{"id":33154,"date":"2026-01-22T22:16:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33154"},"modified":"2026-01-25T11:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T16:34:08","slug":"star-trek-starfleet-academy-press-conference-with-actors-paul-giamatti-and-holly-hunter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33154","title":{"rendered":"‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ : Press Conference With Actors Paul Giamatti and Holly Hunter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0@Courtesy of Paramount+<\/span><\/p>\n

“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy<\/strong>” introduces viewers to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself.<\/div>\n
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Executive Producer<\/strong> :Alex Kurtzman,\u00a0Noga Landau,\u00a0Gaia Violo,\u00a0Aaron Baiers,\u00a0Olatunde Osunsanmi,\u00a0Jenny Lumet,\u00a0Rod Roddenberry,\u00a0Trevor Roth,\u00a0Frank Siracusa,\u00a0John Weber<\/div>\n
Network<\/strong> : Paramount+<\/div>\n
Genre<\/strong> : Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi<\/div>\n
Original Language<\/strong> : English<\/div>\n
Release Date<\/strong> : Jan 15, 2026<\/div>\n
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\u00a0@Courtesy of Paramount+<\/span><\/div>\n
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Press Conference With Actors Paul Giamatti and Holly Hunter<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Q:\u00a0 There is a wonderful conversation in the first episode between your character, Nahla, and Oded Fehr who of course is a familiar face from Star Trek: Discovery, where you both talk about kids inheriting a broken world and about building a future. How much does this resonate for the series \u00a0<\/b>and for you both?<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter:\u00a0 Stories are always about conflict.\u00a0 The world is always in flux.\u00a0 Often, we write stories about broken worlds and how we are going to evolve from that, because we’re always in a state of change.\u00a0 Starfleet Academy, but also Star Trek, is constantly examining that flux. The Federation in Starfleet Academy is in a real state of transition, a rough one.\u00a0 They’ve got to evolve to this new world, so this is the beginning of that exploration of that story, of that conflict.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti: I agree.\u00a0 Science fiction in general is about change and growth and inheriting the future.\u00a0 It’s always gonna be about trying to make things better. Star Trek is very much about.\u00a0 As Holly said, the Federation is in a transitional state here, which is exciting and different and new.\u00a0 And troubling.\u00a0 The Federation’s not supposed to be in trouble, is the vanguard that’s making sure everything’s okay.\u00a0 Starfleet Academy is all about the future generations, building character so that they can move forward and help out. Change things.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 Which values of Star Trek do you cherish most? <\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti:\u00a0 Empathy.\u00a0 Openness to everybody.\u00a0 Other cultures. That seems to me to feel like a bedrock value that is instilled in people.\u00a0 Empathy to me feels like a really basic value.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter:\u00a0 Yeah, I agree.\u00a0 Also discussion.\u00a0 Star Trek is about communication across the galaxy.\u00a0 There’s difficulties from different languages to different political beliefs. Star Trek is all about conversation and people continuing to discuss. Be open with each other\u00a0 to get to negotiations, to get to solutions for the community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/ins>\n

Q:\u00a0 How did you approach honoring the Star Trek legacy while at the same time bringing a new take on the iconic TV series?<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti:\u00a0 That was built into the scripts, actually.\u00a0 They were already building in stuff that honored a lot of the traditional values. It’s a great callback for people. Starfleet Academy is already the bedrock for all the myths.\u00a0 Everything comes out of Starfleet Academy.\u00a0 But it feels very much its own show, and very new. But that’s all in the writing. I was just acting out what they gave me to do. I’m a Star Trek fan, so I unconsciously brought a lot of adoration for it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter:\u00a0 It’s so cool because this is the first Star Trek iteration that has focused exclusively on the Academy.\u00a0 That’s just a fresh, new thing for the entirety of the legacy of the series. Then you bring in all these fresh new actors into the mix. It’s chaotic and spontaneous and joyful and relaxed and tragic. They bring their own drama to the show.\u00a0 It’s a big playground.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 What did Alex Kurtzman have to do with that? <\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter:\u00a0 He knows Star Trek so well. He’s been experienced with Star Trek for years.\u00a0 Has written the movie with J.J. Abrams starring Chris Pine.\u00a0 He’s really been involved. I have incredible trust in him for his knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti:\u00a0 He’s got the foundation.\u00a0 He knows it so well.\u00a0 He’s been involved with it for so long, but he’s wanting to take it to new places, try out new things.\u00a0 It’s great.\u00a0 It’s the best of both worlds.\u00a0 He’s the whole thing right now.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: How was it for you to join this extraordinary franchise?\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter:\u00a0 Exquisite. It started when I showed up to Toronto, where we’re shooting it, and I looked at the sets. Because the sets alone, from the beginning of Star Trek, have been thrilling.\u00a0 When I watched it as a kid, the sets were thrilling.\u00a0 The mid-century furniture,\u00a0 the way that William Shatner’s office was outfitted. He’d show up with his, not gun shirts, but occasionally he’d take off his jacket and it was like, “Oh my god!\u201d\u00a0 It was just like a shot of excitement for me. A little bit like being a kid. I’m not a Star Trek aficionado, but it still makes me feel like a child.\u00a0 That’s one of the reasons why a lot of people will watch Star Trek, because it gives you a sense of wonder.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti: I can’t lay claim to being some kind of encyclopedic expert, but I love it, and I’ve grown up with it. I’ve watched several of the iterations in total, but I’m not one of these guys that can quote things chapter and verse. I get scared of those people when I have to deal with them ’cause I know I’m gonna say something wrong.\u00a0 But I love science fiction, it’s a youthful genre, it keeps you young. That’s how I grew up, reading it.\u00a0 There’s a nostalgic thing that takes you back to remind you of being young. It’s always about new ideas, new perspectives.\u00a0 Imaginative worlds. What really makes sense about this show is it’s literally about young people who are embarking on this whole adventure.\u00a0 The youthfulness of it is appropriate to the genre.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"\"\u00a0@Courtesy of Paramount+<\/span><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 What does Star Trek allow you to explore dramatically that a non-genre series wouldn’t, especially within its long moral and political continuity? <\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti:\u00a0 There’s all of that.\u00a0 But I’m a pirate, a space pirate. I’m a half-Klingon, half-Tellarite space pirate. I’ve been all over the galaxy. I probably time-traveled.\u00a0 Who knows? It’s a huge open door to your imagination, that’s fantastic.\u00a0 And then within that, you’re dealing with these very human things. The character has a very human dilemma, it goes along and you figure out why he’s as ticked off at the world as he is. He’s got very human dimensions, he’s complicated. He’s a deeply troubled child inside, there’s all wonderful real dimensions to him. While still being a space pirate. And a Klingon. It’s wonderful.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: Star Trek has given us countless memorable heroes and villains for the past 60 years.\u00a0 Were you inspired by any of them in particular as you ventured into this universe yourself?<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter: \u00a0 It’s about all these people coming from places truly unknown.\u00a0 From millions of light years away.\u00a0 A real character to character, granular intimacy.\u00a0 Even between Paul and me, there were lives there on screen. What is this between them? Unspoken mystery.\u00a0 That\u2019s the cool thing about Star Trek: these incredible opposites, the largeness and the granular intimacy of the show, of these characters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti: There\u2019s some great characters and performances that make the characters really great, that I just love. A Deep Space Nine fan in particular, some of the bad guys on that, Dukat and Garak, it\u2019s wonderful.\u00a0 And the Ferengi guys, Brunt, all these really hilarious, wonderful, funny, strange, scary characters. you know.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure it was in my head in some way.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t consciously drawing on it, but I\u2019m sure it\u2019s in there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 What does the term Star Trek mean to you?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter:\u00a0 Star Trek does begin in a place of nostalgia for so many people, and it can start at the beginning of your life. Where you were drinking lemonade or, in my case, grape juice, Welch\u2019s grape juice is what I had when I was watching Star Trek with my father, with crushed ice that he crushed for me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti:\u00a0 There\u2019s a definite kind of American childhood thing that comes back to you.\u00a0 In the sense of decent, healthy adventuring out into the world.\u00a0 A lot of it is rooted in that.\u00a0 Oftentimes a father introduced their children to it, that seems appropriate to this show, to this particular show, of parents handing things on, adults handing things on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0@Courtesy of Paramount+<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: How was the fight with Sandro Rosta choreographed?\u00a0 How much did he want to do himself?<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti: It was in the script, it was nothing, really.\u00a0 It was like we pushed each other around, that was it.\u00a0 And Alex said, \u201cNow, that fight is gonna have to be like a real fight.\u00a0 We\u2019re gonna have to have a really crazy, violent fight.\u201d And I was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d I\u2019m almost 60, I haven\u2019t done much like that in a long time, but I was game for it.\u00a0 I loved doing it with Sandro because I trusted him entirely. It was wonderful.\u00a0 It was all very choreographed and very worked out. It came out great.\u00a0 There\u2019s one shot where it isn\u2019t me and it isn\u2019t him, only because it was too dangerous for us to do it, so they wouldn\u2019t let us do it. But other than that, it\u2019s me and him. He split his lip and I broke my finger, and it was fantastic. I loved doing it.\u00a0 But they did say to me, \u201cWe have plans for another fight.\u201d\u00a0 And I said, \u201cNo, no.\u201d\u00a0 That was it for me. A Star Trek fight, big, classic Star Trek fight.\u00a0 Like the original series, they always had these great fights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 Although the story is set in the 32<\/b>nd<\/b> century, it deals with rivalry, ambition, and fear of failure. Why do you think these themes feel especially relevant right now?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti:\u00a0 Those themes are always gonna feel relevant.\u00a0 Conflict and failure. Failure is a theme.\u00a0 That\u2019s very interesting.\u00a0 People are afraid of failing, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 They\u2019re students. This guy that I play is really, in a sense, a failure in his way. I don\u2019t believe that there was ever a golden age in humanity when everything was actually fine, you know?\u00a0 It\u2019s always been in flux, the world and people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 What is the earliest recollection you have of the Star Trek universe, and how was it entering this world?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter: I started with my father watching it during the first season with Shatner and Nimoy.\u00a0 I had an appetite for having this filmed conversation about what\u2019s going on. What\u2019s going on with us as human beings?\u00a0 How do human beings navigate all the complexities of our lives in a moral universe? That\u2019s why people keep coming back to it, why it is evergreen. It gives us conflict, but it also gives us solutions.\u00a0 I was very attracted to that, in particular.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti: I started watching with my father.\u00a0 I was probably seven or something like that. It made a big impact on me, particularly the character of Spock. I\u2019m not entirely sure why.\u00a0 Something about Leonard Nimoy\u2019s appearance is extraordinary in that part. He puts it across in an amazing way. There\u2019s an episode where there\u2019s a creature that\u2019s been killing people in a mine, and they don\u2019t know why. Spock has this ability to mind meld with the creature, he reads its mind, and it\u2019s a traumatized creature.\u00a0 It\u2019s lost, young and scared. That really stayed with me.\u00a0 This hyperrational man is the one you call upon to read the heart of the other creature.\u00a0 It’s still moving to me, what an extraordinary character.\u00a0 So, Spock, for me, was a big thing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Q:\u00a0 Your character teaches at a Fleet Academy, where there is even more diversity and a greater range of challenges.\u00a0 How would you describe the character you play and what challenges does your character face?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter:\u00a0 One of the things that has been interesting and fun to navigate through the series is it\u2019s a real active acceptance.\u00a0 Acceptance of how they feel, what they\u2019re thinking, what\u2019s motivating them. Understand it and have empathy for it.\u00a0 On this show, in this story, I give the students a lot of freedom. Because I want to and because they want it. They deserve it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 Do you believe in aliens or have you ever seen a UFO?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter:\u00a0 I can\u2019t say that I don\u2019t believe in them.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve never seen one. I believe that there\u2019s a possibility it could exist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti: I\u2019ve never seen a UFO.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never seen anything that I could say I thought was extra-terrestrial.\u00a0 I think it seems crazy that there isn\u2019t some other life form.\u00a0 It\u2019s gigantic, the universe.\u00a0 Maybe so far away that no, we haven\u2019t encountered them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 Can you please describe the scene on the ship where you and Paul Giamatti had the argument?\u00a0 It was fantastic and it feels like you and Paul Giamatti were playing on stage.\u00a0 Can you please share with us when you first read the script?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter:\u00a0 Paul and I have talked about that. the scene on the bridge, it\u2019s just by nature, it\u2019s theater.\u00a0 The bridge is a theater.\u00a0 Both of us came from the stage.\u00a0 Somehow we felt right at home.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost a theater. It\u2019s not quite naturalism, Star Trek can also not be quite naturalistic. We were goosed by that.\u00a0 That was just a pleasure, slightly erotic, slightly co-conspirators.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0@Courtesy of Paramount+<\/span><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 Your characters represent two opposing sides of the story, yet both are strong and fearless in their convictions.\u00a0 What specifically drew you to want to bring these characters to life?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti: His unpredictability. He plays the clown for people. I find that an interesting quality in a psychopath. I find it menacing and strange. That was interesting to explore, playing a guy who is so violently opposed to all of these values.\u00a0 But for sad, traumatic reasons underneath it all. He hates the Starfleet Academy but I think underneath it he\u2019s jealous of and envies and wishes he had in his life.\u00a0 At the end of the show, you hear a lot about what he thinks about it, there\u2019s a childish admiration of The Federation\u00a0 inside of him that gets thwarted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Holly Hunter:\u00a0 I wanted to bring something very approachable to Nahla. There\u2019s a camaraderie with the students, I want it to feel like they can come to her with anything. I wanted to be a safe place for them. I also wanted the captain to also have that kind of approachability while also being the leader.\u00a0 That was something that I was intrigued to see, I wanted to explore that intersection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 What interactions have you had with the Star Trek community, and how do you anticipate that relationship building?<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Giamatti: I haven\u2019t had any real encounters yet. I\u2019m a little afraid. I\u2019m a little afraid of this overselling that I know all about Star Trek that\u2019s going on, \u2018cause I know I\u2019m gonna get challenged by people who are gonna have issues with what I did. But I look forward to it, actually. I look forward to going to a Star Trek convention.\u00a0 I can go to one of those now, legitimately. So, I\u2019m interested to engage more, see what people think.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you like the press conference, share your thoughts below!<\/b><\/p>\n

Check out more of Adriano\u2019s articles.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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