Holly Hunter's Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Character Has One Very Cool Connection To Strange New Worlds

Spoilers for "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" episodes 1-2 to follow.

"Star Trek" is filled with aliens who look near or completely identical to humans. Even the most famous "Star Trek" alien of all, Mr. Spock, looks human aside from his pointed Vulcan ears (which were apparently too "Satanic" for certain executives when "Star Trek" was first being made). "Strange New Worlds" introduced yet another human-looking species: the extremely long-lived Lanthanite, represented by Enterprise engineer Pelia (Carol Kane).

Now, "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" has brought in a second Lanthanite main cast member: Captain/Academy Chancellor Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) is a half-Lanthanite. Note that "Starfleet Academy" is set in the 32nd century, so interspecies breeding has become all the more common. Even Nahla's first officer Lura Thok (Gina Yashere) is half Klingon, half Jem'Hadar (ancestry which raises all kinds of questions). The series' villain, Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti), is similarly half Klingon, half Tellarite.

Even if she's only half-Lanthanite, Nahla seems to enjoy the pseudo-immortality of those genes. Going off dialogue in the "Starfleet Academy" premiere, she's 422 years old. How does this inform her character? Starfleet's Fleet Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) wants Nahla as academy chancellor specifically because she's old enough to remember the glory days of the Federation before the Burn nearly wiped Starfleet out 120 years ago. Nahla has a better idea of the Starfleet ideal than almost anyone alive, and Vance wants her to pass that onto her students.

Nahla's age is plenty of time to lose precious things, though. In the emotional final scene of the episode, she admits to cadet Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta) that she once had a son who enlisted in Starfleet, then died during the Burn. Caleb is looking for his lost mother (Tatiana Maslaney), while Nahla sees her son in him.

"Star Trek" hasn't established the lifespan of a Lanthanite beyond a vague "almost forever," but Pelia claims to have been born in the 28th century BC. That would put her at about 5,060 years old when "Strange New Worlds" takes place in the 22nd century. That also means that Nahla is on the young side for a Lanthanite. 

Lanthanites' resemblance to humans further informs part of Pelia's backstory; she lived on Earth for centuries, going undetected because she looks exactly like a human. She's claimed to have personally known people from Pythagoras to Cary Grant to the Grateful Dead. "Strange New Worlds" sometimes uses Pelia and her experiences in the audience's present day for fish out of water humor. Take, for instance, when she mentions how she tried LSD in the 1960s, but it didn't work on her because she's a Lanthanite. The rest of the Enterprise crew doesn't understand what she's talking about, but the audience does.

Pelia's history also became plot relevant in the "Strange New Worlds" episode "Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow," when La'an (Christina Chong) and Kirk (Paul Wesley) travel back in time to 2022. They need help from a Starfleet-level engineer, and La'an realizes that Pelia is still living on Earth in the guise of a human during the 21st century. For all we know, Pelia could still be alive in the 32nd century, too; "Strange New Worlds" is ending with season 5, but that doesn't mean Carol Kane has to leave "Star Trek." Perhaps Nahla will decide that Starfleet Academy needs another instructor with the experience and memories of a Lanthanite.

"Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" is streaming on Paramount+.