Brooke Palmer/Paramount+In 2026, a new Starfleet captain will change Star Trek history. Does this sound hyperbolic? Are we getting ahead of ourselves? No. Holly Hunter’s character in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will almost certainly change the history of the Federation, not by what she does in the present, but because she’ll know all sorts of things about the past. Here’s why Hunter’s Captain Nahla Ake is a possible crossroads for various Star Trek Easter eggs, and how she could sneakily bridge the nine-century gap between Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy. Who is Captain Nahla Ake?Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) might have been friends with Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway. | Brooke Palmer/Paramount+Having an actor like Holly Hunter in Star Trek is a coup that, alongside Paul Giamatti, gives Starfleet Academy some gravitas out of the gate. But Hunter’s Nahla Ake is bringing more than just her acting chops to Starfleet Academy; she’s also potentially bringing the entire canon of previous Star Trek shows and films with her, too.Like Carol Kane’s Strange New Worlds character, Pelia, Nahla Ake is a Lanthanite, meaning she’s very, very long-lived. In Strange New Worlds Season 2, in the episode “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” La’an and an alternate version of James Kirk met Pelia in the 21st century, where she looked no different than she did in the 23rd century. This suggests that Pelia was, in 2259, several centuries old. In fact, Pelia claimed to have known Pythagoras, implying that she’d been on Earth since at least the 6th century. If Nahla Ake is anything like Pelia, her being around for several centuries is already a big part of her background. And if that’s the case, she’ll have memories of Starfleet history that go into the deep past... which is the present of Strange New Worlds.Starfleet Academy’s Timeline, Explained Starfleet Academy is a direct sequel to Star Trek: Discovery, meaning it’s set in the same 32nd-century context that Discovery jumped to in Season 3. Not counting the 33rd-century flash-forward at the end of Discovery Season 5, Discovery’s story ended in 3191. This would put Starfleet Academy in 3191 or 3192; early show photos have revealed that Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) is still a big deal at Starfleet, and Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) and Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) are bringing their Discovery roles back to Starfleet Academy.Reno and Tilly are both from the 23rd century, having jumped from 2258 to 3188 during Discovery. Is Nahla Ake old enough to have been in Starfleet in the 23rd century? Will she already know Reno and Tilly? More intriguingly, we know that Strange New Worlds, which is currently set in 2260, will run for two more seasons. Could Nahla Ake appear in Strange New Worlds, too? Alongside Robert Picardo’s holographic Doctor (originally from Star Trek: Voyager), Starfleet Academy has several characters with long memories of Trek history. And with a new Captain whose memories span centuries, it’s possible that this Trek show could boldly unite more of the canon than ever before.Star Trek: Starfleet Academy hits Paramount+ in early 2026.Phasers on Stun!: How the Making — and Remaking — of Star Trek Changed the WorldAmazon -