NYCC ‘26: Guest stars Bill Nighy and Rosemarie DeWitt join STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY season 2

We've met the students of Starfleet Academy. We've met their teachers, too. But we've never met (except in flashbacks) the parents of the Academy students. But, in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's second and final season, we will finally get to meet some of our favorite cadets' genetic donors.

In Season 2, parents' weekend on the U.S.S. Athena just got a serious upgrade. Bill Nighy and Rosemarie DeWitt are officially guest-starring in season two of Starfleet Academy, Paramount+ and CBS Studios revealed Saturday, October 10, 2026, at New York Comic Con.

Nighy plays Nyk Ake, the estranged father of Chancellor Nahla, played by Holly Hunter. DeWitt plays Laytha Sadal, mother of Tarima (Zoë Steiner), who just happens to be the First Lady of Betazed. Estranged dads, badass moms, and a homeworld with a long history of emotional intensity? Sign me up.

Who are the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 2 guest stars?

Genre fans know Nighy's face. He's best known as Billy Mack in Love Actually, Viktor in the Underworld franchise, and Philip in Shaun of the Dead. His credits also include The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Hot Fuzz, Living, and About Time. For his performance in Love Actually, he won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor, and for his role in Living, he earned his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

DeWitt brings serious range — and some genre bona fides. She played Midge Daniels, Don Draper's bohemian mistress, on Mad Men, and Charmaine on United States of Tara. She was the title character in Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, which won her a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also led the 2015 Poltergeist remake, and appeared in La La Land and Smile 2. Most recently, she played Daphne Campbell on The Boys.

The news landed at the Star Trek Universe panel, where co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau screened an exclusive first look at the new season for the lucky room — and locked in a March 2027 premiere on Paramount+. Holly Hunter, Sandro Rosta, Bella Shepard, Karim Diané, and Robert Picardo joined them, with Collider's Perri Nemiroff moderating.

What is Starfleet Academy Season 2 about?

Season 2 moves the cadets into their sophomore year, and the stakes are climbing. Expect budding rivalries, shaky diplomatic negotiations, a fiercely competitive schoolwide tournament, and a mysterious new cadet whose existence could have consequences "far beyond the classroom."

Read the official logline below:

Season two of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy follows our cadets into their second year aboard the USS Athena. There, their ideals of leadership, friendship, romance and morality are put to the test as they navigate budding rivalries, shaky diplomatic negotiations, a fiercely competitive schoolwide tournament, and the arrival of a mysterious new cadet whose existence raises questions that could have consequences far beyond the classroom.

The panel doubled as a 60th anniversary celebration. William Shatner sat down with Ben Stiller for a clips-and-conversation session on Captain Kirk's most iconic moments, because even a franchise this far into its mission still knows how to throw a party.

Cover Photo Credits: BN — Aliona Adrianova / RD — Jeff Vespa

Source: Paramount+/Skydance