Star Trek Officially Resurrects Starfleet Academy’s Biggest Mistake

Published Oct 10, 2026, 10:17 PM EDT

John Orquiola is a TV Editor, Senior Writer, and Interviewer with a special focus on Star Trek. John has over 5,000 published articles at SR, and he has interviewed the biggest names in Star Trek on the red carpet and VIP events, among other beloved shows, movies, and franchises.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's executive producers and co-showrunners confirm that season 2 will bring back something that has historically been the Academy's biggest mistake.

Premiering March 2027 on Paramount+, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 2 will bring the cadets away from their San Francisco campus into deep space for new missions. This will involve meeting a mysterious new cadet named Keats, played by Ruaridh Aldington, in Starfleet Academy season 2's premiere. Meanwhile, an old, troublemaking idea from the 24th-century Starfleet Academy will return in season 2.

ScreenRant was at New York Comic Con's Star Trek Universe panel where executive producers and co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau revealed that the 32nd century incarnation of Nova Squadron will join Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 2. Kurtzman called the return of Nova Squadron "Top Gun in space," while Landau teased that Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta) will be flying against the elite cadets. See ScreenRant's post below:

Nova Squadron was introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5's "The First Duty." The elite crop of Starfleet Academy cadets were pilots that counted Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton), Nicholas Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill), and Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill) in the group. When a foolhardy stunt caused the death of their classmate, Nova Squadron attempted to cover it up to preserve their Starfleet careers.

The idea of elite Starfleet cadets being set apart from the rest of the school and given special privileges returned in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Dubbed Red Squad, these elite cadets join an attempted military coup of Earth by a corrupt Starfleet Admiral. Red Squad was then given their own Defiant-class starship, the USS Valiant, and took it upon themselves to wage a guerrilla war against the Dominion behind enemy lines. Red Squad's hubris resulted in the tragic deaths of most of the group.

However, Nova Squadron returned in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, and its cadets still carried the swagger of being "elite" pilots. In Prodigy's timeframe, about 15 years after "The First Duty," Nova Squadron was not as self-destructive as its predecessors, led by Nicholas Locarno, and ended up as allies of the USS Protostar's young crew.

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Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1 didn't have a Nova Squadron. Instead, the first season introduced a rivalry between Starfleet Academy and the War College. Although the show has a core group, including Caleb Mir, Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard), and Darem Reymi (George Hawkins), they weren't recognized as an "elite" group set apart from the rest of Starfleet Academy.

Time will tell if Nova Squadron has evolved in the post-Burn 32nd century, or if the lofty status of being "elite" cadets will continue to be a problem that results in tragedy for Starfleet Academy. Meanwhile, "Top Gun in space" sounds like a cool idea to look forward to in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 2.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 2 premieres March 2027 on Paramount+

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  Holly Hunter

  Nahla Ake

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  Sandro Rosta

  Caleb Mir