(Photo: Ricky Middlesworth/Disney/Pixar)

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has found its lead. Holly Hunter has been cast in the upcoming live-action Star Trek series. She will play the person in charge of Starfleet Academy.

Paramount+ ordered the series in March 2023, and production will begin this summer. The sci-fi series will follow a new crop of cadets as they attend the academy.

Paramount+ revealed more about the upcoming series in a press release.

Paramount+ today announced that Academy Award winner Holly Hunter will star in the upcoming original series STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY as the captain and chancellor of Starfleet Academy. The series will follow the adventures of a new class of Starfleet cadets as they come of age in one of the most legendary places in the galaxy. Produced by CBS Studios, the series will begin production later this summer.

“It feels like we’ve spent our entire lives watching Holly Hunter be a stone-cold genius,” said co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau.  “To have her extraordinary authenticity, fearlessness, sense of humor, and across the board brilliance leading the charge on STARFLEET ACADEMY is a gift to all of us, and to the enduring legacy of STAR TREK.”

STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY introduces viewers to a young group of cadets who 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.

Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau serve as co-showrunners and executive produce the series alongside executive producers Gaia Violo, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa and John Weber. The series premiere episode is written by Gaia Violo. STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Holly Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in THE PIANO, directed by Jane Campion, and received three additional Oscar® nominations for her performances in James L. Brooks’ Broadcast News, Sydney Pollack’s The Firm and Catherine Hardwicke’s Thirteen.

Among Hunter’s other notable film credits are The Coen Brothers’ Raising Arizona and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, David Cronenberg’s Crash, Steven Spielberg’s Always, Danny Boyle’s A Life Less Ordinary, Jodie Foster’s Home for the Holidays, Jon Amiel’s Copycat, Lasse Halstrom’s Once Around and Zach Snyder’s Batman v Superman, among many others.

Hunter voiced the role of Elastigirl for Brad Bird’s blockbuster animated Pixar film The Incredibles and its smash sequel The Incredibles 2. She also received SAG Award and Independent Spirit Award nominations for her critically acclaimed performance in the Judd Apatow-produced comedy hit The Big Sick, directed by Michael Showalter.

Her TV credits include Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake, Emmy® Awards for Best Actress for her roles in The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom and Roe vs. Wade and Emmy nominations for her starring role on the series Saving Grace. She also had a guest starring role in the critically acclaimed series, Succession.

STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY is the latest addition to the expanding STAR TREK franchise on Paramount+, which also includes the fifth and final season of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS, the animated series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS and STAR TREK: SECTION 31, an original movie event with Oscar® winner Michelle Yeoh.

The premiere date and additional casting for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will be announced later.

What do you think? Are you planning to watch this new Star Trek series when it arrives?