When Starfleet Academy premiered this week, fans finally got to see two of the most anticipated characters:  Robert Picardo’s holographic Doctor and Gina Yashere’s Commander Lura Thok. Picardo has been a fan favorite since The Doctor’s run on Voyager thirty years ago, and viewers can’t wait to see him back in action. Yashere (Bob Hearts Abishola), on the other hand, makes her Star Trek debut as a Klingon/Jem’Hadar hybrid - two of franchise’s most fearsome species.

We asked the veteran and the rookie crewmembers what got the excited to join Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streams Thursdays on Paramount+


Watch the interview and read the transcript below.



SCIFI VISION:   I'm so happy to talk to you, because you represent sort of the two ends of Star Trek; Robert with the legacy, and Gina, with the new energy in Star Trek. I have a question for each of you.

I'd like to start with Robert. The Doctor is beyond a fan favorite. He's a beloved character for, I hate to say it, thirty years now. You have recently exercised that Doctor muscle with Star Trek: Prodigy, but what about Starfleet Academy is the right time to bring him to live action, to return?

ROBERT PICARDO:   Well, you tell me. I think so. I am, personally as an actor, it's a great circle of life experience. I remember well, being the youngest guy in the cast years ago in my first plays and television and movies. Now, I'm the elder statesman, and it fits in very well, because I'm now in a teaching position.

So, when I have scenes with, you know, three actors, any three of which don't add up to my age, I feel like I have something to share with them both as an actor and as a character. So, to me, it's a perfect time of life.

And they've written a great arc for my character the first season, which I can't spoil, but I think the Doctor is pushed into a realization - so there's a side of him that you've never seen in your eight hundred years, even though you've only seen the first seven of those eight hundred years.

So, I think it was a great idea that they had, and I didn't understand it was a great idea until I started to do it, and now I'm totally happy that this opportunity came to me.

SCIFI VISION:   Thank you. Similarly, Gina, you are known mainly as a comedian, and you've got so many projects going on. You found time for Starfleet Academy. What about the show made you willing to sit in that makeup chair for hours every day and do this show?

GINA YASHERE:   Because Starfleet -  Star Trek is iconic. I was like, “Oh my God, I get to join this amazing franchise that I, you know, watched as a kid and would never have thought in a million years that I'd get to be a part of. So, yeah, I was excited to do that.

And it was exciting to do something completely different to what my last job was. My last job was a sitcom where I played an older Nigerian lady, you know, and now I get to play an alien in space who gets to - yeah.

So, yeah, it was an absolute no brainer for me. I was like, “This is going to be super fun.” And I'm not writing the scripts like I did on my last show. I'm not exec producing. I get to just turn up and play. So, yeah, this was a no brainer for me.

SCIFI VISION:   And I love you guys together. I think it's not a spoiler to say that both characters can be a little prickly, right?

ROBERT PICARDO:   A little?

GINA YASHERE:   [laughs] A little. More like stabby!