The Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Trailer Is Here!

We were tantalised on Friday by a set of exclusive images from Entertainment Weekly. On Saturday, the first look teaser for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy dropped during the Star Trek Universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2025, along with a host of other previously unknown details about the upcoming series, which is set to debut in 2026.

"And so we begin," states Holly Hunter in characteristic Georgian drawl as the trailer opens. Hunter provides the voice-over throughout. The Oscar-winning actress will be playing 'Nahla Ake,' Captain of the USS Athena and Chancellor of Starfleet Academy.

As the trailer progresses, we are treated to some rather spectacular shots of both the interior and exterior of the Athena, the series' "main starship, and integral part of the Starfleet Academy campus," according to StarTrek.com. This is the first time we've seen the inside of a 32nd century starship full stop. One more thing about Captain Ake — she is half-Lanthanite, like Pelia from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

We immediately know we're back in San Francisco "after more than 120 years". A shuttle flies under the Golden Gate Bridge, leaving a wake in the water below. The trailer moves from shots of bay to port at night before moving to campus to introduce us, or reintroduce us, to its cadets. Last year's SDCC gave us the faces and names of five of the actors playing the young Starfleet hopefuls, with Sandro Rosta joining in August. We now know a good deal more about their characters.

According to the official descriptions via StarTrek.com:

Karim Diané is Jay-Den Kraag a Klingon who "dreams of becoming a medical officer". (Klingons, and Klingon 'hybrids,' will feature heavily.)

Kerrice Brooks is Sam (Series Acclimation Mil), a Kasqian, "the first of her kind to ever attend Starfleet Academy".

George Hawkins is Darem Reymi, a Khionian, and "aspiring captain from a wealthy home world".

Bella Shepard is Genesis Lythe, a Dar-Sha, "an admiral's daughter determined to make her own name in Starfleet".

Zoë Steiner is Tarima Sadal, a Betazoid, "daughter of the president of Betazed," no less.

Sandro Rosta is Caleb Mir, a Human, "orphan with a troubled past — and unlikely Starfleet cadet". The Entertainment Weekly article also revealed that Mir would function as an entry character for the audience and have a 'key relationship' with Captain Ake.

By the 32nd century, the Academy is emboldened by nearly a millennia of history (minus the gap after the Burn) — of the countless legends who have walked its ever-changing halls.

One of those legends — the Doctor — is still around, seen walking in new uniform, in live action once more, through what could be a turbolift door. There is no sign of his mobile emitter, but it could be part of his tricom badge. The Doctor also appears to have aged, but is this due to a change in his program or does he have himself a fancy 32nd century golem? Either way, as executive producer and co-showrunner Noga Landau told Entertainment Weekly, Starfleet Academy will "continue [the Doctor's] story forward in a way that fans of Voyager are going to find really satisfying".

Later, another legend also gets a mention in the form of a set of questions on a display screen: "The Fate of Benjamin Sisko, Emissary of the Prophets. […] Did he die in the fire caves of Bajor? Did he live on in the Celestial Temple?" The answer to that might be both, though this may or may not prevent the Sisko's return.

As Hunter's Ake continues her speech in voice-over, the images move from the "James T Kirk Pavilion" through a memory wall of former Starfleet officers from across the ages, too numerous to list here. "You will learn the skills that shape our greatest officers," Ake notes. "Duty, honour, service," the new batch of cadets chant in unison.

For learning, the Academy needs instructors. No Mary Wiseman's Tilly in the teaser, but there is Tig Notaro's Jett Reno, former engineer of the USS Discovery, turned teacher. WWE Fans were perhaps left disappointed without a glimpse at 'The Man,' Becky Lynch. In the trailer, Reno is sporting what looks like a whistle. That would certainly be on brand! In the exclusive photos from Entertainment Weekly, Reno can be seen standing in front of a desk in what appears to be a seminar room. No whistle, but clearly professorial!

Joining Notaro is British actor and comedian Gina Yashere, who we now know will be playing Commander Lura Thok — a Klingon/Jem'Hadar hybrid, both 'Cadet Master' and First Officer to Captain Ake. Thok is surely going to provide a fascinating new insight into two old foes. Everyone's favourite (D)admiral Vance is also back, played by Oded Fehr. Tatiana Malsany's character appears (in an unknown location with an unknown child) in both the trailer and the Entertainment Weekly release, but remains unnamed.

The villain of the piece, whistling the TOS fanfare by Alexander Courage as he walks down a corridor backed by a group of ruffians, is Oscar-nominee Paul Giamatti. Giamatti has always wanted to play a Klingon and now he gets to — a half-Klingon, half-Tellarite, anyway, called 'Nus Braka'. Giamatti's role will span the entire first season.

As Variety reported in June last year, Giamatti's bad guy Braka will have "a sinister connection to the past of one of the cadets". Perhaps he also has something to do with whatever was raining down in the night sky about half way through the trailer?

Before the curiously meta whistling as the trailer comes to a close, we see further shots of the Athena in orbit, then hovering over the Presidio campus to shots of fireworks next to the Golden Gate Bridge, reminiscent of Voyager's 'triumphant' return home to Earth in the alternate future of Endgame.

"It is my great honour to welcome you to Starfleet Academy," says Ake in chancellor mode to her cadets atop a balcony with the Doctor, Vance, Yashere's Thok, and another officer dressed in black stood behind her. The new title design appears, clearly inspired by the 1997 Star Trek: Starfleet Academy video game.

"Step into your future," the tagline of the Starfleet Academy poster offers. This looks to be the bright and hopeful future we expect from Star Trek, with a more than healthy dose of respect for the past. Coming "early 2026," and with the second season reportedly set to film this year, there's not long left to enrol.