A new era has officially begun in the Star Trek franchise. Set in the 32nd century, Starfleet Academy introduces fans to a fresh group of young cadets who must navigate heated rivalries, budding friendships, and unexpected romances as they try to prove they have what it takes to become Starfleet officers. Helping them along the way are legends who came before them, using their own unique experiences to help guide these new cadets along their journey.
The series serves as both a love letter to the franchise’s iconic legacy, but also a welcoming entryway for new fans to join the Star Trek fandom.
During a recent conversation with showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau, the duo discussed how they approached balancing decades of canon with making the series accessible to new fans, their philosophy behind bringing legacy characters into the series, and the ways Starfleet Academy rewards longtime fans - including a particularly meaningful tribute that draws inspiration from Deep Space Nine.
Starfleet Academy serves as a new entry point to Star Trek that's very accessible for new viewers but also honors decades of canon which really, really resonate with the franchise's longtime fans. How did you approach telling this new story in a way that made the show accessible for these new fans while also honoring this deep, rich legacy of the franchise?
Alex Kurtzman: I think we both want Star Trek to go on forever and ever, right? And in order for us to do that, it has to bring in new generations. The 60 years, that is a huge plus to obviously OG fans is also very daunting for people who are at the beginning of that learning curve. It almost feels like an impenetrable wall.
And so the goal was, all right, let's build a show that represents the best of what Gene Roddenberry had to say, that truly speaks to the ideals of Star Trek and that optimistic vision of the future. But let's not make the barrier to entry so high that people feel like they have to have seen everything. At the same time, let's fill it with so many rich Easter eggs that in and of themselves, if you don't know where they come from, are fun and wonderful, but if you do know where they come from, you recognize how much they're actually honoring the legacy of Star Trek.
In a show about a younger generation standing on the shoulders of the people that came before them, it felt like a very appropriate way to approach the show.
One of my favorite things just in watching this, the first couple of episodes is the fun mix of legacy actors with such a new group of fresh faces. How did you land on which legacy characters to bring back?
Kurtzman: Well, I'm always of the opinion that you really can only put legacy characters in a show if they need to be there. To just have them there is for fan service, I think can actually serve the opposite function. So when we said, ‘OK, we're going to jump to the thirty-second century,’ we went, ‘Well, The Doctor would still be around, assuming it hadn't been shut down as a hologram. So let's bring him in because he'll have this extraordinary perspective on time and history.’
And if you're a teacher at a school, what more perfect thing than someone who's actually lived through it, right? So the story told us that he wanted to be there. Then because we're in the thirty-second century, having Oded [Fehr] come and giving him a backstory, giving Vance a backstory with Nahla made a lot of sense.
You'll see Mary Wiseman, who also obviously is from the [Discovery] era, show up this season as well. Again, each person is there because they have a very specific reason to be there.
What are you most excited just for fans to see as they watch the season ahead?
Noga Landau: I mean there's stuff in every single episode that we put there for the fans, from the Wall of Heroes to the names of the various parts of the ship, Auto Atrium, Maura Pavilion, to episode 105. I'm very excited for the fans to see episode 105 because it's basically a love letter to DS9 and specifically to Avery Brooks, and I think it's been a long time coming.
I can't wait for our fans to see the things that they've loved for so long, you know, through the lens of Starfleet Academy.
You can view our full interview with Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau below:
And don't miss new episodes of Starfleet Academy Thursdays on Paramount+.