Rumors of Starfleet Academy's Early Cancelation Are Untrue, As Season 2 Set To Start Filming End Of August
This weekend, a story broke and was circulated on YouTube and news sites, started by the Tachyon Pulse Podcast, that Starfleet Academy was going to be canceled before season 1 ever hit the air, but Alex Kurtzman, on the same day, gave an interview assuring that season 2 begins filming later this month.
Star Trek fans collectively groaned when the previews for Starfleet Academy got released at San Diego Comic-Con. The show is set in post-Discovery times where Starfleet is rebuilding, and the casting looks to be another rehash of the DEI hires that made Discovery something unwatchable to begin with.
Most notable was the leadership of two women, the first officer of whom is a half-Jem’Hadar, half-Klingon, in a nonsensical move that doesn’t make any sense given how Jem’Hadar are genetically bred in pods.
None of the academy cadets shown as main characters were white males either, which doesn’t bode well for the show already. The whole concept of a 90210 in space has been pushed about for decades, going back to the pre-Enterprise era, but it’s the type of show that will not build enthusiasm from long-time science fiction fans.
The show is said to be expensive, with a $130 million budget for the first season, as they’re pulling out the stops to try to make it flashy for modern audiences.
Tachyon Pulse Podcast put out a rumor over the weekend that Skydance, who’s merging with Paramount, was not happy with the production and that they were considering canceling it before season 1 ever got a chance to prove itself in the ratings. However, that was quickly proven false as Alex Kurtzman gave an interview with Collider, stating the real plans.
Kurtzman talked about how his vision is for a four-year show, saying, “You have to have a four-year plan because college is four years long.”
While season 3 of Starfleet Academy is not guaranteed for Kurtzman and his team, it is already continuing with season 2 as he said, “We do have a plan for season 3. What’s so fun is that when you when you start breaking a season, inevitably, you have too many ideas, and you go, ‘Oh, wait a minute, this is cool that we should do this next season.’… I always want to leave enough room to have improvisation happen, but know what pillars we’re trying to hit. But we just came to the end of season 2, where we’re about to write the finale, which is kind of amazing. And it’s exactly where we wanted to go, but when we started season 2, it isn’t exactly how we thought we’d get there. It’s really fun.”
Season 2, meanwhile, has already been written and they are planning the episode filmings now. Kurztman said, “Yes, there are serialized stories that take you from beginning to the end of the season, and that will carry into season 2. However, we really do have standalone episodes. So once the story has been established and everybody gets together, we begin to foreground certain characters as the lead of each episode, and then everybody comes together, so that by the time you get to the finale, you know everybody very, very well.”
He also said that filming will be starting at the end of August, much like season 1 started in August 2024.
While Trek fans may want Starfleet Academy to go away prematurely, it looks like Parmaount is giving the show two seasons to find its footing.
What do you think about Starfleet Academy? Leave a comment and let us know.
For a great alternative to mainstream science fiction with spy thriller action, read The Stars Entwined on Amazon and support Fandom Pulse!
Season 2? We haven't seen season one yet.
But then again, we haven't seen season 3 of Strange New Worlds either.
Kurtzman's more likely to be lying than Tachyon Pulse.