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

Hollywood Journal

'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? I'm playing the chancellor of a school.

00:10And he said, Starfleet Academy? And I said, yeah. And then we're going on, I said, wow,

00:18you know, somebody called me captain. And he said, you're the captain?

00:22And 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

00:49talk to about, you know, we stand on their shoulders, right? So the first thing that we did

00:55with Bob was ask him when we first started talking, what did, what did you feel about the

01:01doctrine? Where do you imagine him going? So 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. What is that,

01:12you 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

01:24said to each other, okay, just imagine it's Holly Hunter playing the role. Imagine, imagine. And

01:30that's how we wrote it. And then we asked Holly Hunter if she would like to play the role. And I

01:36can't believe she said yes. I still can't believe, I still wake up every day and I'm like, Holly Hunter

01:40said yes. Wow. But you know what's so cool about it is what Holly, the captain that Holly plays is a

01:48captain unlike any I've seen in Star Trek before. Because not only does she have to be the captain

01:54of a starship and a group of people, but she also has to be the chancellor of a school. So she has to

02:00have a unique energy and a unique ability to connect with the cast and the kids. They're not kids,

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

02:14reflects the life. For Holly, you know, was it an easy yes for you? How did you decide to take over

02:22this school? Yeah, it was easy. I mean, and that's one of the, it's one of the great fortunate

02:29experiences to be unequivocal. It's like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do this. That's more of a rarity

02:39because generally it's like, I was like, well, this is, but this was, first off, I'm reading the

02:45script and, and my, my husband is there and he said, so what are you, what are you reading?

02:51Star Trek. He's like, Star Trek. And, and I, and, and I said, hey, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm playing the

03:00chancellor of a school. And he said, Starfleet Academy? And I said, yeah. And then we're going,

03:08and I said, wow, you know, somebody, somebody called me captain. And he said, you're the

03:15captain. And so then I was like, wow, maybe I should do this.

03:20And 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, ration therapy for that, but I literally, I shed so many tears

03:37when I first walked onto that set. The scale of everything, you automatically feel like you're

03:42a part of something bigger. And I, that's what I felt when I walked in. I was like, I feel like I'm

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

03:52is though. 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.

04:01Like, you know, you're going somewhere and something is a big, big story. And I think

04:06something that our show does so well is it works with the intimate or so it focuses on

04:12the intimate to allow the scale to be, uh, like relatable. Right. And the, the set is

04:17one of those huge scale things that we, we have these, it was the biggest set in North

04:21America at the time. And the fact that we, we had that huge scale, but we had really like

04:25intimate scenes within that scale. Uh, it was a, it was an exciting thing to, to play.

04:30Yeah. Yeah. And I remember clearly walking onto the Voyager sets more than 30 years ago

04:36and how impressed I was with how real this vision of the future seemed when we were on

04:43them. But, uh, the scale of the sets of Starfleet Academy are something I never imagined. As George

04:50said, we're on the biggest soundstage in all of North America, which means any Hollywood

04:55soundstage is not as big as the one as our main set is on. And it's the largest set ever

05:00built for Star Trek. So it, it, the, the scale of it is, um, it, it's both, uh, a little

05:07intimidating, but very inspiring and makes us and really makes you feel that we're doing

05:13something that is based on a great tradition, but we're carrying it further and farther than

05:18it's ever gone. And for the younger cast, um, how much work you, when you walk onto set, does

05:25the set accomplish some of the job for you? I mean, imagine that's, that's helpful.

05:28Yeah.

05:29Were you impressed?

05:30It 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.

05:41And 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.

06:02I keep saying this, but it's, it's the biggest set in North America. It's huge. So like there's

06:10classrooms and like multiple levels and nooks and like there's just cafeterias, hallways, um, uh,

06:18dorm rooms. Like it's real. We're really in school. Like it's its own character, honestly. Yeah.

06:25Well, Alex, if you wouldn't mind picking one question from crypto and then we'll see if you

06:30all could, uh, could answer it. Yeah. What's the best cosplay you've seen at Comic-Con this year?

06:36I saw a really good Gamora. Yes. The Thanos Gamora. Oh my goodness.

06:42Man, Gamora, a lot of Tron people are like coming out the wazoo and looking amazing.

06:47I've seen some Starfleet cosplays too that I'm like, I don't know how you got that. It almost was

06:51a bit illegal for you to have that. But yeah, I would. Yeah. Yeah. Gamora and, and Tron for sure

06:58have been the best I've seen. I saw a really good Orion too. Oh my gosh. I don't know how they

07:03get their hair that color. Yeah. I 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. I

07:15know you maybe you haven't gotten to see much, but you guys have been here a few, a little. No,

07:20I've been in the streets. I've, I've been, I've been outside, yo. There is, ah, it's so hard. It's like

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

07:31walking 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. Have you seen any Klingons?

07:45I did see a Klingon walking by me, but I couldn't say anything because they didn't announce it yet.

07:50So I was just kind of like, what's up, bro? 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,

08:08I am a single child with a single mom and she, you know, worked full time. Um, and I,

08:14I, I'm just one of those kids who had a dream and, um, this is my first job in front of the camera.

08:22So it has flipped my life around in every way that you can imagine. Um, I'm just, yeah,

08:28I'm, I'm in that place where I'm soaking it in. Yeah.

08:32Mm-hmm.

08:37Bye.

08:43Bye.

08:56Bye.

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

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