The first two episodes of\u00a0Starfleet Academy<\/em> do a lot to, almost to the point of an open defiance of academic authority as a stand-in for expectations wrought from 60 years of Star Trek<\/em>, tell you that this is a show with a very different vibe from what\u2019s come before. Its young adult heroes are a heady mix of hormonal emotions and sullen distrust of their elders that, in equal parts, feel like accurately charming representations of a bunch of kids who\u2019ve grown up in a wildly shaken universe and also like the show itself almost baiting long-time Star Trek<\/em> fans into being annoyed that these damn youths aren\u2019t behaving like people in\u00a0Star Trek<\/em> should behave.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not one of the kids who actually pulls off the most charming move, or the move that\u2019s probably bound to have some corners of Star Trek<\/em> fandom gritting their teeth at perceived disrespects. Instead, it\u2019s arguably the most seasoned member of the cast, Holly Hunter, and I am absolutely in the camp that the move is incredibly charming above anything else.<\/p>\n Hunter plays Nahla Ake,\u00a0Starfleet Academy<\/em>\u2018s stand-in for the head honcho of its ensemble of young cadets and senior staff, the dual chancellor of the academy as an institute of learning, as well as the captain in command of the Starfleet vessel the academy is based out of, the USS\u00a0Athena<\/em>. A half-Lanthanite, Ake has lived for centuries, meaning that in the show\u2019s 32nd-century setting (during the events of the back half of Star Trek: Discovery<\/em>), she\u2019s seen some of the very best and very worst that the Federation can offer\u2014and been a part of the latter, something the series explores in its opening as it flashes us back to the moment Ake follows judicial orders that cause her to become disillusioned with, and ultimately quit, Starfleet.<\/p>\n When the show then flashes forward 15 years later and Ake is approached with the chance to rejoin Starfleet and lead its efforts to re-establish the academy, she\u2019s become much more chill in the meantime. She\u2019s hanging out on Bajor, relaxing and looking after young kids, and just because she puts a Starfleet uniform back on doesn\u2019t mean that vibe stops immediately. Hunter is the most charming in a cast of very charming stars, playing Ake with a playful precociousness that makes her feel less like a traditional\u00a0Star Trek<\/em> captain and more like your cool aunt, but still reminiscent of the kind of lighter streaks we could see in past captains (she feels especially in conversation with Captain Janeway, especially in\u00a0Voyager<\/em>\u2018s early seasons, where she had to grapple with the idea that the traditional captain-subordinate relationship Starfleet expects can\u2019t persist on a ship stranded 70,000 light-years from HQ).<\/p>\n But it also comes through in Ake\u2019s physicality. The minute the\u00a0Athena<\/em> lands in its primary home of San Francisco, she kicks her Starfleet-issue boots off and walks around barefoot, almost challenging everyone to call her out on it. You\u2019re just as likely to see her wearing flowing, loose dresses and chunky glasses as you are in her red command tunic. And it\u2019s also there in the way that she has absolutely not seen a chair that she can\u2019t clamber over and curl up in like a house cat.<\/p>\n Hunter plays Ake as the Tiniest Woman in the Alpha Quadrant (the actress is 5\u20192\u2033 and is comically dwarfed by even a good chunk of the students, a fact revealed in the sheer number of scenes where she shares a close-up with someone else\u2019s torso). Her private office on the Athena<\/em> is jam-packed with chairs, sofas, and chaises, and across the first two episodes\u2014as well as in the remainder of the six episodes screened to press thus far\u2014we see her curled up or practically slathered over them plenty of times. A great scene early on in the premiere episode sees her senior crew quietly acknowledge as Ake repeatedly adjusts the comfort settings of the captain\u2019s chair on the\u00a0Athena<\/em>\u2018s bridge to its lowest height, only for her to promptly bring her feet up and casually prop herself up on one of the armrests. Later on, we cut back to her almost lying down in it, bundled up and reading a book.<\/p>\n It lends Ake this disarmingly chaotic energy that, on the one hand, feels like the shitposting evolution of everyone realizing when Jonathan Frakes would have the inverse scenario and stoop over the backs of chairs to take his seat in TNG<\/em>, and on the other, feels almost like poking at what we\u2019ve come to expect from typical Starfleet decorum. It\u2019s an immediate visual indicator of where Ake is at this point in her life: she was that stiff, rule-abiding Starfleet officer once, and being so led to her propping up the bones of a status quo that had long been broken. Now, she doesn\u2019t really give a crap about nitpicking the rules or what other people think of her\u2014she\u2019s just here to be comfortable, to show this new generation of students that they can be comfortable with her in turn, and to come at them at a more approachable level.<\/p>\n Every\u00a0Star Trek<\/em> captain has a quirk, and a beverage of choice has already been picked over. It\u2019s fun to have one whose personality is built around finding new and inventive ways to hang themselves off of their furniture.<\/p>\n Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n![\"Star](\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/star-trek-starfleet-academy-nahla-ake-chair-2.jpg\")
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