I’m so happy that Paul Giamatti gets to live his dream in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. A lifelong Star Trek fan, Giamatti is an Emmy winner and one-half of the Academy Award-caliber duo toplining Starfleet Academy, the other being Oscar-winner Holly Hunter, who plays Starfleet Academy’s unnamed Chancellor and Captain. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the next Star Trek on Paramount+ series, executive produced by co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau. It’s a credit to the level of quality seen in Star Trek on Paramount+’s shows that actors like Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti chose to be part of Star Trek.
I’ve been a fan of Paul Giamatti since he played Pig Vomit, Howard Stern’s foil, in Private Parts. No one could have played HBO’s John Adams better, and Emmy voters agreed. Of course, Giamatti was sensational in Sideways, and in his role opposite Russell Crowe in Cinderella Man, for which Paul received a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination. I also love Paul Giamatti’s work in Downton Abbey, and I’m thrilled he is returning for the Downton Abbey 3 movie. The Holdovers was another winner and an Academy Award-nominated role for Giamatti. But, like Paul himself, I never expected Paul Giamatti would be cast in Star Trek until he was announced as the recurring villain in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Paul Giamatti Loves Star Trek And Wanted To Play A Klingon
Starfleet Academy cast Paul Giamatti after learning he loves Star Trek
I didn’t know until Paul Giamatti was on his promotional tour of The Holdovers that his lifelong dream was to play a Klingon on Star Trek. Giamatti’s Star Trek fandom was brought to my attention when I was contacted by Johan Albrechtsen, who interviewed Paul for MoovyTV in Denmark. Johan sent me his interview where he got Paul to recite his dialogue from Sideways in Klingon, which Screen Rant ran an article about. It turns out Paul Giamatti also told The Late Show with Stephen Colbert about his Klingon dreams in 2019:
My dearest wish in the world as a child until this moment is to play a Klingon, basically. Or to be something. I sort of play a Klingon on Billions. But I would love to play a Klingon, or something. I’ve never – for some reason, those jobs don’t come to me.
Paul Giamatti told Portland Mercury of his desire to play a Klingon in 2011, saying, “It’s always been frustrating to me. Because really, I just want to be, like, a Klingon or something. I really would love to play a Klingon. It’s like, goddammit, will I ever get to play a Klingon?” Portland Mercury even began its article scolding J.J. Abrams, who directed Star Trek (2009), “ATTENTION J.J. ABRAMS: You’d be stupid not to put Paul Giamatti in the next Star Trek.”Abrams did have Klingons in 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, but Paul Giamatti didn’t play any of them.
At San Diego Comic-Con, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau told the audience in Hall H that they cast Paul Giamatti after seeing an article about how badly he wants to play a Klingon. Thanks to Starfleet Academy, Paul Giamatti’s dream has come true – at least partially. Giamatti may or may not be playing a Klingon in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, but he has finally entered the final frontier.
What To Expect From Paul Giamatti In Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
Giamatti plays the show’s main villain
Paul Giamatti’s character, name, and even whether he plays a human or one of Star Trek’s aliens is being kept under wraps. This goes for the identities and backstories of most of the cast of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. There are, however, four announced Star Trek legacy characters and actors cast in Starfleet Academy: Oded Fehr reprises Admiral Charles Vance, Mary Wiseman is back as Lt. Sylvia Tilly, and Tig Notaro returns as Commander Jett Reno, all from Star Trek: Discovery. In addition, Robert Picardo reprises The Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager.
Paul Giamatti will tear up the screen and make the most of his Star Trek dream come true.
But even with all of that Star Trek legacy star power, a cast of talented young actors, and the casting coup of Holly Hunter leading Starfleet Academy, it’s Paul Giamatti I’m most excited for. Giamatti’s role is recurring, but he plays Starfleet Academy’s main villain. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy just began filming, with a targeted 2026 premiere on Paramount+, but I’m glad to see Paul Giamatti not only present on the first day of production, but also how thrilled he is to be there and to be part of Star Trek, at last. There’s no doubt in my mind that Paul Giamatti will tear up the screen and make the most of his Star Trek dream come true.
What Other Star Trek Actors Are Lifelong Fans?
Other actors’ Star Trek dreams came true
Star Trek has been around for nearly 60 years, and generations of actors have grown up as Star Trek fans. Some, like Paul Giamatti, have been able to live their dream and become part of Star Trek. In the 1980s, Whoopi Goldberg was an Academy Award winner and one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood. Goldberg asked to join Star Trek: The Next Generation, which cast Whoopi as Guinan, an iconic role Goldberg played as recently as Star Trek: Picard season 2 in 2022.
Star Trek attracts the cream of the crop when it comes to actors who love the franchise.
Tawny Newsome, who plays Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Lt. Beckett Mariner, and is one of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s writers, grew up a diehard fan of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Meanwhile, Sam Richardson, an Emmy winner from Veep and Ted Lasso, is also a lifelong fan, and is part of the cast of Star Trek: Section 31, along with another Star Trek devotee and Academy Award winner, Michelle Yeoh. Other Star Trek fans like Adam Scott and Christian Slater got to be part of the franchise. Star Trek attracts the cream of the crop when it comes to actors who love the franchise, and Paul Giamatti is one of the best. I can’t wait to see Paul Giamatti make his mark in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.