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There’s a new Captain in the Star Trek universe, and she’s a true legend: Paramount has announced that none other than Holly Hunter has signed on to play “the captain and chancellor” in the upcoming Paramount+ series Starfleet Academy.

The series, officially ordered in March 2023, has been in the works for quite awhile. Set in the same era as Star Trek: Discovery, the live-action series spins out of that series with the establishment of a new Academy, with students being admitted for the first time in over a century. (Anyone wondering why it’s taken so long, you might want to check out Discovery’s third season; the short version is, the galaxy had been quite a mess before the Discovery showed up in the 32nd Century to fix things.)

Writing on the series — the first season of which will run 10 episodes — is continuing apace, with executive producer Alex Kurtzman telling Collider earlier this year, “I think that one of the big things that certainly my 17-year-old son is facing, which is kind of a fundamental 'Star Trek' question, is, 'How did we get here? How has this generation inherited the mistakes from previous generations? And what are we gonna do to fix it, to build that optimistic future that is Roddenberry’s essential vision?' That is very much going to be at the heart of Starfleet Academy.”

Hunter is the first actor announced for the cast of the show, with her role a mystery beyond her job title. A phenomenal actress, she’s appeared in everything from Raising Arizona and Broadcast News to O Brother, Where Art Though, Crash, The Piano, and more. This is far from her first time in television; she’s spent time on Succession and the Tina Fey-created sitcom Mr. Mayor, amongst many other shows.

Starfleet Academy is expected to debut either in late 2025, or early 2026. You can learn more about all the upcoming Star Trek projects in the works right here.

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?