Nahla Ake

Nahla Ake
Star Trek character
Nahla Ake, portrayed by Holly Hunter
First appearance	"Kids These Days" (2026) (Starfleet Academy)
Created by	Alex Kurtzman Noga Landau
Portrayed by	Holly Hunter
In-universe information
Species	Half human and half Lanthanite
Occupation	Chancellor of Starfleet Academy Captain of the USS Athena
Family	Unnamed son
Affiliation	United Federation of Planets, Starfleet, USS Athena, Starfleet Academy

Nahla Ake is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise, portrayed by American actress Holly Hunter. First appearing in "Kids These Days", the pilot episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Nahla is introduced as a former Starfleet captain who resigned from the United Federation of Planets after following the law over her own conscience and ruling to separate a mother from her young son. Fifteen years later, she is recruited to become Chancellor of the newly-recommissioned Starfleet Academy. She is a Lanthanite/Human hybrid, and the first Lanthanite main character in a Star Trek series.

The character has been well-received by critics, who praised her unique personality and physicality which contrasts with that of previous Star Trek captains, as well as Hunter's performance.

Fictional character biography

Season 1

See also: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1

In 3180 on the Federation outpost Pikaru, Ake is the commanding officer and holds a hearing for pirate Nus Braka, Anisha Mir, and her young son Caleb. In order to avoid starvation, Anisha reveals that she struck a deal with Braka to help him steal food rations from a Federation supply vessel, but became implicated as his accomplice when he murdered the pilot. Ake sentences Braka to a penal colony and Anisha to a rehabilitation camp, telling her that Caleb will be taken as a ward of the Federation. While attempting to comfort him, Caleb steals Ake's badge and escapes. Fifteen years later, Admiral Charles Vance visits Ake, who is now living on Bajor teaching children after she resigned from her post following the trial. Vance tells her he is recomissioning Starfleet Academy and offers here the role of Chancellor, which she initially refuses until he reveals that Caleb has been apprehended by the Torothans. Ake asks Caleb to join Starfleet in exchange for avoiding prison and with the promise she will help him find Anisha, whom she reveals broke out of prison a year prior, and he reluctantly agrees despite his hatred for both Ake and the Federation. Assuming her role as Chancellor, Ake also becomes captain of the Academy's starship and mobile classroom, the USS Athena. The ship is attacked by Braka, who was inadvertently drawn to it by Caleb, but Ake is able to stall and deceive him long enough for Caleb and some of the other cadets to save the day. Arriving at the Starfleet Academy campus in San Francisco, Ake tells Caleb that, despite putting everyone in danger, she can convince her superiors to allow him to remain with Starfleet if that's what he wants. Caleb agrees to stay, and the two have a heart-to-heart where she reveals that her own son was killed during The Burn, a catastrophic cosmic event that brought the Federation to near-collapse.^[1]

Development

Casting

Ake is portrayed by Academy Award-winning American actress Holly Hunter. Her casting in the show's lead role was officially announced on May 21, 2024, revealing that she would "serve as the captain and chancellor of the Academy, presiding over both the faculty and a new class of Starfleet cadets as they learn to navigate the galaxy in the 32nd century". In the announcement, showrunners Noga Landau and Alex Kurtzman stated, "it feels like we’ve spent our entire lives watching Holly Hunter be a stone-cold genius. To have her extraordinary authenticity, fearlessness, sense of humor, and across the board brilliance leading the charge on ‘Starfleet Academy’ is a gift to all of us, and to the enduring legacy of Star Trek."^[2] Kurtzman later stated in an interview that the character of Nahla Ake was originally written with Hunter in mind, but that the team did not expect her to be interested and that they were shocked and delighted when she "signed on right away" after receiving the first scripts. ^[3] The character's name was revealed on July 28, 2025 alongside the roles of the rest of the main cast during the Star Trek universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con.^[4]

Discussing her casting, Hunter stated that she approached Landau and Kurtzman after being offered the role with thoughts about how the character should behave, explaining that "I had ideas about Nahla being more of a fluid creature. Somebody who was like liquid, like water," and adding that she wanted her movements to be "feline" and "tactile". Hunter expressed that, while she did some research into the franchise, she was more interested in creating a new and unique character and was not overly concerned about fitting into the mould of previous Star Trek captains noting, "in a way, that’s just not my business." Kurtzman echoed this when explaining the decision to approach Hunter advising that, "when we were looking to cast Nahla, we knew that we needed an actor who could be different than every other captain yet maintain the authority of what a captain requires. We also knew we wanted her to be quirky because she’s over 420 years old and sort of come to the point in her long, long life where she decides that she no longer wants to wear shoes around the starship." Hunter later spoke about how she tended to avoid projects that push certain messages, but that she was drawn to Starfleet Academy ethos of imparting empathy.^[5]

Characterization

Kurtzman noted that the character contains multitudes, and that casting Hunter allowed them to "take extraordinary risks that you might not be able to take with an actor who couldn’t pull that off". He explained, "the character is over 415 years old, so she’s lived an enormous amount of life. That affords her a unique perspective on everything. And because she was a mother and she lost a child, it gives her a unique perspective on what it means to raise the kids of Starfleet Academy, which also qualifies her to be a great chancellor. So, she’s a captain who is happy to walk around the bridge without shoes on, but the minute the chips are down, and something really goes wrong, she takes that chair with real authority". He felt that one of the character's main strengths was her quirky irreverence and genuine emotion, expressing that Ake "represents the things that were always my favorite things about the best teachers I had, which were that they were quirky and they thought differently".^[6]

Ake is a half human and half Lanthanite, a long-lived species originally introduced in the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The only other Lanthanite in the franchise is Pelia, who is portrayed by Carol Kane. Reviewers noted that the decision for Ake to be part Lanthanite was likely made so that the character could have lived hundreds of years by the start of the show, and would be able to remember the original Federation and Starfleet prior to The Burn, offering her a unique perspective as one of the only living characters to have attended the original Starfleet Academy.^[7] Hunter felt it was important to exhibit Ake's age through the way she interacts with the world, particularly through her physicality, explaining that "how could that manifest in a different way that would not just be flouting protocol because oh, I’m a rebel? It’s not as simple as that. It’s more selfish. It’s more interior, but the interior has been made totally not precious. It’s just part of her now. The barefoot thing was something that Alex had put in the script that I just loved, and it kind of snowballed from there. When I got on set, I saw how adventurous the furniture could be for me."^[6] The characters name translates to ‘water in the desert’ which helped to influence Hunter's performance, comparing Nahla's physicality to that of a liquid and explaining "wherever I am, whatever environment that I’m in, I’m going to explore it with my body".^[8]

Reception

The character, and Hunter's portrayal, has received generally positive reviews from critics. Lacy Braugher of Den of Geek wrote that, "Hunter is great, deftly holding a multitude of tensions simultaneously within her performance. Effortlessly shifting between gravitas, an almost painful sincerity, and a certain kind of playful oddness, she serves multiple roles within the world of Starfleet Academy, much like the ship she captains", and declared Nahla "one of the most intriguing new characters that Star Trek has introduced in quite some time".^[6] Graeme Virtue of The Guardian also praised the how the character differed from previous captains writing, "Hunter’s free-spirited Ake is unlike any other Trek captain. She casually goes barefoot, favours old-school Two Ronnies specs, and has a habit of folding her legs up into the captain’s chair in a way that feels genuinely transgressive."^[9] Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Hunter is a total delight as the half-Lanthanite Nahla, whose tiny stature, playful humor and disregard for propriety (this is a woman who keeps inventing new ways to slouch into chairs) belie her quiet strength as a Starfleet officer."^[10] Ben Travers of IndieWire called Hunter's performance "a floodlight of personality".^[11]

See also

• List of barefooters

References

1. "Kids These Days" (Star Trek: Starfleet Academy S01 E01). Gaia Violo (writer), Alex Kurtzman (director). Aired on January 15, 2026.
2. Otterson, Joe; Vary, Adam B. (May 21, 2024). "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Series Casts Holly Hunter in Main Role (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on May 21, 2024. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
3. Lloyd, Robert (May 30, 2024). "'Star Trek: Discovery' is over. Now Alex Kurtzman readies for 'Starfleet Academy' and 'Section 31'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 30, 2024. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
4. "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Drops Official First Look Teaser Trailer". StarTrek.com. July 26, 2025. Archived from the original on July 28, 2025. Retrieved July 28, 2025.
5. Zuckerman, Esther (January 14, 2026). "How an Oscar winner and a newcomer became the fresh faces of 'Star Trek'". Los Angeles Times.
6. Braugher, Lacy (January 15, 2026). "Holly Hunter Explains Chancellor Ake (Including Why She Sits Like That)". Den of Geek.
7. Bibby, Daniel (January 19, 2026). "Fans of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's Captain Ake have Strange New Worlds to thank". Winter Is Coming.
8. Armstrong, Vanessa (January 15, 2026). "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy: Holly Hunter Explains Why Nahla's Barefoot, Among Other Things". Reactor.
9. Virtue, Graeme (January 15, 2026). "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy review – Holly Hunter is a transgressive thrill in this horny high-school spinoff". The Guardian.
10. Han, Angie (January 14, 2026). "'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' Review: Holly Hunter Headlines Paramount+'s Uneven but Charming Franchise Expansion". The Hollywood Reporter.
11. Travers, Ben (January 15, 2026). "'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' Review: Paramount's Teen 'Trek' Series Isn't Nearly Bold Enough". IndieWire.

External links

• Nahla Ake at Memory Alpha