Renewing Star Trek: Starfleet Academy for a second season already is a bold move

Star Trek is set to debut a new show in either late 2025 or early 2026. The show is called Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and will not only feature a young cast of newcomers, but will be tentpoled around series lead Holly Hunter and main villain Paul Giamatti. They'll also feature returning stars like Oded Fehr, Robert Picardo and Tig Notaro.

It's set in the rebuilt Starfleet Academy of the 32nd century, not long after the events of Star Trek: Discovery came to a close. It's a continuation of that story, in a way and more characters from Discovery may make cameos in the Academy series. So there's potential for characters to keep crossing over.

It has the potential to be a fun and entertaining show, even if it's marketed to the CW/Teen demographic. Still, potential is one thing, proof of concept is another. We have no idea if Starfleet Academy is going to be good. We simply don't. We're optimistic but being optimistic is not the same as having proof.

We need to see an episode or several if we're going to get on board. That's just common sense. Yet, despite no real footage coming out yet, and certainly no trailer, the folks at Paramount+ have opted to fully back the show and already renewed it for a second season.

There's solid logic behind that idea; no matter how bad the show is, it's likely cheaper to produce a second season of television as opposed to greenlighting a whole new series. At least this way, the sets, and talent contracts are in place.

Yet, it's still a risky choice, as the show may bomb. Fan perception of the Nu Trek Era hasn't been the best and after a cancelation spree, the network can't keep axing shows. It's bad for morale.

If it does, there'd be no reason to carry it for a second season and unlike Warner Bros., Paramount+ likely wouldn't carry Starfleet Academy if it busts. See, Warner Bros. just canceled the Mindy Kailing-led Scooby Doo show that fans hated. They canceled it despite giving the much-maligned show a second season. They felt almost obligated to. Even though most of us knew it would fail.

Paramount+ won't hesitate to pull the plug, as we saw them do on Star Trek: Prodigy. That show was in mid-production with most of the cast having finished their lines for the new season when the network canceled them. So Academy isn't guaranteed that second season if things are bad.

Still, it seems odd that you'd publicly support a project that we have no idea if it's good or not. It feels off to fully back a very unique and unknown entity like Starfleet Academy. If it does get a second season, however, we'll know for sure that it was earned. After all, Paramount+ has no problem yanking shows, so at least that's reassuring.