Executive Producer explains why Star Trek's "Incredibly Optimistic" Next Show fits Discovery's chronology.
Executive producer of Star Trek Alex Kurtzman answers why Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set in the 32nd century of Discovery. Along with co-showrunner Noga Landau, Kurtzman is directing the first two episodes of Starfleet Academy, which will film on the biggest sets ever built for Star Trek and enter production in the fall. Kurtzman also indicated that Starfleet Academy will be situated in outer space as well as San Francisco.
Speaking about the current and future of the Star Trek series in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Alex Kurtzman While being careful not to expose any spoilers, Kurtzman dug into the justification behind Starfleet Academy, the newest offshoot of Star Trek: Discovery and set in the 32nd Century, and how he believes it would be more relevant to the target audience of young people. Here are his quotes:
Alex Kurtzman from Star Trek reveals how Holly Hunter is cast in Starfleet Academy.
Recent announcement of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy recruited Holly Hunter as the series lead on Paramount+ Hunter, who won both an Emmy and an Academy Award, will be portraying an unidentified Academy Chancellor and Captain. Alex Kurtzman told the Los Angeles Times how Hunter was chosen to lead Starship Academy:
That Holly Hunter is the show's lead excites me greatly, very very lot. To be honest, we developed the scripts for Holly believing she would never do it. And we sent them to her; to our great delight and surprise, she adored them and signed on immediately.
Academy for Star Trek
The portal to a career as a Starfleet Officer is Starfleet Academy; Star Trek has had notable graduates who created history in other spheres. The Trekking's voyage depends much on Academy life.
The creators of the show probably want to bring in a fresh set of cadets who will create legacy. Given the environment of the series, it is most likely going to offer fresh analysis on the background of the show.
The Evolution of Star Trek
[Starfleet Academy is set] within the "Discovery" era. That is done for a particular cause. Looking at the world and to his future, I, the father of a 17-year-old lad, understand what my son is experiencing. I see the ambiguity; I see all the things we considered as given as not certainties for him. It's a lot to ask of a young person to see him realizing he is inheriting a great mess to tidy and that it will be on his generation to find out how to do it. If we establish "Starfleet Academy" in the halcyon days of the Federation, where everything is good, it will not be relevant to what children are experiencing now.
Though it will be a wonderful fantasy, it is not actually authentic. Set it in the chronology where this is the first class returning after over 100 years, and they are entering a universe just starting to heal from a catastrophe—which was the Burn, as established on "Star Trek: Discovery," where the Federation was drastically reduced. Since everyone was playing defense during the Burn, they are the first ones who will inherit and re-inherit; their main objective is exploration. This is a really amusing show, a very hopeful one, and a very sad one. These children, in different ways, will, I believe, reflect what many youngsters today are experiencing.
Why Star Trek Matters
Headlining a Star Trek project on Paramount+, Holly Hunter joins Michelle Yeoh as another Academy Award-winner. Yeoh lent her reputation as Emperor Phillipa Georgiou on Star Trek: Discovery before she earned her Best Actress Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once. Choosing an actress with Hunter's reputation and Yeoh's past performance addresses the calmer of actor Star Trek can today demand. The lighthouse for the next generation of cadets at Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will be Holly Hunter's Chancellor.
Source: Times of Los Angeles
