Star Trek: Starfleet Academy reflects Gen Z's real-world challenges

Star Trek: Discovery spin-off series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set to premiere in 2026, featuring a new generation of young cadets in the 32nd Century, amidst a fractured United Federation of Planets (UFP). In the aftermath of a catastrophic 31st Century event called the Burn, in which dilithium (the warp core energy source that powers the propulsion of most starships) became inert and simultaneously destroyed the warp cores of most of the Federation’s starships and crews across the galaxy.

Consequently, the 32nd Century Federation is in rehabilitation mode. The Federation is encumbered by interstellar dissension, the ongoing mental trauma and mass mourning of lost loved ones, and the slow degradation of trust and confidence within this 900-year-old institution. Can it be rebuilt to its former glory and dominance in the galaxy? Can the new cadets cope and still learn to become capable Starfleet ensigns?

Do any of those dilemmas sound familiar? Those 32nd Century angst resonates ironically with current Gen Z (teens to late 20s), who are the first generation to come of age during climate change, environmental degradation, a global pandemic, and the tremendous consequences of technological advancements that impact their daily lives. Likewise, Starfleet cadets may struggle to rebuild a unified Federation in a galaxy that mirrors the real-life challenges that Gen Z will face in saving planet Earth. A 21st Century Earth that often feels increasingly broken, as left by their parents and grandparents.

There was a time in Federation history when 23rd Century Starfleet officers exuded calm deliberation under pressure, with the singular privilege of performing at their peak with minimal external man-made challenges. However, this new generation of cadets in the 32nd Century may be shaped by digital overstimulation. Gen Z has never known a world without social media and its addictive lures, exhaustive pressures of performative perfection – all for the rewards of followers and "Likes".

It's not a stretch to imagine Starfleet Academy cadets struggling not only with starship engineering exams and holodeck exercises, but their own splintered attention spans and algorithm-addled self-esteem. Of course, a tricorder may diagnose a viral infection, or an Academy Counselor could be on staff to help cadets cope with stress, but who – or what will help students navigate constant information overload or chronic mental health degradation when no cadet wants to be labeled as a liability based on their purported mental instability.

Gen Z is shrouded in climate-related stress. Record-high temperatures in the summer, melting polar icecaps, rising sea levels, collapsing biodiversity, and year-round wildfires are no longer theoretical dangers – they are real-world issues Gen Z has inherited. Gen Z, unfortunately, will not have the advantage, as Academy cadets will, to live in a society with advanced technology such as a Genesis device that can rebuild worlds ravaged by climate change or eco-erosion.

 As much as the cosmic technocentric galaxy-wide disaster of the Burn could be considered an environmental disaster, albeit its cause - by a psionic connection to dilithium and a frightened Kelpien child (Suu’Kal). The results were crippling to the galaxy and interstellar travel. The environment of the galaxy was impacted by the collapse of UFP, intergalactic populism and off-world isolation, divided factions, diminished Starfleet, and heightened intergalactic fear and mistrust. For cadets, all things comparable to Gen Z's climate-related stress and uncertainty of the next potential Burn or a similar galaxy-wide devastation.

For Gen Z, activism and standing up for a cause are not extracurricular. Protesting and demanding their voices be heard is an essential “feature” of being Gen Z. Academy cadets may similarly rally together against systemic inequalities within the Federation by questioning leadership decisions and instructors' adherence to Starfleet protocols and manuals, or challenging legacy structures that may support a regime of nepotism and "status quo". Like Gen Z, Academy cadets may be more inclined to question orders than to obey them, and I suspect, if so, disobedience could make for some compelling Starfleet Academy storytelling.

Starfleet Academy may very well be a version of the “Mirror Universe” of Gen Z narratives in the 32nd Century, with a side of Alien Languages 101, Prime Directive Protocols, Warp Field Theory, and hologram instructors. Gen Z and Starfleet's 32nd Century cadets have much in common in terms of what may drive them as well as the external events that may impact their lives and views on their respective societies, cultural influences and institutions.

More from Redshirts Always Die: