It's been a busy week for Paul Giamatti. Having just signed up to lead Eli Roth's upcoming Hostel TV adaptation, The Holdovers actor is now preparing to boldly go into the Star Trek Universe with Paramount+ spin-off series Starfleet Academy, which starts production later this summer. According to Deadline, Giamatti will take on the role of the first season's as-yet-unnamed villain, a man with an ominous past connected to one of the Academy's cadets.
Giamatti joins Holly Hunter (Raising Arizona) — whose casting as Starfleet Academy's chancellor was confirmed last month — in the series, which is being helmed by co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau. Here's the show's official synopsis: "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy follows a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself."
In a joint statement accompanying the casting news, Kurtzman and Landau praised Trek's newest recruit. "Sometimes you’re lucky enough to discover that one of the greatest actors alive is also a huge Star Trek fan, and meeting Paul was one of those miraculous moments for us," they said. "The sheer delight with which he dove in on Starfleet Academy is only surpassed by the gratitude we feel about him joining our incredible cast.” So Paul Giamatti is a horror fan and a Trekkie, then? One of us! ONE OF US!