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Space… the final frontier. It is the 32nd century now and you are living in the world of Star Trek, where space travel, exploration, warfare and diplomacy have long existed. However, the galaxy is in a long period of healing after a cataclysmic event destroyed Starfleet ships and wiped out millions. As a result, no one has traveled across the galaxy. Those planets in need of help are not getting it. Other planets are taking advantage of the situation. Help is needed.

Back on Earth, San Francisco to be exact, you step onto the bridge of the U.S.S. Athena. This is your new home, as a human cadet of the first Starfleet Academy, 120 years since the Burn. For many of your fellow cadets, they have dreams and hopes of becoming a part of Starfleet and becoming an integral part of the future. Not you. Your name is Caleb Mir. 

Caleb is played by Sandro Rosta and while this is a classic Star Trek ensemble, Caleb will serve as the audience’s eyes, ears, and mouth on the show.

“Caleb starts off in a different place from the other cadets,” Rosta told San Diego Comic-Con. “He starts off being disillusioned by Starfleet. He has grown up without an institution or institutional help for 13 years, so he's been surviving on his own. He's been on his own, on the run, for his entire life.”

“So what was special to play Caleb was to enter Starfleet as an outsider and to become introduced to Starfleet's values of connection, community, working together for a higher purpose, to better yourself as a group, not just as an individual.” 

“He's also on a journey of his own to find his mother. He's an orphan, he's a space rat; the only way that he can find his mother, which you will learn, is he is given an opportunity to become a cadet at Starfleet thanks to Holly Hunter's character (Captain Ake of the USS Athena and Chancellor of Starfleet Academy) and that's where the journey begins.”

In any series built around a school, there’s at least one character through which viewers experience this new world through their eyes. Whether it’s Harry Potter with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or Wednesday Addams with Nevermore Academy, having a person viewers can relate to quickly pulls viewers in is key in connecting with.

By design, Caleb’s skepticism and leeriness of Starfleet mirrors of the bleak outlook that many struggle with today. While 21st century is a long way off from the 32nd century, maybe the hope can rub off on a young generation today.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will engage in early 2026 on Paramount+.

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