'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' Cheers The Returns Of Tig Notaro And Robert Picardo
Gina Yashere has also been added to the cast, which got a full unveiling at San Diego Comic-Con
Oh wow, covering the Star Trek Universe panel in Hall H of San Diego Comic-Con is going to be quite the trek in itself. We’ll start off with Starfleet Academy, whose casting of actor, comedian, writer, and Bob Hearts Abishola creator Gina Yashere as an instructor broke before the panel, but provided some major surprises of familiar faces during it.
Star Trek: Discovery’s Tig Notaro, who plays Jett Reno, and Robert Picardo, returning as The Doctor to live action Star Trek over 20 years since the series finale of his debut series Voyager, and after a season of the animated Prodigy, will be series regulars on the upcoming Paramount+ series. Fellow Discovery alums Mary Wiseman and Oded Fehr will guest star, returning as Sylvia Tilly and Admiral Charles Vance. Prior to this quartet, the only adults known to have been cast were the captain and chancellor played by Holly Hunter, and Paul Giamatti’s villain character.
Executive producers and showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau were the only ones on hand for the Starfleet Academy segment of the panel, but did confirm that the previously-reported quintet, Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané and Zoë Steiner, was the entire cadet core of main characters, well, actors until we get character names. A touching video was shared of the moments each of them were told they got their parts. According to the logline they will “come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself.” Filming is set to begin in Toronto in the next few weeks.
Yashere got her start in the States as a finalist on Last Comic Standing, subsequently doing sets on The Daily Show, Def Comedy Jam, Live at the Apollo and The Tonight Show. Her previous acting credits include The Neighborhood, Crashing and The Barbarian and the Troll.
Kurtzman touched upon Giamatti’s casting, saying that it came about because he saw Giamatti say he wanted to be a Klingon during his press tour for The Holdovers. A Zoom meeting was set up to not only verify the claims but discuss the opportunity. According to Kurtzman, he cried. He was so into it, he ultimately picked what role he wanted to play. He also confirmed that it stretches the entire season. As for Picardo, it The Doctor, whose being was born as an emergency medical hologram, makes the most sense, as even as he expanded his consciousness beyond the confines of his programming, he’s still an immortal being who can even be duplicated. He’s therefore able to live in the all those centuries from even the post-Voyager period that Prodigy, Lower Decks, and Picard take place in.
The show’s other executive producers include Gaia Violo, who wrote the series premiere, along with Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa and John Weber. It is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, and is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.
