Starfleet Academy Star Paul Giamatti's Favorite Star Trek Movie Won't Surprise You

On the new series "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy," Paul Giamatti plays a half-Klingon, half-Tellerite super-pirate named Nus Braka. "Starfleet Academy" is set in the 32nd century, a full nine centuries after the events of "Star Trek: The Original Series." More specifically, it takes place after a galaxy-wide cataclysm called The Burn (a cataclysm first introduced on "Star Trek: Discovery") which caused most of the starships in the galaxy to explode at the same time. As one can very well imagine, this ended Starfleet and almost completely eradicated the Federation. A massive network of enslaved individuals and pirates filled the power vacuum, and the galaxy is still lousy with criminals like Nus Braka. The point of the re-opened Starfleet Academy, then, is to instigate a proper period of reconstruction.

Nus Braka has a connection to Caleb (Sandro Rosta), a young human and one of the Academy's students. The mysteries of Nus Braka and Caleb, I'm sure, will be revealed gradually over the course of the show's first season. Giamatti plays Braka with his trademark verve, making him threatening, affable, and charismatic. Braka is part of an enjoyable tradition of personality-driven villainous "Star Trek" characters with over-the-top sadistic tendencies. The "Star Trek" franchise is at its best when it doesn't play with "heroes" and "villains," of course, but an entertaining antagonist is still fun.

Giamatti is, it may be refreshing to learn, a legitimate Trekkie who has deep knowledge of the property at large. It's perhaps surprising, however, that his favorite "Star Trek" movie is one that doesn't actually have a villain. Well, then again, maybe it's not so surprising, as Giamatti adores 1986's immensely popular and widely beloved "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," as he admitted in an interview with TrekMovie.

It should be noted that many of the actors who've been hired to play key "Star Trek" roles throughout the franchise's history didn't start out as Trekkies. Most of them were simply hardworking performers concerned with honing their craft and finding work. Giamatti is something of an aberration in that he's a full-fledged Trekkie already, and one with opinions at that. Indeed, he told TrekMovie that he drew inspiration from the likes of Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and General Chang (Christopher Plummer) in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" while portraying Nus Braka.

When asked about his favorite "Star Trek" movie and TV show, Giamatti was quick to answer:

"My favorite series is 'Deep Space Nine,' which I really, really love. [...] Probably aside from the original, it's the most I've seen it. Over and over and over again, the most. So, that would be my favorite one. The movie? The one with the whales. That's my favorite movie. It's such a great movie. And 'Wrath of Khan' is a great one. But I do love ['Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'], that one feels so 'Star Trek' to me and going back to Earth and stuff like that. And the stuff with Spock in it is hilarious. I just love that one."

It's worth noting that "The Voyage Home" was handily the highest-grossing "Star Trek" movie by a substantial margin for 23 years. Giamatti is hardly alone in his love for it. It's a fish-out-of-water comedy that follows the main characters from "The Original Series" to 1986 to save some humpback whales. Incidentally, humpback whales appear in "Starfleet Academy" as well.

"Starfleet Academy" premieres January 15, 2026, on Paramount+.