Star Trek: Starfleet Academy doesn’t go into production until later this summer, but the series made major news at today’s San Diego Comic Con Star Trek Universe panel, with some casting news that’s both very expected… and incredibly surprising.
 
Academy showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau announced that Star Trek: Voyager (and Star Trek: Prodigy) actor Robert Picardo will be joining the upcoming series, bringing his holographic Doctor character back to live-action for the first time since 2001’s Voyager finale.
 

Picardo will be joining the show as a series regular. Set some 800 years after the events of Voyager and Prodigy, it’s unclear as of this writing exactly which version of The Doctor will be part of Academy — it could be the same old EMH we know and love, just eight centuries later, the duplicated EMH copy which survived far in to the future (through the events of “Living Witness”), or some amalgam of the two holo-programs.

(It would make the most narrative sense to be the “original” Doctor — who lived through the events of Voyager and Prodigy — but we’ll find out soon to be sure!)

Also announced was the long-expected return of Mary Wiseman, reprising her Star Trek: Discovery role as Lieutenant Sylvia Tilly in a guest-starring capacity. It’s been perhaps the most obvious bit of casting for the new series so far, as the character started working at Starfleet Academy during Discovery’s fourth season, and that show’s series finale established that Tilly would eventually spend decades as part of the Academy faculty.

In addition, both Tig Notaro (caustic engineer Jett Reno) and Oded Fehr (Admiral Charles Vance) will return to continue their Discovery roles in the upcoming series. Notaro will be billed as a series regular, like her time on Discovery, and Fehr will again be a recurring guest star.

In a final new casting announcement (made yesterday through StarTrek.com), comedian Gina Yashere will appear in a recurring role as one of Starfleet Academy’s instructors.

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Because the series has not yet begun active filming, there was no new trailer or other footage featured during the Hall H panel, but Kurtzman and Landau did share this lovely recording of the younger Academy cast — Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané and Zoë Steiner — being told they scored their parts in the new show.

Picardo, Wiseman, Notaro, Fehr, and Yashere join the five cadet actors in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, along with previously announced stars Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy heads into production later this summer — but in the meantime, be sure to check back soon for news about the Michelle Yeoh-led Star Trek: Section 31 movie!