being set almost a thousand years apart, both projects have found a clever way to share a powerful connection. It all comes down to the USS Athena's quirky commanding officer.
Ake's dual role of captaining a Starfleet vessel and serving as the chancellor of the Academy already makes her a compelling character. With Holly Hunter bringing her to life, Captain Ake becomes truly enthralling. She's unlike any other Starfleet captain in the franchise. That said, she's not an entirely original character. Strange New Worlds laid a very specific foundation for Captain Ake to flourish.
FULL SPOILERS for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1, episodes 1 & 2.
Captain Ake is only Star Trek's second Lanthanite after SNW's Commander Pelia
Sure, Captain Nahla Ake is only half Lanthanite, but the point stands. Carol Kane debuted as Commander Pelia in 2023's Strange New Worlds season 2 premiere. Since then, her mysterious and long-living species have been largely unaddressed. Anything Trekkies wanted to learn about Lanthanites, they had to do via Kane's Strange New Worlds character. It was admittedly a minute sample size, but it's all we had. Captain Ake's presence changes all that.
Starfleet Academy's double-episode premiere doesn't account for the other 50% of Ake's genetic lineage, so it's tough to say at the moment which race the other half of her DNA belongs to. That said, she doesn't look alien in the least, which is true of both Lanthanites and humans. So, it stands to reason that the Starfleet chancellor is a Lanthanite/human hybrid. Feel free to come back and tell me I'm wrong if we're told something different in the weeks to come.
Holly Hunter's performance shows how Carol Kane set the standard for how Lanthanites should be played
Pelia is centuries old in Strange New Worlds. And yet, instead of conducting herself as an incredibly seasoned Starfleet officer might be expected to behave, she's very informal most of the time, almost to the point of seeming disrespectful. Thankfully, it's so charming that she gets away with it. People gravitate toward her and know that she's just being Pelia. In isolation, these traits seemed unique to Pelia. There was no reason to believe otherwise. However, now that I've seen Holly Hunter step into the shoes of a Lanthanite character, I'm starting to think this type of behavior is just part of the race's culture.
Just like Pelia, Captain Ake often takes her fellow Starfleet officers off guard with her irreverent behavior and mannerisms. Everything from walking around campus barefoot to the strange way she sits in the captain's chair aboard the USS Athena would imply a sense of unprofessionalism in most characters. The fact that very few people draw all that much attention to these quirks means they must just be used to them. It's just how Lanthanites are.
Maybe there's even a connection between both characters' wild and bushy blonde hair. If any of these nods are intentional, it's great worldbuilding. I love it. I have the beginnings of a theory that Captain Ake is actually Pelia's daughter, and that could also explain why they're both so similar. I'd be lying if I said I'm truly confident about that prediction, though. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I suppose confirmation could come in either Strange New Worlds or Starfleet Academy.
Why Captain Ake is the perfect Starfleet Academy chancellor in Star Trek's 32nd century
Starfleet Academy opens with Captain Ake being pulled back into the fold after leaving Starfleet years earlier. The situation that resulted in Caleb (Sandro Rosta) being left without a mother deeply upset Captain Ake, which is why she lost faith in Starfleet and chose to step away. However, while the show does provide an explanation for why she changes her mind, which is a little cheesy in my opinion, there's also an unspoken reason.
Captain Ake's half-Lanthanite DNA has allowed her to live for hundreds of years by the start of Starfleet Academy. So, she was canonically alive before the Burn, and therefore remembers what Starfleet and the Federation used to be like before the galaxy fell into chaos in the wake of the unexpected dilithium shortage. By extension, she's almost definitely one of the only living people who attended Starfleet Academy. Almost every other active Starfleet officer would have received their training at the newly revealed War College.
Combat-ready Starfleet officers will still be required as the Alpha Quadrant and beyond returns to normal after the Burn, but having a soldier overseeing Starfleet Academy would have set a bad precedent for its new era. Rather than continuing to focus on preparing for conflict, it makes sense that Starfleet would appoint Captain Ake as chancellor so she can once more impart its traditional values to the cadets for which she'll be responsible. It doesn't hurt that she also lived through and learned from the entirety of the burn ahead of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is streaming now on Paramount+. New episodes will arrive every Thursday until the season 1 finale on March 12, 2026.