Star Trek Just Revealed Its Next Game-Changing Villain

The next adventure in the 32nd century is almost here. Although Star Trek: Discovery ended a very specific era of Trek, that version of the future will continue in a surprising way when the new series Starfleet Academy hits Paramount+ on January 15, 2026. And, even though fans might think they know the status quo of the Trek universe at this point in time, one new character trait is a historic first for the franchise.

At the CCXP presentation in Brazil, on December 6, Paul Giamatti revealed a new clip from Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, in which his villainous new character, Nus Braka, takes center stage. And, as previously hinted, Braka is a new kind of hybrid alien for Trek: not just a Klingon but a Tellarite, too.

In the new clip, the USS Athena, commanded by Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter), is under attack from a renegade force, which turns out to be led by Nus Braka (Giamatti), an unstable and vengeful character who is part Klingon and part Tellarite. (Back in 2024, Giamatti did one of his famous monologues from Sideways in the Klingon language, so this role is something of a dream come true for the actor.)

But as a new kind of mashup alien, Giamatti isn’t channeling Khan or Kruge, or even Jason Alexander, who played a Tellarite not too long ago in Star Trek: Prodigy. Instead, Giamatti is bringing his own kind of energy to this role, revealing Nus Braka to be a sarcastic kind of baddie, making jokes to Captain Ake about time being like an “origami chicken.”

Clearly, with Giamatti’s character, there’s some new, and familiar, ground being broken here. It’s been a while since a Trek series has had a funny and unhinged regular antagonist in the mold of Harry Mudd or Q. And, in the case of Giamatti’s Nus Braka, we’ve never had a character who was channeling the shared rage and venom of two notoriously cranky alien races.

Starfleet Academy is changing the Trek game in many ways; there’s never been a series in the franchise that is so focused on taking place on Earth, and never a show dedicated entirely to any version of the titular space school where the boldly going explorers learn their stuff.

And it seems in the conflict department, Starfleet Academy will break new ground, too. You might think you can imagine what a Paul Giamatti Trek character might be. But with Nus Braka, we’re getting something nobody expected.

Will Braka become one of the greatest Trek villains of all time? Perhaps that’s too tall an order. Paul Giamatti is known for playing extremely realistic people who are also absurdly over-the-top. So, perhaps, that blend of down-to-earth pathos, combined with the Trek glimmer, will give him the role of a lifetime. Or at least, the most unique Star Trek baddie in recent memory.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy hits Paramount+ on January 15, 2026.