Why Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Isn’t Set Post-Picard

With its focus on young characters and a school-based setting, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy could have been set in conceivably any era of the franchise. After all, its coming-of-age themes are universal ones, and its central premise, which details how unseasoned cadets are ultimately forged into the Federation leaders of tomorrow, is something that would surely resonate in any corner of the Trek timeline. 

Some of us (read: me cough cough) likely hoped that Starfleet Academy would turn out to be Paramount+’s Star Trek: Picard follow-up, if only because that series introduced us to Star Trek: The Next Generation’s literal next generation, who were all of the right age to be students or recent graduates. (It was even a plot point that Kestra Troi-Riker was headed off to start classes in San Francisco! Her parents could pop in for cameos!) But, according to the folks behind the scenes, the series’ setting is not just deliberate, but a key element of making it relevant to today’s audience.

“Star Trek has always been a mirror that reflects the moment in which each series is made,” Alex Kurtzman said in a recent SFX Magazine cover story (h/t TrekMovie.com). “The Federation is actually trying to return to its roots and embrace its core tenets, but the moment we’re meeting right now is a world of kids who are inheriting a lot of damage and a lot of chaos, and it’s up to them to figure out how they’re going to make a brighter future out of it. So it felt to us that if you were to put Starfleet Academy in the halcyon days of the Federation, it would be a lovely fantasy, but it wouldn’t really reflect what kids are going through now. It felt very topical and very relevant to put it in the 32nd century.”

Starfleet Academy takes place in the aftermath of the event known as The Burn. A galaxy-wide disaster that decimated warp travel and led many cultures to isolate and withdraw from the Federation entirely, its effects were felt for well over a century. (Until the U.S.S. Discovery arrived and helped everything, but a story on another show.) Starfleet Academy follows the first class to attend the institution in a hundred years, all of whom will be asked to help reshape its purpose for the future.

Though The Burn was a major plot point in Star Trek: Discovery’s third season, the fallout from the event, as such, wasn’t fully explored in any real depth. But according to co-showrunner Noga Landau, that’s about to change, as all of the young cadets’ lives have been shaped by the Burn in some way.

“Because of the Burn, they didn’t grow up during a time of abundance, of peace, of stability. Instead it was a time of desperation for a lot of people, so we have characters who grew up in refugee camps, or who grew up on Starfleet ships but have never set foot on a planet,” she said. “We also have a character who basically grew up as a prince on a planet that had a rare supply of dilithium. They reflect the array of global experiences of young folks, in a way that I think is really important for the audience.”

Furthermore, Starfleet Academy’s setting — which includes characters from the early days of the Federation in the form of both the half-Lanthanite Chancellor Nahla Ake and the various Discovery crew members who jumped forward in time during the events of that series — means that it’s uniquely positioned to simultaneously evaluate where the world of Trek has been and where it’s going. Whether it will accomplish that mission remains to be seen, but it’s certainly the kind of idealistic idea you’d expect from a Trek property, so that has to count for something.