‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ Has a Troublemaking New Alien Arriving in Season 2

This year’s San Diego Comic-Con coincides with the return of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which had its season four premiere earlier this week. It also coincides with the franchise’s 60th anniversary, so even if Star Trek‘s current TV era has an end point in sight—it’ll come after Strange New Worlds season five and Starfleet Academy season two—attention must be paid to all that history. Though Star Trek‘s future big-screen plans are of great interest to fans, the focus of Hall H’s Star Trek Universe panel remained on TV—for now. The 60th anniversary portion of the panel, which was introduced by Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Rod Roddenberry and an executive producer on projects across the franchise, featured the likes of Michael Dorn (Worf on The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Picard), Robert Picardo (the Doctor on Voyager, Prodigy, and Starfleet Academy), Dominic Keating (Enterprise), Cirroc Lofton (Deep Space Nine), Doug Jones (Discovery), Michelle Hurd (Picard), Jerry O’Connell (Lower Decks), Christina Chong (Strange New Worlds), Karim Diané (Starfleet Academy), and the one and only George Takei (Sulu on the original series). Diané dropped a piece of news about Starfleet Academy: in season two, we’ll meet a new cadet played by Ruaridh Aldington. He’s “Keats, a young alien our cadets encounter on an away mission who possesses a mysterious backstory. When the cadets make the risky decision to bring him back to Starfleet Academy, they realize he’s a wanted man, and his life is in danger,” according to a press release. The cast and executive producers of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds also took the stage to talk about the Paramount+ series, which has most of season four and a (shortened) season five left to advance its story up to the events of the original Star Trek series. A fresh season four teaser was also unveiled. And for the youngest Star Trek fans, the second season of animated YouTube series Star Trek: Scouts is arriving on Star Trek Day, September 8. It includes 30 three-minute episodes and follows a trio of eight-year-olds with Starfleet dreams. Season one can be streamed on Nickelodeon’s Blaze and the Monster Machines YouTube channel. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.