Star Trek: Starfleet Academy actors Kerrice Brooks and Karim Diané defend the quality of their show despite Paramount+ ending it with season 2. Diané played Jay-Den Kraag, the first gay Klingon character in Star Trek, and Brooks embodied Series Acclimation Mil (SAM), a photonic being and the Emissary of Kasq, her home planet.
Less than two weeks after Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1’s finale premiered, Paramount+ announced the series would not be renewed for a third season. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 2 wrapped filming in late February, and those 10 episodes are in post-production for an expected early 2027 premiere, which would close out the young adult-themed Star Trek series.
At TrekTalks 5 to benefit the Hollywood Food Coalition, Karim Diané and Kerrice Brooks joined a panel hosted by Cirroc Lofton and discussed Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s cancellation. After Diané spoke of his pride in having shot 20 episodes and 2 seasons of Star Trek. Brooks spoke publicly for the first time about Starfleet Academy ending, and both actors expressed their pride over their “phenomenal” show. Read their quotes below:
Kerrice Brooks: I’m not bummed about the cancellation because… It’s not like we were canceled [because of quality]… We weren’t a bad show. Sometimes, sh*t just doesn’t work out… Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out. But I do think, yeah, we were a great show.
Karim Diané: We ate. But our show is perfect, baby.
Kerrice Brooks: I think our show is f****** phenomenal.
Karim Diané: Our show is phenomenal.
You can watch the entire 9-hour TrekTalks 5 fundraiser below:
Despite Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s cancellation, Kerrice Brooks and Karim Diané are rightfully proud of their show and the work of their cast, crew, and producers. Brooks and Diané also speak with the hindsight of knowing what’s still to come in season 2, which fans won’t see until next year.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy didn’t chart on Nielsen’s streaming Top 10, and its inability to find a large audience is cited as a primary reason for its cancellation. Robert Picardo addressed other factors contributing to Starfleet Academy’s demise, citing the political and cultural shift in our present society away from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s progressive values.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was divisive due to its focus on young adults and the fact that the show is proudly “woke.” Yet many longtime Star Trek fans who gave the show a chance found Starfleet Academy to be a high-quality production that incorporated aspects of, and was deeply reverential towards, the legacy of classic Star Trek.
After Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiere their final seasons in 2027, Star Trek’s TV franchise seems destined for a hiatus. Currently, there are no new Star Trek projects in production or greenlit. Even as we await season 2, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s fans no doubt echo Karim Diané and Kerrice Brooks’ opinions about their “phenomenal” show.
Release Date
January 15, 2026
Network
Paramount+
Showrunner
Alex Kurtzman, Noga Landau
