Paul Giamatti has joined the cast of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Announced on the official Star Trek website, Giamatti has been cast “as a recurring guest star” that will see him play a villain in the first season of Paramount+’s upcoming Star Trek series. His character will have “an ominous past connected to one of the Academy’s cadets.”
“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,” co-showrunners and executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau said. “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.”
Giamatti recently received an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for his role in 2023’s The Holdovers. He’s starred in numerous movies and television series over the years, including 2003’s American Splendor, 2004’s Sideways, 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and many more.
It was also recently announced that Giamatti has been cast in the upcoming Hostel television show based on Eli Roth’s film series.
What is Star Trek: Starfleet Academy about?
“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy introduces viewers to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism,” the synopsis for the series reads. “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.”
It was previously announced that Holly Hunter will play the captain and chancellor of Starfleet Academy in the new Star Trek series.
A premiere date for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has not yet been set by Paramount+.