Set phasers to stunned. In another casting coup, the upcoming Paramount+ series “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” has cast Emmy winner and multiple Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti in a recurring guest role as the first season’s main villain, who has a sinister connection to the past of one of the (yet to be cast) cadets.
Giamatti joins Holly Hunter, who Variety exclusively reported in May is boarding “Starfleet Academy” as the Academy’s captain and chancellor.
“Sometimes you’re lucky enough to discover that one of the greatest actors alive is also a huge ‘Star Trek’ fan, and meeting Paul was one of those miraculous moments for us,” said co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau in a statement. “The sheer delight with which he dove in on ‘Starfleet Academy’ is only surpassed by the gratitude we feel about him joining our incredible cast.”While “Star Trek” shows have always featured an impressive array of acting talent, rarely has a “Trek” show launched with quite this much star power, underlining how much of a priority “Starfleet Academy” has become for Paramount+, CBS Studios and Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout. When the show begins shooting in Toronto later this summer, it will include the largest contiguous set ever constructed for a “Star Trek” series: an academic atrium spanning two stories, with an amphitheater, classrooms, a mess hall and an idyllic walkway lined with trees.
As the title suggests, the series will chronicle the lives of the Academy’s cadets, from their academic and romantic pursuits to contending with the newest adversary to endanger the peace and prosperity of the United Federation of Planets. Producers are said to be seeking emerging talent for the younger cast.
