Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's final season set for March 2027, with Bill Nighy and Rosemarie DeWitt
Paramount+ announced at New York Comic Con on Saturday that the second and last season will premiere in March 2027. Bill Nighy and Rosemarie DeWitt joined the guest cast, and first-look photos were released.
Premiere window and final run
Paramount+ set the release window for the second and final season of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy at New York Comic Con, where the Star Trek Universe panel took place on Saturday, 10 October. The season will premiere in March 2027. La Razón reports that Paramount+ had already confirmed in March of this year that the series would not continue beyond its second season, and that the final ten episodes will close the story of the young cadets. The first season premiered earlier in 2026. Gizmodo notes that Starfleet Academy is one of just two shows left in the current Paramount+ era, alongside Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and that the panel marked the franchise's 60th anniversary.
Panel and production
Holly Hunter, Sandro Rosta, Bella Shepard, Karim Diané and Robert Picardo appeared on the panel with co-showrunners and executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau. Kurtzman and Landau introduced a new clip teasing the second season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series is produced by CBS Studios in association with Alex Kurtzman's Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, per Deadline. William Shatner also took part in the franchise segment, which included a Q&A with Ben Stiller, and the first-look season two photos were released after the panel.
Two new guest stars
Bill Nighy, known for Love Actually and Pirates of the Caribbean, will play Nyk Ake, the estranged father of Nahla Ake, the character played by Holly Hunter. La Razón says his casting will explore the strained family relationship between the two characters. Rosemarie DeWitt, seen in La La Land and The Boys, will play Laytha Sadal, the First Lady of Betazed and mother of Tarima Sadal. Deadline notes that DeWitt has also appeared in Untamed and The Staircase, and Gizmodo identifies Zoë Steiner as the actor playing Tarima. Both guest stars appear in the photos released with the announcement.
Season two storyline
The second season follows the cadets through their second year aboard the USS Athena. Paramount+ described the season in a press release.
Season two of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy follows our cadets into their second year aboard the USS Athena.
The same release says the cadets face budding rivalries, shaky diplomatic negotiations and a fiercely competitive schoolwide tournament. La Razón adds that the new season will also bring the cadets' personal relationships back to the center of the story.
Keats, the mysterious new cadet
The new cadet Keats, played by Ruaridh Aldington, was first announced at San Diego Comic-Con. La Razón describes him as a young alien with an unknown past whom the protagonists encounter during a mission. The article says his arrival at the Academy brings unexpected consequences once the cadets learn that he is being sought and that his life is in danger. The press release frames his arrival as raising questions with consequences far beyond the classroom.
