Katee Sackhoff is an actress who knows her way around genre material, most notably from having played Kara “Starbuck” Thrace in Battlestar Galactica and her continuing gig as Bo-Katan Kryze in The Mandalorian and other Star Wars projects. It’s impressive enough that she’s appeared in two of the best sci-fi TV shows available to stream now, but Sackhoff isn’t content with leaving her mark on just those franchises in the genre. She also wants to snag a Star Trek role and luckily for her, Jonathan Frakes of The Next Generation fame has a great idea about who she could play in one of the upcoming Trek TV shows that will be streamable with a Paramount+ subscription.
Sackhoff spoke with Frakes, who starred as William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation, on her podcast The Sackhoff Show, towards the end of their conversation, she asked him what she has to do to “be in Star Trek,” because she needs a “hat trick.” Sackhoff speculated that the reason she’s never had the opportunity to audition for a Trek project is because those in charge of casting might feel it’d be “too on the nose” to hire her given her past sci-fi roles, but Frakes came up with the below idea on how she could finally accomplish this goal:
What about the new one? What about Starfleet Academy? Paul Giamatti’s in it. It takes place 900 years into the future. They could probably use a guest instructor, not unlike Starbuck. I’ll pitch you.
In addition to his many appearances as William Riker over the decades, most recently in Picard Season 3, Jonathan Frakes is an accomplished director who’s helmed two Star Trek movies and numerous episodes of the franchise’s TV shows. So not only is it a likely bet that he’ll be brought on to direct an episode of Starfleet Academy, if not several, this also puts him in a pretty good position to pitch Katee Sackhoff for this guest instructor role she’s envisioned. I can only hope he actually does this rather than just mentioned this idea as fun conversation, because it’d be amazing for Sackhoff to take part in Starfleet Academy as an instructor, whether it’s as a character giving off Starbuck vibes or someone who has nothing to do with teaching the art of flying in space.
Taking place in the 32nd century after the events of Star Trek: Discovery, Starfleet Academy will follow the first class of Starfleet cadets in over a century who are training to be officers. In addition to Tig Notaro, Mary Wiseman and Oded Fehr reprising their respective Discovery characters, as well as Robert Picardo coming back as The Doctor from Voyager, the Starfleet Academy cast includes established talent like Holly Hunter, Paul Giamatti, Gina Yashere and Tatiana Maslany. While Katee Sackhoff’s primary sci-fi allegiance these days remains with Star Wars these days, she clearly wouldn’t turn down the opportunity for a one-off Star Trek appearance. My fingers are crossed that Jonathan Frakes can arrange this, as Sackhoff would be a welcome addition to this lineup of talent.
Starfleet Academy is expected to debut sometime on the 2025 TV schedule, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates on its progress. The final season of Lower Decks is next on the Star Trek programming slate, followed by the Section 31 movie dropping in January.
