Star Trek: NYCC 2023 – What To Expect From Starfleet Academy & Strange New Worlds

Exactly one month after Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 ended on Paramount+, October 11 will be the last big day in 2025 for Star Trek fans to look forward to. A clearer picture of Star Trek in 2026 will be revealed at New York Comic Con.

San Diego Comic-Con in July provided the first glimpse of Paramount+’s next Star Trek series, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. With a cast led by Academy Award winner Holly Hunter and Academy Award nominee Paul Giamatti as season 1’s recurring villain, Starfleet Academy is highly anticipated after its well-received first teaser trailer.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds wrapped a divisive season 3, but is guaranteed two more seasons, consisting of 16 episodes, on Paramount+. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 wrapped filming before season 3 premiered, and season 5’s final six episodes are in production now.

Here’s what Star Trek fans have to look forward to at New York Comic Con on October 11, when Paramount+ hosts its Star Trek Universe panel at the Empire Stage from 3:15-4:15pm ET, and what it means for Star Trek‘s 60th anniversary in 2026.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Will Have A Huge New York Comic Con Panel

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will be one half of Paramount+’s Star Trek Universe panel at New York Comic Con, and this promises to be even bigger and more impactful than its debut at San Diego Comic-Con in July.

New York Comic Con’s Star Trek: Starfleet Academy panel features Academy Award-winner Holly Hunter, Academy Award nominee Paul Giamatti (who missed SDCC in July), and cast members Sandro Rosta, Karim Diané, Kerrice Brooks, George Hawkins, Bella Shepard, and Zoë Steiner.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s talented actors will be joined by executive producers and co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau on stage at New York Comic Con.

Paramount+ announced Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will premiere in early 2026, but New York Comic Con will hopefully announce a firm release date so that fans can mark their calendars, and perhaps unveil some key art and more info about Starfleet Academy‘s characters.

In addition, fingers are crossed for a full trailer for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1 that will show off even more of the cast, aliens, the USS Athena starship that doubles as Starfleet Academy’s campus, and other characters not seen in the teaser, such as the mystery role played by WWE’s Becky Lynch.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will also have an interactive booth (Booth #1723) for attendees throughout New York Comic Con. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s booth is an interactive experience allowing fans to step into the role of a Starfleet cadet-in-training.

Each attendee will receive a personalized ID badge to track their progress as they tackle various hands-on challenges that put their skills to the test. At the end of the training program, participants will receive a recommended discipline path for their future at Starfleet Academy, and receive an exclusive giveaway.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Will Also Have A New York Comic Con Panel

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will be the other half of Paramount+’s Star Trek Universe panel at New York Comic Con. Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, and Martin Quinn will be joined by executive producer Alex Kurtzman and executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers.

With season 3 behind them, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will be looking ahead to season 4, which is expected to premiere in 2026 on Paramount+. Since filming of all 10 episodes has wrapped, hopefully, a teaser trailer or footage of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 will be revealed at NYCC.

It would also be great to learn a release date for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, which is likely to be sometime in the summer, like the previous seasons, although Paramount+ might not reveal that until next year.

Of course, with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5 filming now until December, there are bound to be questions and possible hints about the final season and the ultimate destinies of the crew of Captain Christopher Pike’s (Anson Mount) USS Enterprise.

How 2025 Was For Star Trek Fans

2024 saw top-quality seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Lower Decks, but fans also had to endure the cancellations of all of those shows. Hopes were high that 2025 would be more uplifting for Star Trek.

2025 didn’t start out on the best footing, unfortunately. Star Trek: Section 31, the first Star Trek streaming movie made for Paramount+, was savaged by fans online, and it was a disappointing comeback for Michelle Yeoh as Emperor Philippa Georgiou.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 premiered in June after a two-year wait, but by the second half of its 10-episode run, many Star Trek fans groused that season 3 had moved too far into comedy and its exploration of genres.

While Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 had virtues and high points, its relatively cold reception undercut the hope that 2025 would be a comeback year for the franchise.

However, Star Trek is built on optimism, and fans can look ahead with hope to 2026 and the immediate future of Gene Roddenberry’s nearly 60-year-old final frontier.

Why 2026 Will Be A Better Year For Star Trek Fans

Star Trek celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2026 with two Star Trek series on Paramount+, totaling 20 new episodes of Star Trek premiering on the streamer.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 continues what is still the most popular live-action Star Trek on Paramount+ original series, while Star Trek: Starfleet Academy presents a bold new vision of the future with Oscar-winning actors and a hot young cast.

Star Trek Day also revealed massive plans to ring in Star Trek’s 60th year, with a Rose Bowl parade float, a fan-demanded new partnership with LEGO, Star Trek digital comics, and a “Boldly Go Green” campaign with Do Something.

Paramount’s completed purchase by Skydance Media will also lead to Star Trek becoming a priority on the streaming TV and feature film side. In 2026, a brighter picture of Star Trek’s future could be revealed, with possible new theatrical movies and Paramount+ Star Trek TV series announcements.

Star Trek will hopefully go big in 2026 for its 60th anniversary, and the first steps will be at New York Comic Con on October 11, the last big day for Star Trek in 2025.