A brand new look at Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has arrived, and it shows the crew of the USS Athena heading straight into danger. A recently shared clip from the series premiere puts the starship on course for the treacherous Badlands, only to face a sudden and personal attack from the villain Nus Braka, played by Paul Giamatti.
The four-minute scene was shown during the CCXP convention in Brazil in early December 2025. It provides the most detailed preview yet of how the series will mix the daily life of cadets with high-stakes Starfleet action. The series is set to launch on Thursday, January 15, 2026, on Paramount+ in the United States and many other countries, with two episodes dropping on premiere day.
The USS Athena Heads for the Badlands
The new clip picks up with the USS Athena, the starship that also serves as the Academy’s mobile campus and classroom, on a seemingly routine mission. Captain Nahla Ake, portrayed by Oscar-winner Holly Hunter, is on the bridge with her command crew, which includes First Officer Lura Thok, played by Gina Yashere.
The ship is approaching the Badlands, a famously violent and turbulent region of space filled with plasma storms. The area is well-known to Star Trek fans, first featured in Star Trek: Voyager as the place where the Maquis ship was lost. In this scene, Captain Ake sends a team of cadets to study the phenomenon, treating it as a field training exercise.
A Sudden Attack from an Old Foe
The educational mission takes a drastic turn when the Athena comes under a fierce and unprovoked attack. The assault is so intense that it triggers emergency protocols on the ship. The cadets, who are elsewhere on the vessel, are thrown into chaos. Guiding them to safety is a familiar face to Trek fans: Robert Picardo returns as The Doctor, the holographic medical officer from the USS Voyager.
On the bridge, the attacking ship hails the Athena. The face that appears on the viewscreen is Nus Braka, a character described as having “an ominous past connection” to one of the cadets. Played by Oscar-nominee Paul Giamatti, Braka is a part-Klingon, part-Tellarite individual seeking revenge. The clip suggests his grievance is specifically with Captain Ake, with one report drawing a parallel to the vengeful quest of Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
“All hell breaks loose when the half-Klingon, half-Tellarite Nus Braka comes a knockin’ and looking for revenge 15 years later,” described one entertainment news report after seeing the clip.
The scene also features the voice of Stephen Colbert as the ship’s “Digital Dean of Students,” who is heard giving urgent alerts over the comm system during the crisis. This confirms the special casting announcement made at New York Comic Con in October 2025.
Meet the Cadets and Faculty of Starfleet Academy
The series follows the first new class of Starfleet cadets in over a century, set in the 32nd century. This is the same far-future timeline established in Star Trek: Discovery, a period where the Federation is rebuilding after a catastrophic event known as “The Burn”. The show’s creators have said they chose this setting to mirror the challenges faced by younger generations today.
The main cadet corps includes:
- Sandro Rosta as Caleb Mir, a human orphan looking for his mother.
- Karim Diané as Jay-Den Kraag, a Klingon aspiring to be a medical officer.
- Kerrice Brooks as Sam, a Kasqian hologram who is essentially a newborn in an adult body.
- George Hawkins as Darem Reymi, a Khionian from a wealthy world.
- Bella Shepard as Genesis Lythe, a Dar-Sha cadet determined to step out of her admiral parent’s shadow.
- Zoë Steiner as Tarima Sadal, the daughter of the president of Betazed.
They are guided by a seasoned faculty, including:
- Holly Hunter as Captain and Chancellor Nahla Ake.
- Robert Picardo as The Doctor, now a centuries-old holographic teacher.
- Tig Notaro as Engineer Jett Reno, reprising her role from Discovery.
- Mary Wiseman appears in a guest role as Instructor Sylvia Tilly, another Discovery favorite.
A key creative concept for the show is that the USS Athena is both a school and a starship. It is docked at the Academy campus in San Francisco for classroom learning but can also deploy with the fleet for real-world training, similar to a teaching hospital. This allows the cadets to learn through real diplomatic and exploratory missions.
Global Release Schedule for Season 1
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will premiere globally in January 2026. The release schedule for the 10-episode first season is as follows:
| Region | Platform | Premiere Date | Episode Release Pattern |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America | Paramount+ | Thursday, January 15, 2026 | Two episodes on Jan. 15, then one new episode weekly every Thursday. |
| Japan | Paramount+ | Tuesday, January 23, 2026 | Two episodes on Jan. 23, then weekly. |
The season will run for ten weeks, with the finale scheduled for Thursday, March 12, 2026, in most territories.
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