It’s official: Tatiana Maslany is now part of the of the Star Trek franchise. The Canadian actress, who rose to prominence for playing multiple characters in the sci-fi series Orphan Black, is set to make her Star Trek debut in the first season of the much-awaited Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
What Role Will Tatiana Maslany Play in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy?
On a livestream from Starfleet Academy’s Toronto set during the Star Trek Universe panel at New York Comic-Con (NYCC) on October 19th, franchise head Alex Kurtzman – who also serves as an executive producer, co-showrunner, and director of the upcoming series – revealed that Tatiana Maslany will appear as a special recurring guest star in the show’s freshman run.
Tatiana joins Starfleet Academy’s previously announced cast members including Sandro Rosta, Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, and Zoë Steiner. The show’s acting ensemble also includes Paul Giamatti, Holly Hunter, and Oded Fehr.
Although no specific character description for Maslany’s role has been released yet, the actress’ impressive acting credentials, including an Emmy win for her multifaceted roles in Orphan Black, suggest that her Star Trek role will be both complex and pivotal.
Maslany’s most notable acting role after Orphan Black ended its five-season run in 2017 was Jennifer Walters in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Before her Marvel debut, Maslany appeared as Alice McKeegan in the HBO period drama Perry Mason.
Aside from acting in live-action series and movies, Maslany has also done several voice roles over the years. These include Queen Aja Tarron / Queen Coranda in the DreamWorks’ animated franchise Tales of Arcadia and Ollie Harper in Paramount+’s The Harper House.
Will there be a Season 2 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy?
During the Star Trek Universe panel at NYCC, Kurtzman announced that Paramount+ has renewed Star Trek: Starfleet Academy for a second season ahead of its Season 1 premiere.
Sharing a name with the late 1990s video game, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will follow an all-new class of Starfleet cadets mentored for leadership roles in the United Federation of Planets space force. The new series will focus on higher education, from the throes of budding romance to the pressures of academic achievement to the angst of painful self-discovery.
In a March 27 cover story about the future of Star Trek, co-showrunner, Noga Landau told Variety that these Starfleet cadets “are kids who’ve never had a red alert before … they never had to operate a transporter or be in a phaser fight,” so it would be interesting to see how they would react if they encounter a real-life crisis.
When Will Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Come Out?
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy doesn’t have a release date yet, but it started filming in August 2024 in Toronto, where the largest contiguous set ever constructed for a Star Trek series can be found. The said set features a central academic atrium that spans two stories and includes an amphitheater, classrooms, a mess hall, and an idyllic walkway lined with trees. The series is expected to premiere in the latter half of 2025 on Paramount+.