The Paramount+ series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has cast Holly Hunter in a main role. Hunter’s character will be the captain and chancellor of the Academy, a bustling home of higher education set in the 32nd-century galaxy.
She will oversee the faculty as well as the new class of Starfleet cadets, who are navigating budding romances, the pressures of academia, and the growing pains of self-discovery. The latest on the science fiction series was first reported by Variety.
Alex Kurtzman serves as executive producer and co-showrunner, alongside Noga Landau.
“It feels like we’ve spent our entire lives watching Holly Hunter be a stone-cold genius,” said Kurtzman and Landau. “To have her extraordinary authenticity, fearlessness, sense of humor, and across the board brilliance leading the charge on Starfleet Academy is a gift to all of us, and to the enduring legacy of Star Trek.”
Hunter is not the first to join the Star Trek franchise after winning an Oscar. Others include Whoopi Goldberg (The Next Generation), Louise Fletcher (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and F. Murray Abraham (Star Trek: Insurrection).
Hunter previously starred in and executive produced the TNT crime series Saving Grace, which aired for three seasons. She won Emmy awards for the made-for-television movies The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom and Roe vs. Wade. More recently, she appeared in the hit HBO drama Succession and starred opposite Ted Danson in the NBC comedy Mr. Mayor. She has also starred in high-profile films such as Crash, O Brother, Where Art Though?, Moonlight Mile, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and The Big Sick.
Starfleet Academy is the latest addition to the Star Trek TV universe. Next year, Section 31 will explore Starfleet’s black ops division in the first Star Trek streaming movie, starring recent Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh. Meanwhile, Lower Decks, the Star Trek animated comedy, will conclude its run after five seasons in the fall, and Discovery will end its run after five seasons on May 30. The popular series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for a fourth season ahead of the third season premiere.
As for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, though no release date has been announced, the series is set to begin production this summer. Stay tuned for more updates.
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