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Star Trek boss says the franchise has been wrestling with the idea of a Starfleet Academy series for decades, and finally figured it out for the new 2026 show
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will split its action between San Francisco and interplanetary missions
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The Star Trek universe is expanding. Starfleet Academy is an upcoming spinoff which premieres on Paramount+ in January. The series is set in the 32nd century, as the United Federation of Planets deals with the fallout of the events of Star Trek: Discovery. As the name implies, Starfleet Academy will focus on students studying to be Starfleet officers. But how do you make a show about sitting in a classroom interesting?
“You think of a Star Trek show, and you think of a crew that goes to space,” Starfleet Academy showrunner Alex Kurtzman says during a panel at New York Comic Con. “I think part of the question that many people wrestled with, well before our tenure in Star Trek, was how you do a show that’s just in a classroom all the time. And so, we thought, well, if you made this ship a teaching hospital where you have to go out into the field and learn in the field, but then you dock in San Francisco, you get the best of both worlds.”
What Kurtzman could be alluding to is a 1991 movie that was in development set in Starfleet Academy, starring a young version of James T. Kirk and Spock. The movie, set to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the franchise, never got made - but a script and concept art are confirmed to exist.
As Kurtzman explains it, this idea of a movie or series centered on Starfleet Academy finally got rolling when they decided to take it on the road.
“So, the ship is actually part of the Starfleet Academy in San Francisco but then gets deployed out into space for individual missions. And that’s how our cadets are thrown into real world jeopardy and learn how to actually be Starfleet officers.”
A teaching hospital that explores other planets? I’m intrigued.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy premieres January 15, 2026 on Paramount+.
Space may be the final frontier, but there's no end to Popverse's love of the Star Trek universe. Hop aboard the starship Enterprise with our Star Trek watch order, explore strange new worlds with our upcoming Star Trek TV shows and movies list, seek out the new life of the franchise, and boldly go where no Star Trek film has ever gone before - with Quentin Tarantino?
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