{"id":27222,"date":"2025-07-27T06:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T06:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/27222\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T06:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T06:17:07","slug":"starfleet-academy-trailer-is-full-of-gen-z-feels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/27222\/","title":{"rendered":"Starfleet Academy’ Trailer Is Full of Gen Z Feels"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe teaser trailer for Star Trek<\/a>: Starfleet Academy is here and it\u2019s a different vibe than traditional Trek. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe first live-action Star Trek project to focus on characters in their early 20s, Starfleet Academy features a largely Gen Z cast playing a class of cadets in San Francisco training for their debut space adventure. The show also stars Holly Hunter, who plays the Academy\u2019s chancellor, and Paul Giamatti, who plays a recurring alien villain in the show.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe trailer (below) which debuted at San Diego Comic-Con<\/a> on Saturday is narrated by Hunter\u2019s character giving a reception speech to the class, saying they will learn \u201cthe skills that shaped our greatest officers.\u201d But what\u2019s more interesting about the footage \u2014 and sure to be debated by longtime (read: old) Star Trek fans \u2014 are the visuals of the young cast as they bond, flirt, dance and look longingly at the stars.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show \u2014 which has already been renewed for a second season \u2014 feels rather different than previous iterations of the franchise that launched in the post-World War II era and for decades focused on military-style teams with a mission. Trek crews had plenty of rules, followed a hierarchy and their dialogue was largely about solving problems, while interpersonal sentiments took a back seat.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat strictness has been considerably softened in recent years starting with 2017\u2019s Star Trek: Discovery. But Starfleet Academy seems to focuses even more on personal fulfillment, romance and a sense of belonging. Hunter\u2019s Chancellor urges the cadets to \u201cdream without limitations\u201d and the show\u2019s official description says the cadets are \u201ccoming together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism\u201d and \u201cnavigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis \u201cmore dreams, less duty\u201d focus is perhaps a smart calculation to adapt the Trek universe for a new generation by ramping up the aspiration and steering away from the \u201cAye, Sir\u201ds of yesteryear \u2014 or it\u2019s echoing media assumptions about Gen Z in way that strays from what fans like about Trek. And, to be fair, it\u2019s likely even a 1990s Trek show about cadets would have incorporated some of the same ideas. It remains to be seen if Starfleet Academy feels like the \u201cOops! All Wesley Crushers\u201d of the franchise. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe trailer comes at what feels like a transitional moment for Paramount+<\/a>\u2018s Trek franchise as Discovery, Star Trek: Picard and animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy have all ended. In February, the Paramount+\u00a0Trek\u00a0team suffered a flop with the release of its effort to spin off Michelle Yeoh\u2019s\u00a0Discovery\u00a0character into a streaming film titled\u00a0Star Trek: Section 31. And last month, Paramount+ announced its popular flagship Trek show Strange New Worlds \u2014 which just returned for season three \u2014 has been renewed for a fifth and final season. <\/p>\n

\n\tThere are other projects in the works, as well, but as of right now Academy is clearly Paramount+s best hope the franchise\u2019s future and luring, well, the next generation. The show also features Robert Picardo\u00a0reprising his role as The Doctor and Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) as a recurring special guest star in season one. Academy stars Sandro Rosta, Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Dian\u00e9 and Zo\u00eb Steiner. Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau serve as co-showrunners and executive producers alongside executive producers Gaia Violo, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa and John Weber.<\/p>\n

\n\tStarfleet Academy will premiere in early 2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The teaser trailer for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is here and it\u2019s a different vibe than traditional Trek.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,17878,75,9489,9487,21246],"class_list":["post-27222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-comic-con","tag-entertainment","tag-paramount","tag-star-trek","tag-star-trek-starfleet-academy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}