A year after the series was formally ordered by Paramount+ (and two Hollywood-stopping strikes later), the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy project is moving forward through pre-production — and franchise boss Alex Kurtzman shared where things stand in a recent interview.
 
Speaking to Collider at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas this week, Kurtzman shared that the writing team is about halfway through scripting Starfleet Academy’s 10-episode first season — but it’ll still be a while until we see the series as casting has not yet begun.
 

While filming itself may start later this summer, Kurtzman was quick to remind Collider that it’s not just on-set action that has to be considered:

“It could end up not airing until 2026. We don’t know… building the sets alone is a massive endeavor, then six months of shooting, then six to eight months of post…  it’ll come out when it’s done.”

Kurtzman also kept secretive about exactly when the Academy series will take place along the Star Trek timeline — most bets have been placed on the far-future Discovery era, though nothing’s been confirmed yet — but he did share some interesting information about the young characters around which the series will center.

“There’s a lot of different kids from a lot of different places. Some of them want to be there, some of them don’t want to be there. It’s gonna be a fundamental reinforcement of all the things we love about Starfleet, in general….

 

[A] fundamental ‘Star Trek’ question, is, ‘How did we get here? How has this generation inherited the mistakes from previous generations? And what are we gonna do to fix it, to build that optimistic future that is Roddenberry’s essential vision?’ That is very much going to be at the heart of Starfleet Academy.”

The show may also follow these ‘kids’ beyond their Academy days, or rotate new cast members in as some cadets graduate, Kurtzman teased:

“Without spoiling anything, what I’ll tell you is I think the structure and the construction of the show is going to allow for both of those things to happen.”

Finally, the producer also emphasized his goal to make sure Academy (and the other Paramount+ series) includes the longtime fans of Trek’s near-60-year adventure, he said:

“You have to make sure that you are also pleasing people who have been around and are die-hard ‘TOS’ fans, die-hard ‘ Next Gen’ fans, whatever iteration of ‘Trek’ is yours. You cannot alienate those people. You actually also have to invite them to the tent….

 

[You] need to make a show that you can drop into if you don’t know anything about ‘Star Trek,’ but also a show that you can get a tremendous amount out of if you have all of that canonical history.”

You can read the rest of Kurtzman’s comments in the full Collider article. We’ll be sure to bring you any and all news on the Starfleet Academy series as it breaks — fall in, cadets!