Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Reveals How It's Paying Tribute To Legendary Franchise Characters

Paramount recently released a series of images for their upcoming show "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy," and Trekkies are already poring over them, looking for clues, details, and character quirks that might more closely inform them as to what kind of series we'll be looking forward to. The cast for the series has already been announced, and it will include Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, Zoë Steiner, and Sandro Rosta as its central Starfleet Cadets. None of their characters' names have been released yet, but we'll know them soon enough.

The cast will also include Tig Notaro, reprising her role as Jett Reno from "Star Trek: Discovery," as well as Robert Picardo, reprising his role as The Doctor from "Star Trek: Voyager." Trekkies can tell you that "Voyager" is set a good 815 years before the 32nd century of "Starfleet Academy," but the Doctor is a hologram and, as we now see, more or less immortal. "Starfleet Academy" will also star Holly Hunter as the head of the school and Paul Giamatti as a mysterious villain. There will also be parts for Oded Fehr, Mary Wiseman (from "Discovery"), Gina Yashere, Tatiana Maslany, and Becky Lynch. This new "Starfleet Academy" series certainly isn't lacking in characters or star power. 

Apart from Picardo, there don't seem to be too many "legacy" characters on "Starfleet Academy." It seems, though, that many familiar "Star Trek" characters will be remembered into the 32nd century of the franchise, as one can see in the above photo. The picture sees two cadets, played by Rosta and Steiner, standing in front of a wall of names, likely a tribute to Starfleet heroes of the past. Sharp-eyed Trekkies will likely be able to recognize many of them. Here's what we could spot: 

Lieutenant [Something]or Rossa. This is likely Lieutenant Connor Rossa (Gary Hunter), a dead character talked about on an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," specifically the episode "Suddenly Human" (October 15, 1990). He was the deceased father of a teenager named Jono (Chad Allen), who had been raised by the warlike Tamarians after they killed his father.

Captain Will Decker (Stephen Collins) from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." He was the one who was in command of the Enterprise before Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) stepped in and relieved him of duty. He ended the film merging with the super-computer V'Ger and evolving into a higher life form.

Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck) from "Star Trek: Generations." He was the captain of the Enterprise-B when it encountered the Nexus. He was in command during the ship's maiden voyage, on which Kirk was seemingly killed. It's surprising he was honored and not drubbed out of Starfleet.

Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis)is  the captain of the U.S.S. Cerritos on "Star Trek: Lower Decks." Further down the wall is Commander Beckett M, who is likely Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Captain Freeman's irascible daughter, also from "Lower Decks." It's nice to see that Mariner finally achieved the rank of Commander.

Captain Cristobal, who is likely Captain Cristóbal Ríos (Santiago Cabrera), a recurring character on "Star Trek: Picard." The last time we saw him, he traveled back in time to the year 2024 and stayed there.

Captain Amina Ramsay (Toks Olagundoye), a minor character from "Star Trek: Lower Decks." She was only in a few episodes and was seen in command of a California-class vessel called the U.S.S. Oakland.

Commander Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) from "Star Trek: Discovery." He was thrown forward in time from the 23rd to the 32nd century, however, so he would actually be around to give speeches at the Academy.

There is a "Beyer" in the picture, and that may merely be a reference to Kirsten Beyer, a real-life author who penned multiple "Star Trek: Voyager" tie-in novels.

[Something]errell. This may be the name of Captain Clark Terrell (Paul Winfield), the kidnapped commander of the U.S.S. Reliant in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." He met a tragic end.

Dax. One can barely see it, but there is a "Dax" on the wall. This is likely one of the later incarnations of Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) and Ezri Dax (Nicole De Boer) on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." The first name is obscured, so it could be any Dax, however. The small Dax symbiont that lived inside of both Jadzia and Ezri, you see, can live 550 years, so any Dax host may be getting honored.

Lieutenant Commander B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), from "Star Trek: Voyager." She was the ship's chief engineer and a regular on the series. Dawson would go on to a prolific TV directing career, which included episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise." It remains to be seen if Dawson will direct any episodes of "Academy."

Midshipman First Class Peter Preston (Ike Eisenmann), from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." He was the nephew of Scotty (James Doohan) and died while Khan (Ricardo Montalbán) was attacking the Enterprise. 

Captain Sonya Gomez (Lycia Naff). Gomez originally appeared as an Ensign on an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" where she spilled coffee on Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart). She was later seen as a captain on "Star Trek: Lower Decks," in command of the U.S.S. Archimedes. 

Ambassador Garak, possibly Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson), the avuncular Cardassian from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." He was a vaguely villainous character who, it seems, became an ambassador. Although, because "Academy" is set in the 32nd century, the name could also refer to a descendant of his.

Did we miss any?