Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has its chancellor and its students, and now it’s filling out its faculty. Gina Yashere will recur on the new Paramount+ series. Variety reports that Yashere will play an instructor at Starfleet Academy.
Any other character details on Yashere‘s role are being kept under wraps for now. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will take place in the same 32nd-century timeframe as the final three seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, and will center around the titular learning institution, which is recovering from a massive disaster that shattered the Federation. It is expected to begin production on Toronto’s Star Trek Stage later this summer. Yashere is a British writer, actor, and stand-up comedian; she previously competed on Last Comic Standing, and was the first-evr British comic to perform on Def Comedy Jam. She is best-known Stateside for her role as Kemi on Bob Hearts Abishola; she also co-created and wrote for the CBS sitcom, which concluded with its fifth season earlier this year. She also lent her voice to The Rubbish World of Dave Spud, The Barbarian and the Troll, and Strange Planet.
Who Else Will Attend ‘Starfleet Academy’?
Oscar-winning actor Holly Hunter will lead the new series’ ensemble as the chancellor of Starfleet Academy. The student body is still filling out, but so far we know that Kerrice Brooks (My Old Ass), Bella Shepard (Wolf Pack), George Hawkins (Tell Me Everything), Karim Diané (One of Us Is Lying), and Zoë Steiner (Significant Others) will all play Starfleet cadets in the series. The main villain of the series, meanwhile, will be played by veteran actor Paul Giamatti; he will play a character with a mysterious connection to one of the Academy’s students, and will recur in the first season. More casting announcements are likely to be made at the Star Trek panel at San Diego Comic-Con, which will be held this Saturday.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is showrun by and executive produced by Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau. Gaia Violo will also executive produce, and wrote the series’ premiere episode. Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa, and John Weber also executive produce.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set to begin production this summer; no release date has yet been announced. Stay tuned to Collider for our coverage of Starfleet Academy and the Paramount+ galaxy of Star Trek series at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend.
via Collider