After it was announced that CBS was pulling the plug on The Late Show, there was much speculation regarding what was next for host Stephen Colbert. Would he go to another network? Start a podcast? Run for office? Now we know, and it’s nothing that anyone was expecting.
At the New York Comic-Con last weekend, Colbert made a virtual appearance to make an announcement.
“I’m honored to announce that my beautiful voice will be joining Star Trek: Starfleet Academy as the Digital Dean of Students,” he said. After some other remarks, he concluded, “I’m thrilled to join this universe that I’ve loved for so long, and unlike my on-camera castmates, I’m thrilled to join it without having to spend four hours in hair and makeup everyday. I’ll see you when Starfleet Academy premieres. Until then, enjoy the Con. Live long… and do your thing.”
A screenshot from the trailer to Star Trek Starfleet Academy – YouTube, Paramount Pictures
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will air on Paramount+ starting January of next year. So even though it’s Paramount that canceled his late night show, Colbert doesn’t seem to have any resentment for his bosses. Still, this seems like an odd choice for the politically embroiled comedian. Or is it?
Boldly Going
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is a spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery and is set around the same time. According to Variety, in addition to Colbert (who is only voice acting), the series will feature Holly Hunter, Tig Notaro, and Robert Picardo, with guest stars Oded Fehr, Mary Wiseman, and Paul Giamatti, among others. Paramount has already greenlit a second season, though this was before the shakeup of the Paramount Skydance merger, so it may not come to fruition.
A screenshot from the trailer to Star Trek Starfleet Academy – YouTube, Paramount Pictures
Alex Kurtzman continues his involvement in Star Trek as co-producer and co-showrunner, and is being joined by Noga Landau. No stranger to controversy within the fandom, Kurtzman has been criticized for the darker tonal shifts and emphasizing DEI within the Star Trek universe.
When asked last year in an interview with Fast Company if he was worried about the changing attitudes towards DEI when plotting the future of Star Trek, Kurtzman said, “I think it’s baked into the DNA of Star Trek from its inception.”
Given what we’ve seen in the Starfleet Academy trailer and promotional images, Kurtzman isn’t shying away from controversy. And it goes far beyond using Colbert’s voice.
Here’s an image of the Klingon wearing a skirt pic.twitter.com/U1a3u2K8PQ
— Bleeding Fool (@BleedingFool) October 12, 2025
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Colbert is hardly the first politically adjacent personality to appear in a Kurtzman-produced Star Trek. In the season four finale of Star Trek: Discovery, Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams appeared as the President of the United Earth.
The move did nothing to improve the standing of Star Trek with any remaining right-leaning viewers, which makes the decision to add Colbert to the cast even more perplexing.
The Colbert Factor
CBS announced in July that they were canceling Late Night for what they claimed were “purely financial” reasons. Notably, Colbert’s show received the axe after he criticized parent company Paramount for settling a lawsuit with President Trump, calling it a “big fat bribe.” This was at the same time that Paramount was negotiating its merger with Skydance, which needed government approval.
Stephen Colbert dances around with human needles – YouTube, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
After the cancelation was made public, Trump posted on Truth Social, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”
Colbert fired back in his next monologue, “Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go f*** yourself.” But even he couldn’t deny his falling ratings.
Since then, Colbert and his canceled show won the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series. More recently, he guest starred on an episode of the CBS primetime show Elsbeth, where he played a late night talk show host who gets murdered by one of his writers.
‘Elsbeth’s Carrie Preston Was “Very Nervous” Filming With Stephen Colbert After ‘Late Show’ Cancellation: “Really Serendipitous” https://t.co/0YJxynCVPm
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) October 12, 2025
The fact that Colbert is still getting work on the network he openly criticized—on a flagship show like Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, no less—after alienating half the country with his politics, may speak less to his appeal than to the truth of the old show business adage, “It’s all about who you know.”
Does Stephen Colbert’s addition to Star Trek: Starfleet Academy make you more or less likely to watch the show? Let us know in the comments!
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Hah, it’s so easy to not participate in so-called “entertainment” in 2025.
I can’t bear those Leftist fascists. And, yes, fascists ARE left wing.
He is only worth watching in Harvey Birdman and even then it’s a hard sell
Nope, wasn’t going too watch the show anyway. I know, I know, I’ll be missing all the trans Klingon stuff and fat aliens with spikey faces, but I’ll somehow survive.
That’s all you need to know to confirm that the series will be woke trash.
Who cares?? Only liberal idiots will watch that crap.
Not going to watch that either…to be honest I think most people is getting quite sick of their “cultural” push, they will run out of viewers and money at some point, the stories are stupid, the look of their shows are horrible glitzy and annoying, the characters are nothing but empty entities with no personality, nothing of it is any good, or anything resembling any brilliance from clever and witty stuff, well maybe involuntary fun. No stories with any gravitas is present either. They have destroyed an entire generation of fun/cool/good and widely accepted entertainment and drama, endless reboots and remakes into creative oblivion. No wonder other places are experincing a major boost in viewers and new fans. Hollywood is so far down the abyss that they will never recover in any way now! And they have been at it for a few decades now. And I am getting depressed by just thinking about this ;) Back to Animé and Korean stuff…..and some of the non mainstream stuff that is still being made here in the west, plus a few reruns of the old things that is still enjoyable to watch, and pretend none of the new stuff has any connection to what used to be!!!!!!