A divisive Star Trek series among certain parts of the fandom just received a brand-new release three months after the first season ended on Paramount+.
In the streaming era of the Star Trek franchise, Paramount+ has released shows like Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy and Strange New Worlds. The most recent installment, Starfleet Academy, wrapped up in March after receiving very mixed audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with a second and final season coming at some point in the future.
Now, as of June 15, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1 is available to buy on digital platforms. Fans who purchase the season will also get access to more than an hour of special features, including the featurettes First Year and Mario Magic: Props, a gag reel, two deleted scenes and one extended scene.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy centers on the titular training center in which cadets undergo an intense program to become Starfleet officers. Holly Hunter stars on the series as Chancellor Nahla Ake, who works as an instructor at the academy.
Aside from trying to graduate from the program, the cadets also have the added stress of dealing with friendships, relationships, rivalries and an enemy that causes chaos for the Academy and the Federation.
Hunter's Star Trek: Starfleet Academy co-stars include Sandro Rosta, Karim Diané Kerrice Brooks, George Hawkins, Bella Shepard, Zoë Steiner, Tig Notaro, Robert Picardo, Oded Fehr, Mary Wiseman, Gina Yashere and Paul Giamatti. Notaro and Wiseman, who play Jett Reno and Sylvia Tilly, respectively, first played these characters on Star Trek: Discovery.
Gaia Violo created Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, with Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau on board as showrunners. All three are also on the executive-producing team with Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry (the son of Gene Roddenberry, who created the franchise back in 1966), Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa and John Weber.
Kurtzman is no stranger to Star Trek after previously producing and co-writing the scripts for J.J. Abrams' films Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness and working on the Paramount+ Star Trek projects Discovery, Short Treks, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, Strange New Worlds and Section 31.
The first season of Starfleet Academy premiered in January 2026, earning positive reviews from critics and an 85% Rotten Tomatoes score.
However, the audience score on the reviews website is much lower, at 52%, after the series received complaints from people in right-wing circles who claimed Star Trek had become woke, even though the franchise has always celebrated diversity, equity and inclusion.
After the review-bombing, Paramount, now under very different ownership than when the series was first announced, revealed it was canceling Starfleet Academy. The entertainment company had already ordered a second season and started filming by that point, so the streamer will release one more season eventually, though a premiere date hasn't been announced yet.
Aside from Starfleet Academy, there's only one other Star Trek series still around: Strange New Worlds. The fourth season will debut this July, with a final season already in the works.
Until Strange New Worlds returns, though, Star Trek fans can revisit Starfleet Academy season 1 now that it's available to buy on digital platforms.
After being closed for over a hundred years, Starfleet Academy is reopening its doors to those who wish to pursue a career as Starfleet Officers. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy follows a new group of cadets as they come of age and build friendships, rivalries, and romantic relationships while being threatened by a new adversary that could destroy the Academy and the Federation itself.
