We already know Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has been renewed for a second season. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy received an early Season 2 pickup from Paramount+ before it even premiered, and production on the sophomore season has now wrapped.
What happens after Season 2, however, is far less clear. The show’s viewership numbers haven’t been especially strong, and fan reactions have been mixed, leaving its long-term future uncertain.
Still, co-showrunner Noga Landau says the Season 2 finale wasn’t created as a potential endpoint. Even with three episodes left in Season 1, conversation has already shifted toward Season 2, especially now that filming has finished and the cast is waiting to learn what’s next.
If you ask Landau, though, Season 2 is far from the end.
“Absolutely not. We have so much story to tell. If anything – yeah, it is not the end,” she told TrekMovie when asked whether the finale was designed to double as a possible series conclusion.
Series creator and executive producer Gaia Violo shared that optimism, hinting that the Season 2 finale is so shocking, fans won’t want the journey to stop.
“It’s such a shocking ending, you do not want it to [end]—no, no!” Violo teased.
Alan Kurtzman previously stated that Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was created with a four-year plan, mirroring a college experience for the cadets. Back in August, he revealed that plans for Season 3 were already underway, stating:
“You have to have a four-year plan because college is four years long… We do have a plan for season 3. What’s so fun is that when you start breaking a season, inevitably, you have too many ideas, and you go, ‘Oh, wait a minute, this is cool that we should do this next season.’… I always want to leave enough room to have improvisation happen, but know what pillars we’re trying to hit. But we just came to the end of season 2, where we’re about to write the finale, which is kind of amazing. And it’s exactly where we wanted to go. But when we started season 2, it isn’t exactly how we thought we’d get there. It’s really fun.”
But now that viewership numbers are in, those plans may not come to fruition. Paramount+ has not greenlit the series for a third season and accordign to landau, they still don't know if they'll get the chance to continue the story past Season 2.
"Nothing yet [on if they will or will not get season 3] but we’re just – we’re so happy with season 2, and we can’t wait for everybody to see it," Landau told TrekMovie.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has earned solid marks from critics, holding a strong Rotten Tomatoes score of around 88%. Audience reactions, however, have been far more mixed. Viewer scores trail well behind the critical consensus, though it’s unclear how much of that gap may be attributed to potential review bombing.
When it comes to viewership, the numbers haven’t helped the show’s case. As previously reported, Starfleet Academy has yet to break into the Nielsen Top 10 rankings for most-watched U.S. streaming originals. While exact figures haven’t been publicly confirmed, early estimates suggested roughly two million viewers tuned in for the premiere.
That said, new entries in the Star Trek franchise have occasionally taken time to build momentum. It remains to be seen whether viewership will grow as the season progresses and carries into Season 2.