Meet the Cast of ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’—Featuring Holly Hunter, Paul Giamatti and More New Faces

Serving as the 11th television spinoff from the original Star Trek, the newest chapter of the franchise, Starfleet Academy, arrives on January 15th, introducing an almost entirely new ensemble of characters and actors, among them Holly Hunter, 67, and Paul Giamatti, 58.

Set in the far reaches of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s 32nd-century timeline, the show places its focus not on seasoned captains or galaxy-shaping legends, but on the young officers who will inherit a fractured future and be expected to fix it. The series unfolds in the aftermath of the Burn, the catastrophic event introduced in Star Trek: Discovery that all but collapsed the Federation and forced Starfleet into a long period of retreat and survival.

As showrunner Noga Landau explains, “Taking place in a time right after the Burn, it’s a time of rebuilding and it’s a time when the generation of Starfleet cadets that you’re going to meet here—the world has to be fixed, and a lot of the responsibility [for] that lies on their shoulders.”

Adds executive producer Alex Kurtzman, “We wanted to create a show that anchored us back to [Gene] Roddenberry’s essential vision of hope. How do you find it? How do you rebuild it?”

This is the first Starfleet Academy class in more than 120 years, a fact that gives the cadets’ journey real weight. “They have a tremendous amount on their shoulders,” Kurtzman explains, “and their mission is to reinstate the original vision of Star Trek.” What follows is a look at the actors cast to do so.

Holly Hunter (Nahla Ake)

Character: Hunter is cast as Captain Nahla Ake, the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy and captain of the USS Athena. Her character is a central figure who oversees the Academy and interacts closely with the cadets.
Best known for: Holly Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Piano (1993) and received additional Oscar nominations for Broadcast News, The Firm and Thirteen. Her film career includes standout performances in Raising Arizona, Crash, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Always. She is also widely recognized as the voice of Helen Parr/Elastigirl in Pixar’s The Incredibles and Incredibles 2. On television, she’s earned multiple Emmy Awards, notably for The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom and Roe vs. Wade, and starred in the TNT series Saving Grace. More recently, she appeared in HBO’s Succession, adding another prestige series to an already formidable resume.
Holly Hunter says: “It was really interesting to get the offer to be the captain, but then also to combine that with being the chancellor—it was just an interesting dichotomy and challenge because the captain is there to command, to analyze in emergency situations and then to delegate. And the chancellor is there to guide, to collaborate and have tremendous empathy. So it was just a wonderful combination of things that it brought out in me, in all of us. I mean, each relationship is so particular and so private. That’s the cool thing about the show— it has massive scale combined with this incredible intimacy that we all have with each other and an intimacy that we all had as a group.”

Sandro Rosta (Caleb Mir)

Character: Caleb Mir’s path to Starfleet Academy is anything but conventional. Having grown up without a stable home and with little reason to trust Starfleet or its ideals, Caleb arrives at the Academy carrying a deep skepticism about the institution he’s now part of. His enrollment is driven as much by personal necessity as by ambition, including unanswered questions about his family—particularly the fate of his mother. As an outsider among cadets who often see Starfleet as a calling, Caleb brings a grounded, questioning perspective that challenges both his peers and the system training them.
Best known for: Sandro Rosta is a British-Canadian actor whose early professional work has focused primarily on theater. He trained at the Oxford School of Drama, completing both the Foundation Course and the school’s three-year diploma program. During his training, he appeared in a range of stage productions, including classical and contemporary works, and later made his professional stage debut at London’s Hampstead Theatre. Prior to Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Rosta’s screen work was limited, making the series his first major television role and a significant step forward in his on-camera career.
Sandro Rosta says: “Caleb starts off in a different place from the other cadets. He starts off being disillusioned by Starfleet. He’s grown up without an institution or institutional help for 13 years, so he’s been surviving on his own. He’s been on the run for his entire life; he’s an outsider introduced to Starfleet’s values of connection, community, working together for a higher purpose to better yourself as a group, not just as an individual—that was what was special about Caleb.”

Karim Diané (Jay-Den Kraag)

Character: A Klingon cadet at Starfleet Academy who is training in the sciences to become a medical officer, Jay-Den Kraag stands out within the core group of Academy students both for his cultural background and his professional focus, bringing a unique perspective to life at the Academy and its medical disciplines.
Best known for: His increased visibility comes with his role in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (2026). Prior to this, he appeared on television and built his screen resume with roles such as Kris Greene in the teen drama One of Us Is Lying.
Karim Diané says: “I feel like this may be the first time that we’re seeing on screen a Klingon who is this different. But from what I understand, the Klingons—like any community—don’t just have warriors. Healers have always been there.” (SFX magazine)

Kerrice Brooks (SAM—Series Acclimation Mil)

Character: An extraordinary cadet whose species and origins set her apart from her classmates. Sam is a Kasqian, a type of holographic lifeform programmed to appear as a young adult but with only weeks of existence to her name. Because she has no lived history or emotional baggage, her experiences at the Academy are entirely new, giving her an innocent and unfettered perspective on Starfleet, friendship, and exploration. Sam’s presence marks the first time a holographic being attends Starfleet Academy as a cadet, bringing a distinctive narrative thread to the ensemble.
Best known for: Kerrice Brooks (born April 6, 2000, in Washington, D.C.) is an American actress and former professional dancer. Before Starfleet Academy, she appeared in feature films such as My Old Ass (2024) and had earlier screen credits, including roles in The Prom (2020). In addition to her on-screen work, Brooks spent part of her early career as a dancer, performing with notable musical artists before transitioning into acting.
Kerrice Brooks says: “All her knowledge comes to her within a second and that is something she is very proud of. But she wants to fit in. I don’t think she dumbs herself down, but I do think she learns about the balance between what can be seen as ‘showing off’ and finding her tribe who will accept her for who she is.” (SFX magazine)

George Hawkins (Darem Reymi)

Character: Darem Reymi comes from a wealthy home world and belongs to the Khionian species. Within the Academy’s Command division, Reymi is driven by competition and high expectations, using his time among his fellow cadets as a proving ground to push himself and demonstrate his capabilities. His ambition and competitive nature inform how he approaches both challenges and relationships at the Academy.
Best known for: Prior to this role, he appeared in the British television drama Tell Me Everything, where he played the character Dylan, and he has credits in the crime drama Boiling Point as Sean. His work in these series helped establish his screen presence before joining the main cast of Starfleet Academy.
George Hawkins says: “Darem is defined by competition. And he’s defined by pressure. He comes from status and he comes from a lot of expectation. And the Academy is sort of like an instrument for that. It’s an instrument for him to exercise that pressure and exercise the expectation on him. So when he comes to the Academy and he meets these cadets, he wants to run them over. He wants to compete, and he wants to be the best.”

Bella Shepard (Genesis Lythe)

Character: Daughter of a Starfleet admiral who is determined to forge her own career in Starfleet rather than rely on her family’s influence, Genesis Lythe’s position as both a leader in training and a young adult navigating expectations sets up a core arc in the show’s ensemble of cadets.
Best known for: Originally from Michigan and now living in Los Angeles, Bella Shepard appeared in a variety of television and film roles before Starfleet Academy, including the supernatural drama Wolf Pack on Paramount+, where she portrayed Blake Navarro. Shepard also appeared in the Emmy-nominated comedy Grace & Frankie and had roles in Life in Pieces, as well as several national commercials and independent projects.
Bella Shepard says: “Genesis is a young woman with goals that she desperately needs to achieve. It’s kind of what drives her into joining Starfleet Academy. She’s the daughter of a Starfleet admiral, so she’s used to that kind of life. She kind of is comfortable with pressure and expectations, and we kind of get to see her go through the journey of figuring out life and realizing that you can’t meet perfection, because perfect is not real. And we kind of get to see her go through this beautiful arc.”

Zoë Steiner (Tarima Sadal)

Character: Tarima Sadal’s introduced on the show as the daughter of the president of Betazed, a member world of the United Federation of Planets and the Betazoid homeworld, famed in Star Trek lore. As part of the Academy’s new class of officers-in-training, Tarima navigates both the expectations that come with her upbringing and the challenges of Starfleet life alongside her fellow cadets.
Best known for: She is credited with appearing in the television series Significant Others (2022) — one of her earlier screen roles — and has been gaining experience in on-camera work leading up to her Trek role.
Zoe Steiner says: “I play Tarima Sadal, who is a Betazoid, an empath. And it’s been the biggest privilege and gift to be able to play Tarima, because I feel so like her. When I got the script in the first place… I felt like I was looking into a mirror. She wears her heart on her sleeve, like she cannot help it, even to her detriment… She feels things very deeply as a Betazoid. And I think that there’s a lot of power that can come with that, but she’s also terrified of that power. And we see her navigate that in this series.”

Robert Picardo (The Doctor)

Character: Robert Picardo returns to portray The Doctor, the Emergency Medical Hologram originally seen in Star Trek: Voyager. In this future setting, The Doctor is no longer simply a ship’s holographic physician but serves as a teacher and mentor to the cadets at Starfleet Academy, drawing on centuries of experience as a holographic being. The character has evolved since Voyager, now existing more than 900 years after his original activation and offering wisdom, humor, and perspective to a new generation of Starfleet trainees.
Best known for: Robert Alphonse Picardo (born October 27, 1953, in Philadelphia) is an American actor and singer with a long career across television, film and theater. He is best known for playing The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager, which he portrayed throughout that series’ entire seven-season run and which became one of the franchise’s most beloved holographic characters. Picardo’s broader TV work includes roles such as Richard Woolsey in the Stargate franchise and appearances on series like The Wonder Years and China Beach. On film, he has appeared in projects including Innerspace and Gremlins 2: The New Batch, and he has directed select television episodes. Picardo trained as an actor after attending Yale University, where he switched his major from pre-medical studies to drama, and he has combined his acting with professional singing throughout his career.
Robert Picardo says: “[He had] 800 years of digital memory, where the memory of a beloved colleague from 793 years ago is as fresh and clear as someone you saw yesterday. Only science fiction can give an actor a challenge like that to try to wrap your mind around! For a human actor who is certainly as concerned with the issues of mortality as anyone else my age, it’s a funny leap of faith to try to put those personal concerns aside and imagine what this must be like to have generations of organic colleagues grow old and die around you. It’s got to influence your interest in developing interpersonal relationships in future.” (SFX magazine)

Tig Notaro (Jett Reno)

Character: Tig Notaro reprises her role as Commander Jett Reno, an engineer from Star Trek: Discovery, in Starfleet Academy. The character originated on Discovery as the chief engineer of the USS Hiawatha and eventually joined the crew of the USS Discovery, where she became known for her technical skill and dry humor. In Starfleet Academy, Reno appears in a new context as part of the expanded Trek universe.
Best known for: Mathilde “Tig” O’Callaghan Notaro (born March 24, 1971, in Jackson, Mississippi) is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actress noted for her deadpan comedy and observational style. She gained widespread attention with her comedy album Live, which was nominated for a Grammy Award, and for her specials Boyish Girl Interrupted and Happy to Be Here, earning critical acclaim and additional Grammy and Emmy nominations. On television, Notaro created, co-wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical series One Mississippi and has appeared in shows including The Office, Transparent, and Fresh Off the Boat. In the Star Trek franchise, she is widely recognized for bringing Commander Jett Reno to life on Star Trek: Discovery before continuing the role into Starfleet Academy.

Oded Fehr (Admiral Charles Vance)

Character: Oded Fehr reprises his role as Admiral Charles Vance, the Commander in Chief of Starfleet, first introduced in Star Trek: Discovery. In Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Vance represents the institutional backbone of Starfleet in the 32nd century, providing oversight, continuity, and a stabilizing presence as the Academy trains a new generation of officers following a long period of galactic upheaval.
Best known for:  Oded Fehr is an Israeli-American actor with a long career in film and television, often appearing in science fiction, fantasy, and action projects. He is widely recognized for his role as Ardeth Bay in The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001). His television work includes recurring or starring roles on series such as 24, NCIS, Once Upon a Time (as Jafar) and Covert Affairs. Within the Star Trek franchise, Fehr’s portrayal of Admiral Vance has been noted for grounding the far-future setting of Discovery with a sense of professionalism, moral clarity, and earned authority—qualities that carry directly into his appearances on Starfleet Academy.

Gina Yashere (Lura Thok)

Character: A recurring instructor and cadet master at Starfleet Academy. Within the 32nd-century setting of Starfleet Academy, Lura Thok is described as part Klingon and part Jem’Hadar, serving as the first officer aboard the USS Athena and overseeing cadets in their training. Her hybrid heritage and role as a mentor position her as a distinctive figure among the Academy’s leadership.
Best known for: Born April 6, 1974, in Bethnal Green, London, she’s a British comedian, actress and writer. She built her career in stand-up comedy, television, and writing, becoming well known in both the U.K. and the U.S. for her comedic work. Yashere is a co-creator, executive producer, and cast member of the American sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola, in which she also appears as Kemi. She has performed stand-up internationally, appeared on programmes such as The Daily Show, Mock the Week, and Live at the Apollo, and has voice credits in animated series and films.

Paul Giamatti (Nus Braka)

Character: A central antagonist in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Braka is introduced as a powerful and calculating figure whose actions place him in opposition to Starfleet and the Academy’s mission. Positioned as a major threat within the series’ overarching storyline, the character brings political, ideological and personal conflict into the lives of the cadets and faculty alike.
Best known for: Paul Giamatti is an Academy Award–nominated American actor with one of the most accomplished résumés in contemporary film and television. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Cinderella Man and is widely recognized for performances in films such as Sideways, American Splendor, The Holdovers, Saving Private Ryan, The Illusionist and 12 Years a Slave.

On television, Giamatti has earned significant acclaim for his work in prestige series, winning multiple Golden Globe Awards for John Adams and Billions, in which he starred as U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades. Known for his ability to bring depth, intelligence, and unpredictability to both protagonists and antagonists, Giamatti’s casting in Starfleet Academy represents one of the franchise’s highest-profile dramatic additions.

How to watch ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy premieres exclusively on Paramount+ next Thursday, January 15, 2026. The debut features a two-episode premiere followed by new episodes dropping weekly every Thursday through the season finale on March 12.