Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is returning for season 2 — which is now the show’s last — but it will look different after multiple cast exits.
Showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau confirmed to TV Insider that Nus (Paul Giamatti) and Anisha (Tatiana Maslany) would be back in the sophomore season, which has already been filmed as season 1 came to an end on Paramount+ earlier this month.
“We still have plans for Anisha, and we’d love to bring her back, but that didn’t, I think, instinctively feel like a story that wanted to, just the search for mom, go beyond one season,” Kurtzman teased to the outlet. “We would love to bring Tatiana back for that.”
Kurtzman didn’t rule out returns for both characters in a potential season 3.
“No, not in season 2,” he continued. “There’s nothing we want more than to bring Paul back and there’s nothing Paul wants more than to come back, so we are going to figure that out in Season 3.”
It was later confirmed that season 2 would be the show’s last. “We’re incredibly proud of the ambition, passion, and creativity that went into bringing Star Trek: Starfleet Academy to life,” CBS Studios and Paramount+ said in a statement. “The series introduced audiences to a bold new group of characters, welcomed familiar faces, and expanded the Star Trek universe in exciting new ways. We’re grateful to Alex Kurtzman, Noga Landau, Gaia Violo, and the entire cast and crew who pushed storytelling boundaries in the spirit of Gene Roddenberry’s vision. We look forward to sharing the upcoming second and final season with everyone, and continuing to celebrate the cast, crew, and all that was accomplished with this series.”
The showrunners released their own statement.
“It’s been my and Noga’s joy and privilege to help carry Gene Roddenberry’s extraordinary vision forward with Starfleet Academy, thanks to the hundreds of hardworking humans who pour every ounce of their talents into the work daily with imagination and reverence. We are in post-production now on what will be the second and final season. We’re so proud of what we’ve accomplished together on this show, and the world will get to see the work of these extraordinary artists when season two airs. We will finish strong,” read their statement. “Whether you’re working on Star Trek or part of the marvel that is Star Trek fandom — its very heart, soul, and conscience —the joy comes from adventuring across boundaries of time, space, and the humanly possible in service to Roddenberry’s transformative vision of the future. That incomparable vision was fueled by an inexhaustible optimism. Star Trek places its bet on the best in human nature. It dares to imagine a society of ‘infinite diversity in infinite combinations,’ free of war, hate, poverty, disease, and repression, and dedicated to the spirit of scientific inquiry and respect for all life, whether carbon or silicon-based, green-skinned or blue.”
They concluded: “But make no mistake: Gene Roddenberry wasn’t some starry-eyed dreamer. He was a decorated Army bomber pilot in the Pacific Theater. He had seen first-hand the grim consequences of the worst of human nature. And his vision of the future wasn’t just a promise of hope. It was also a warning. In a fraught, frightening time of intolerance and violence, Star Trek said: Look! We made it! But just barely. First, we had to put all those ancient scourges behind us. It said that what makes us glorious as a species, and gives us hope for the future and the galaxy is inextricably linked to what makes us dangerous to each other, to this one world we presently inhabit, and to ourselves. That dual message—of hope and of warning—isn’t just a pretty dream but a call to action, to think about who we are in a different way.”
The writers were previously determined to wrap up certain story lines to make room for others. “I think from the beginning we were open to all things, but it felt like as we were nearing the end and thinking about how do you pay off everything and how do you answer all of the incredibly complicated questions that the pilot brings up?” Kurtzman explained. “It felt like, well, we need to bookend this season with another trial.”
He continued: “That’s how we started the show. That’s how we’ve got to end the show. But this trial really needs to go there. It’s not going to be a scene. It’s going to be the whole episode. And some of the greatest Star Trek episodes ever — [The Next Generation‘s] ‘The Measure of a Man’ — are trial episodes. So, it felt very appropriate.”
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which premiered on Thursday, January 15, follows the first new class of Starfleet cadets in over a century as they come of age and train to be officers.
In addition to Maslany and Giamatti, the spinoff starred Holly Hunter, Sandro Rosta, Karim Diané, Kerrice Brooks, George Hawkins and Bella Shepard. Oded Fehr, Gina Yashere, Brit Marling, Stephen Colbert, Robert Picardo, Tig Notaro and Zoë Steiner make up the rest of the cast.
Kurtzman clarified to TV Insider that “everybody else who’s currently on the show” is back in future episodes, adding, “That’s the plan, yeah. … Yes, there are new cast members and some new, really exciting guest stars. How about I leave it at that?
As for season 2? Landau teased the world getting bigger and better.
“There’s some really big concept episodes in Season 2 that really invoke Trek at its best that I’m so excited for the audience to watch because I think something we learned about our audience reception in season 1 is that people really do love these episodes that are sort of close-ended stories that really feel like a complete meal,” she noted. “And that’s really cool because that’s what Trek always did so well in the past.”
Landau concluded: “And we continue to really do that in season 2. And I’m excited for people to partake of these really great standalone episodes that we have coming, as well as an amazing serialized story over the course of the season.”
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is streaming on Paramount+.
