The upcoming series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy got a teaser trailer today at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 that not only offers our first real look at what to expect from the show, but also some references to the Trek of yesteryear — including a major Deep Space Nine reference.
While Starfleet Academy is set in the same time period as Star Trek: Discovery’s later seasons — in the 32nd century, so some 900 years after the Original Series era — the trailer features several namedrops of favorite characters, like the James T. Kirk Pavilion at the Academy and a wall of names of past officers, from Tom Paris to Data to Nog to Scotty and beyond. But the biggest callback is to DS9’s Captain Sisko.
🚨 NEW TRAILER for #StarTrek: Starfleet Academy!
The new first-look welcomes Cadets back to #StarfleetAcademy in San Francisco, plus introducing the new Starship – the USS Athena!
🖖 Coming Early 2026!#SDCC pic.twitter.com/fZ3brdYadk
— Trek Central (@TheTrekCentral) July 26, 2025
At around the 1:10 mark, we see Kerrice Brooks’ character Sam looking at a display about “The Fate of Benjamin Sisko.” Captain Sisko, of course, was played by Avery Brooks on Deep Space Nine. In addition to being a Starfleet officer, he also became known as the Emissary of the Prophets, a holy figure in the religion of Bajor (the planet that Deep Space Nine was based near). Spoilers for a 26-year-old series, but in the DS9 finale, Sisko seemed to sacrifice himself to save the day, falling with the villainous Gul Dukat into the Bajoran Fire Caves. But while his physical form was apparently destroyed, he continued to exist on a higher plane with the Prophets, the god-like beings worshipped by the Bajorans.
So that’s a lot right there, but the question is, why is Sisko being teased in the trailer for Starfleet Academy? Will the show somehow connect back to Deep Space Nine and Sisko’ fate? Modern Star Trek has certainly been willing to bring back older characters, like Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine on Picard and Robert Picardo’s The Doctor on Starfleet Academy itself. That said, Brooks has seemed disinterested in pursuing his connection to Star Trek in any meaningful way in recent years, so the idea that he might actually return in some form seems unlikely.
In any case, there’s a lot more to the Starfleet Academy trailer, including a look at the show’s main starship, the USS Athena, and the new characters. Here’s a breakdown of who’s who from a Paramount Plus press release:
- Academy Award winner Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake, the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy and Captain of the U.S.S. Athena, who also happens to be a long-lived half-Lanthanite. (Note that Strange New Worlds character Pelia, played by Carol Kane, is also a Lanthanite.)
- Sandro Rosta is Caleb Mir, an orphan with a troubled past – and unlikely Starfleet cadet.
- Karim Diané is Jay-Den Kraag, a Klingon cadet who dreams of becoming a medical officer.
- Kerrice Brooks is Series Acclimation Mil, a.k.a. Sam, the first of her kind to ever attend Starfleet Academy.
- George Hawkins is Darem Reymi, an aspiring captain from a wealthy home world.
- Bella Shepard is Genesis Lythe, an admiral’s daughter determined to make her own name in Starfleet.
- Zoë Steiner as Tarima Sadal, a Betazoid and daughter of the president of Betazed.
- Robert Picardo, reprising his iconic role as The Doctor.
- Tig Notaro, reprising her role as Jett Reno.
- Oded Fehr, reprising his role as Admiral Vance.
- Recurring guest star Gina Yashere as Commander Lura Thok, a Klingon/Jem’Hadar hybrid who is the chancellor’s First Officer and Cadet Master.
- Recurring guest star and Academy Award nominee, Paul Giamatti, as part Klingon, part Tellarite Nus Braka, the season’s villain with an ominous past connected to one of our cadets.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is expected to debut in early 2026, which is the 60th anniversary of the franchise.
Other news out of the Comic-Con panel included a Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 announcement video that promises an episode where the crew are turned into Jim Henson puppets, and the latest info on the Star Trek: Khan audio podcast, which has added George Takei as Captain Sulu and Tim Russ as Ensign Tuvok to the cast. Sonya Cassidy has also joined the cast, which is led by Naveen Andrews as Khan Noonien Singh and Wrenn Schmidt as Lieutenant Marla McGivers. The scripted podcast series debuts on September 8, 2025.
Talk to Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura, or listen to his Star Trek podcast, Transporter Room 3. Or do both!
