Star Trek's TV Future Uncertain After Latest Cancellation

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy won't live long and prosper much longer on Paramount+.

On Monday, the streamer announced the show will end after its upcoming second season, the news coming shortly after the Season 1 finale on March 12.

The second season, perVariety, has already completed production.

What Was Starfleet Academy About?

Set in the 32nd century and after the events of Star Trek: Discovery, Starfleet Academy followed a group of young cadets who enlist at the recently-reopened titular school.

As it revolved around students, it featured a much younger cast of characters than other Star Trek series—though both Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti had leading roles.

The series also featured Star Trek: Voyager alum Robert Picardo, She-Hulk's Tatiana Maslany and a student body consisting of Sandro Rosta, Zoë Steiner, Kerrice Brooks, George Hawkins, Bella Shepard and Karim Diane.

Showrunners React to Cancellation

No reason was given for the show's cancellation after just two seasons, though Variety noted it failed to rank in the Nielsen Top 10 streaming charts.

In a statement, CBS Studios and Paramount+ said they were “incredibly proud of the ambition, passion, and creativity that went into” the show, praising it for expanding the Star Trek universe “in exciting new ways.”

“We look forward to sharing the upcoming second and final season with everyone, and continuing to celebrate the cast, crew, and all that was accomplished with this series,” they added.

In their own statement, showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau promised the series will “finish strong.”

“It’s been my and Noga’s joy and privilege to help carry Gene Roddenberry’s extraordinary vision forward with Starfleet Academy, thanks to the hundreds of hardworking humans who pour every ounce of their talents into the work daily with imagination and reverence,” they wrote. “We are in post-production now on what will be the second and final season. We’re so proud of what we’ve accomplished together on this show, and the world will get to see the work of these extraordinary artists when season two airs.”

The Future of Star Trek on TV

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is, for now, the final nail in coffin for live action Star Trek shows in the CBS family.

Paramount+ revived the universe with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017, followed by Short Treks in 2019, Picard and the animated Lower Decks in 2020, the animated Prodigy in 2021, Strange New Worlds in 2022 and Starfleet Academy in 2026. Another animated series, Star Trek: Scouts, also debuted on YouTube in 2025.

Though the future of Scouts is still up in the air, everything else mentioned above has either aired its final episode or has had its final seasons confirmed. Strange New World—the only other live-action Star Trek show still airing other than Starfleet Academy—will debut its fourth season later this year, while the fifth and final season has already wrapped production.

A live-action series from Lower Decks star Tawny Newsome and writer-director Justin Simien was announced at Comic-Con 2024, though there haven't been a lot of updates since. In January, Newsome said the scripts were written and they're received positive feedback.

“And then we turned it in, and then it was Christmas...The business is in an interesting place right now… Who knows?” she added at the time.

A Star Trek movie, however, is reportedly in development from Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, signaling a possible shift back to theatrical releases for the universe.