During the highly anticipated San Diego Comic-Con event, exciting news emerged regarding the upcoming Star Trek TV show, Starfleet Academy. Set in the 31st century, the series has generated speculation about the potential involvement of characters from Star Trek: Discovery, which was also set in the same time period for its final three seasons.
While previous casting announcements revealed Holly Hunter as the chancellor of Starfleet Academy and Paul Giamatti as the main villain, there had been no mention of Discovery talent until today. Three Discovery alums, Tig Notaro, Oded Fehr, and Mary Wiseman, have now been officially confirmed to be part of the Starfleet Academy series. Notaro will reprise her role as Jett Reno as a series regular, while Fehr and Wiseman will appear as recurring guest stars, portraying Admiral Charles Vance and Sylvia Tilly, respectively.
The inclusion of Tilly and Vance aligns with their roles in Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, where Tilly became a Starfleet instructor and Vance assumed the position of Starfleet’s commander in chief. As for Jett Reno, her presence as a main cast member suggests a transition from her previous role as an engineer aboard the USS Discovery to a fellow instructor at Starfleet Academy.
In a surprising turn of events, Robert Picardo, known for his portrayal of The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager from 1995 to 2001, will join Tig Notaro as a series regular on Starfleet Academy. This announcement follows Picardo’s recent vocal reprisal of the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH) in Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, available for streaming on Netflix. Picardo has also made appearances as a different EMH in Star Trek: First Contact and portrayed Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, the creator of these holograms, in several Voyager and Deep Space Nine episodes.
The Doctor’s character on Voyager evolved into the ship’s chief medical officer throughout the show’s duration, aided by a mobile holographic emitter obtained in Season 3. As an artificial intelligence, it is plausible that The Doctor would still be present approximately 800 years after the events of Prodigy, having potentially undergone significant development during that time.
While it remains to be seen how Starfleet Academy will explain The Doctor’s aging appearance as a hologram, it is conceivable that Robert Picardo’s character will attribute it to modifications in his programming. The notion of The Doctor assuming a teaching role aligns with his mentorship of Prodigy’s main characters in Season 2.
Joining the aforementioned actors, the main cast of Starfleet Academy includes Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, and Zoë Steiner, all portraying cadets. Additionally, Gina Yashere will appear as a recurring guest star, playing an Academy instructor.
Production for Starfleet Academy is set to commence in August, and further updates regarding the project, including its premiere date on Paramount+, will be shared by CinemaBlend.