Starfleet Academy’ Series Casts Holly Hunter in Main Role

Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” series has cast Holly Hunter in the lead role, Variety has learned.

Hunter’s character will serve as Captain and Chancellor of the Academy, presiding over both the faculty and a new class of Starfleet cadets as they learn to navigate the galaxy in the 32nd century.

“It’s like we’ve spent our entire lives watching Holly Hunter become an all-around genius,” said co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau. “Having his extraordinary authenticity, fearlessness, sense of humor and talent at every level to lead the charge on ‘Starfleet Academy’ is a gift to all of us and to the enduring legacy of ‘Star Trek’.”

Filming on “Starfleet Academy” will begin in Toronto later this summer, with the largest contiguous set ever built for a “Star Trek” series, a central university atrium that will span two floors and include an amphitheater, classroom, a refectory and an idyllic tree-lined path.

With its focus on higher education – from the pangs of budding romance to the pressures of academic success to the anguish of painful self-discovery – “Starfleet Academy” is part of a broader strategy aiming to expand what a “Star Trek” series can look like. .

“These are kids who have never received a red alert before,” Landau said. Variety in a March 27 cover story about the future of “Star Trek.” “They never needed to use a carrier or engage in phaser combat.”

Hunter is part of an elite company of actors who are boldly taking on “Star Trek” after winning an Oscar, including Whoopi Goldberg, Louise Fletcher and F. Murray Abraham. Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in “The Piano” in 1993, as well as nominations for “Broadcast News” in 1987, “The Firm” in 1993 and “Thirteen” in 2003. spans five decades, from her breakout role in the 1987 Coen Brothers film “Raising Arizona” to her iconic role as the voice of Elastigirl in 2004’s “The Incredibles” and 2018’s “The Incredibles 2.”

Hunter previously starred in and produced the TNT crime series “Saving Grace,” which aired for three seasons. She won Emmy Awards for the television films “The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Murderous Texas Cheerleader Mom” and “Roe vs. Wade.” Most recently, she starred alongside Ted Danson in the NBC comedy “Mr. Mayor.”

Hunter is repped by CAA, Entertainment 360 and Ziffren Brittenham.

Kurtzman and Landau are co-showrunners and executive producers of “Starfleet Academy.” Gaia Violo, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Onsunsamni, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa and John Weber also serve as executive producers. The first episode of the series was written by Violo. CBS Studios produces in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

“Starfleet Academy” is the latest addition to Paramount’s “Star Trek” television universe. Next year, “Section 31” will explore Starfleet’s black ops division in the first streaming “Star Trek” film, starring recent Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh (reprising her role from “Discovery”). Elsewhere, “Lower Decks,” the first “Star Trek” animated comedy, will end its run after five seasons in the fall, while “Discovery” — the flagship show of the revamped “Star Trek” TV projects — 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.