Paul Giamatti, Star Trek’s Latest Villain, Just Proved His Trek Fandom to Us

Paul Giamatti isn’t conscionable 1 of the big-name, Oscar-nominated stars of the adjacent Star Trek series, Starfleet Academy (the different is Holly Hunter). He’s besides a large Star Trek nerd himself, and helium proved it to maine erstwhile I chatted with him astatine the CCXP con successful São Paulo, Brazil, this week.

“Seven years old, seven, 8 years old,” Giamatti instantly responds erstwhile asked erstwhile his fandom began. “I watched it with my father, who was a instrumentality from the '60s, watching successful the '60s. So yeah, I spell back, mode back.”

Cut to fractional a period later, and the histrion is lasting successful beforehand of thousands of fans promoting his ain Star Trek amusement connected CCXP’s Thunder Stage – the Brazilian con’s mentation of SDCC’s Hall H. To rapturous cheers, Giamatti unveiled a clip from the latest bid (this is the twelfth Trek TV show, springiness oregon take).

New Starfleet Academy Clip Revealed

In the caller clip, the latest starship to instrumentality to the heavens, the USS Athena, is nether dense onslaught from an chartless unit that seems to beryllium engulfing the vessel successful a benignant of cosmic sheath. As Hunter’s Captain Nahla Ake gives orders from the bridge, we spot the young Academy students moving to and from successful the decks below. Also spotted is Robert Picardo’s The Doctor, inactive swinging immoderate 800 years aft his clip connected the USS Voyager, arsenic helium attempts to corral the students (“Don’t panic! Breathe! Breathing is your friend!”) portion acerbicly (of course) advising the skipper to debar immoderate further nonstop hits to the ship. Suddenly a vessel emerges successful the abstraction beyond the Athena, seemingly putting itself unneurotic from antithetic pieces, and who appears but Giamatti’s villainous Nus Braka, who tells Captain Ake she looks “as radiant arsenic ever” earlier adding that “payback’s a bitch.” End of clip!

Paul Giamatti’s Star Trek Fandom

The histrion doesn’t mince words erstwhile it comes to what his favourite Trek bid is.

“My favourite 1 astir apt of each of them is Deep Space Nine,” helium says. “I similar The Original Series. I similar Next Generation. I similar Voyager really a lot. I've enjoyed Strange New Worlds a lot. Those would beryllium apical favorites. But Deep Space Nine's astir apt my astir favourite one.”

So past going down the database of different required favorites each Star Trek instrumentality indispensable have…

“Yes, it would mean Sisko is my favourite captain,” helium laughs. “And the Defiant is my favourite ship. I emotion that show. I weirdly emotion that show. The actors are truthful large connected that show. All the actors connected each the shows are great, but I truly emotion that one. … I ever admired Colm Meaney connected Deep Space Nine due to the fact that helium beauteous much… lone 97% of what helium says is technobabble. And it's truthful bully the mode helium does it. And you tin travel it and helium looks similar helium truly knows what he's talking about!”

Favorite episode?

“Oh, wow. Well, there's ‘The Visitor’ 1 erstwhile Jake gets aged – that’s a classical one,” helium says. “A batch of the worldly with Odo I truly like. There's the occurrence wherever Jadzia astir dies connected that satellite and Worf goes backmost to prevention her. That was a large one. Super moving. But thing with Odo successful it I truly like. All that Changeling worldly is great.”

See? He knows his stuff.

Playing Nus Braka, the Half-Klingon/Half-Tellarite Villain of Starfleet Academy

Giamatti was progressive successful the improvement of his character’s unsocial combo of Star Trek alien races. The Klingons, of course, request nary introduction, but the different fractional of his quality Nus Braka’s familial make-up is Tellarite, which is really a taxon good known to Trek fans that dates backmost to the William Shatner Original Series days.

“I had been conscionable shooting my rima disconnected astir however overmuch I wanted to beryllium a Klingon,” the histrion laughs. “And they were like, ‘OK, we person a Klingon [character already] and we person a batch Klingony stuff. What if he's half? What if he's half?’ They were like, ‘We thought we'd bring the Tellarites back.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, yeah, the pig guys from The Original Series! That's 2 truly assertive alien types. I'm going to beryllium truly aggressive!’ So it was partially my happening astir being a Klingon, but past they brought the Tellarite thing, which I thought was precise funny. So I fto myself get beauteous hairy for the happening too!”

The histrion has had immoderate amusive trying to ideate what precisely led to the conception of this half-Klingon/half-pig-man creature.

“Can you ideate those 2 races mating and creating this guy? Oh, my God,” helium beams. “But I don't cognize which 1 – I could ne'er determine who's the parent and who's the father. I kept thinking, is the parent a Tellarite, a pistillate Tellarite? I was like, ‘I similar that.’ I similar the thought that immoderate Klingon was attracted to this pig woman!”

None of which is to accidental that Nus Braka is simply a joke. There’s an constituent of whimsy to the quality to beryllium sure, but helium volition disintegrate you conscionable arsenic easy arsenic he’ll ace a gag astir you… oregon possibly he’ll bash both.

“Well, that was the happening that they said to maine erstwhile they brought it to me,” helium recalls. “They said the 1 happening that they wanted to benignant of propulsion to astatine maine arsenic an thought was that helium was a comedian. He thought helium was funny. And helium was a precise benignant of showy, flashy comedian, but underneath it he's dangerous. And that operation I thought was benignant of interesting. Because that's a benignant of creepy happening successful a psychopath, is if they're benignant of comic and benignant of, ‘I'm conscionable kidding. I'm conscionable kidding.’ Everything's conscionable a gag and it's not really. … [But] helium doesn't care. He wants to destruct everything.”

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Premiere Date

Starfleet Academy volition debut worldwide with 2 episodes connected Thursday, January 15, 2026, connected Paramount+, and successful Japan connected Tuesday, January 23. New episodes of the 10-episode bid volition beryllium released play aft that.

Talk to Scott Collura connected Twitter astatine @ScottCollura, oregon perceive to his Star Trek podcast, Transporter Room 3. Or bash both!