'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' Cast Recall Stepping on Set For the First Time: "It's a Dream" | SDCC 2025 - video Dailymotion

The Hollywood Reporter

'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' cast and creators stop by THR's studio at San Diego Comic-Con and talk about the upcoming television series and Holly Hunter reveals if it was an easy "yes" for her to take on the role of the Captain. Plus, the cast talk about stepping on set for the first time and feeling like they are a part of something "bigger."

Transcript

00:00First off, I'm reading the script, and my husband is there, and he said,

00:04So what are you reading? Star Trek. He's like, Star Trek?

00:08I'm playing the chancellor of a school. And he said, Starfleet Academy?

00:13And I said, yeah. And then we're going on, I said, wow, you know, somebody called me captain.

00:20And he said, you're the captain? And so then I was like, wow, maybe I should do this.

00:30Well, thanks for joining us. Alex, you've been at the helm of Star Trek for many years now,

00:39but Robert's been around even longer. Do you get advice from this guy? Do you pick his brain?

00:45Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's like, what a treasure trove of amazing people to be able to talk to about,

00:51you know, we stand on their shoulders, right? So the first thing that we did with Bob was ask him

00:57when we first started talking, what did you feel about the Doctrine? Where do you imagine him going?

01:03So, yeah, we want to know everything Bob has to say.

01:06So, Noga, you know, you found all this great young talent, paired them with Holly.

01:11Yeah.

01:12What is that, you know, having somebody like Holly kind of taking, you know, being in charge of the school,

01:17what does that do to kind of anchor the show, would you say?

01:19Oh, man. I mean, well, when we were writing the character initially, we, we, Alex Kurtzman and I said to each other,

01:26okay, just imagine it's Holly Hunter playing the role. Imagine, imagine. And that's how we wrote it.

01:31And then we asked Holly Hunter if she would like to play the role, and I can't believe she said yes.

01:38I still can't believe, I still wake up every day and I'm like, Holly Hunter said yes. Wow.

01:42But, you know, what's so cool about it is what Holly, the captain that Holly plays is a captain

01:48unlike any I've seen in Star Trek before, because not only does she have to be the captain of a starship

01:56and a group of people, but she also has to be the chancellor of a school. So she has to have a unique

02:02energy and a unique ability to connect with the cast and the kids. They're not kids, they're young

02:08adults, but the cadets. And it's really interesting how life reflects the art and art reflects the

02:15life. For, for Holly, you know, was it an easy yes for you? Uh, how, how did you decide to, to take

02:22over this school? You know? Yeah, it w it, it was easy. I mean, and, and that's one of the, it's one of

02:28the great fortunate experiences to, to be unequivocal. It's like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do this. Um,

02:36that's, that's a more of a rarity because generally it's like, I was like, well, this is, uh, but this

02:44was, first off, I'm reading the script and, and my, my husband is there and he said, well, so, so what

02:51are you, what are you reading? Star Trek. He's like, Star Trek. And, and I, and, and I said, hey, you know,

02:57um, I'm, I'm, I'm playing the chancellor of a school and he said, Starfleet Academy. And I

03:05said, yeah. And then we're, we're going, I said, wow, you know, somebody, somebody called

03:12me captain. And he said, you're the captain. And so then I was like, wow, maybe I should

03:18do this.

03:18And for the younger folks, Carice and George, uh, you know, you're stepping into this world.

03:25Do you remember much about the first day on set when you're stepping onto these beautiful sets?

03:30I cry a lot in general. Um, we're actually in therapy for that, but I literally, I shed so many

03:36tears when I first walked onto that set, the scale of everything, you automatically feel like you're a

03:43part of something bigger. And I, that's what I felt when I walked in. I was like, I feel like I'm a part

03:46of a dream. Someone's dream, my dream for sure. But like, this is like, that's what Star Trek is

03:52though. It's like, it's hope and it's a dream. It's an attainable dream. That's what it felt like.

03:56The set is such a massive part of the storytelling. And as soon as you see it, you hear the war trumpets,

04:02like, you know, you're going somewhere and something is a big, big story. And I think something

04:07that our show does so well is it works with the intimate or so it focuses on the intimate to allow

04:13the scale to be, uh, like relatable, right? And the, the set is one of those huge scale things that

04:19we, we have these, it was the biggest set in North America at the time. And the fact that we, we had

04:24that huge scale, but we had really like intimate scenes within that scale. Uh, it was a, it was an

04:29exciting thing to, to play. Yeah.

04:31And I remember clearly walking onto the Voyager sets more than 30 years ago and how impressed I was

04:38with how, how real this vision of the future seemed when we were on them. But, uh, the scale

04:45of the sets of Starfleet Academy are something I never imagined. As George said, we're on the biggest

04:51soundstage in all of North America, which means any Hollywood soundstage is not as big as the one

04:57as our main set is on. And it's the largest set ever built for Star Trek. So it, it, the, the scale of it

05:04is, um, it, it's both, uh, a little intimidating, but very inspiring and makes us and really makes

05:11you feel that we're doing something that is based on a great tradition, but we're carrying it further

05:17and farther than it's ever gone. And, and for the younger cast, um, how much work you, when you walk

05:23onto set, does the set accomplish some of the job for you? I mean, imagine that's, that's helpful.

05:28Yeah. It was also really cool because we kind of got to see it come together in stages. Like when

05:34we all first arrived in Toronto, it was still wood and all of the lighting wasn't there yet.

05:40And so then finally seeing it all come together and have all of the stages be so massive and so

05:47detailed was, I mean, it made all of our jobs a billion times easier because it's kind of hard to

05:54pretend to be in space if you've never been in space, but to have these amazing sets, it was like,

06:00oh yeah, we're here. We're in space. We're on a ship. It's, I keep saying this, but it's,

06:04it's the biggest set in North America. It's huge. So like there's classrooms and like multiple levels

06:13and nooks and like there's just cafeterias, hallways, um, uh, dorm rooms. Like it's real. We're really in

06:22school. Like it's, it's own character, honestly. Yeah. Well, Alex, if you wouldn't mind picking

06:27one question from crypto and then we'll see if you all could, uh, could answer it. Yeah.

06:32What's the best cosplay you've seen at Comic-Con this year?

06:36I saw a really good Gamora that, yeah, yeah, yeah, that our cast makes into this. Man, Gamora,

06:43a lot of Tron people are like coming out the wazoo and looking amazing. I've seen some Starfleet cosplays

06:49through that. I'm like, I don't know how you got that. It almost was illegal for you to have that.

06:53But yeah, I would, yeah, yeah. Gamora and, and Tron for sure have been the best I've seen.

06:59I saw a really good Orion too. Oh my gosh. I don't know how they get their hair that color.

07:05I also see incredible cosplay and not always sure what it is.

07:10Finally, we asked the other group this too, uh, fun question. Best cosplay you've seen so far?

07:15I know you, maybe you haven't gotten to see much, but you guys have been here a few, a little.

07:19No, I've been in the streets. I've, I've been, I've been outside, yo. There is, ah, it's so hard.

07:26It's like asking my favorite sibling, you know, like how do you choose? They're all so good.

07:30I saw Gamora walking around in real life. She was awesome. I saw a zombie, uh, Captain America that was

07:39out of this world. Um, it's probably a tie between those two. Yeah.

07:43Have you seen any Klingons? I did see a Klingon walking by me, but I couldn't say anything

07:49because they didn't announce it yet. So I was just kind of like, what's up, bro?

07:52I had to hold it in. I had to hold it in. I was like, oh.

07:56Was there anything, kind of anything you took away from getting to being a cadet, you know, and

08:01stepping into this world? Um, yeah, I mean, it, it's changed everything about my life. Um, I am a single

08:09child with a single mom and she, you know, worked full time. Um, and I, I'm just one of those kids

08:16who had a dream and, um, this is my first job in front of the camera. So it has flipped my life around

08:25in every way that you can imagine. Um, I'm just, yeah, I'm, I'm in that place where I'm soaking it in. Yeah.

08:39There you go.

08:58There you go.

'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' Cast Recall Stepping on Set For the First Time: "It's a Dream" | SDCC 2025

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