As Star Trek celebrates its 60th year as a landmark in entertainment, in cultural impact and in its persistent belief a better future is possible, Out is celebrating four of the stars who made their debut in 2026 in the newest series of the legendary franchise.
Tig Notaro, Gina Yashere, Kerrice Brooks and Karim Diané of the Paramount+ streaming show, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, were all named to this year's Out100 list of the most impactful and influential people.
Comic actor, writer, and producer Notaro plays the cocky, brilliant, dry-witted, and queer Commander Jett Reno.
Tig Notaro Zack Snyder
In addition to being named to this year's list, Notaro and wife Stephanie Allynne celebrated 11 years of marriage this month. The breast cancer survivor told Out she quit social media this year following “several extraordinary challenges,” and then hiked the Rocky Mountains to reflect on what she calls the sweet spot: “When everything else falls away except for what matters, who matters, and how I want to live my life.”
Her character, Reno, is the other half of a lesbian couple with costar, fellow comedian and two-time Out100 honoree, newlywed Gina Yashere.
Gina Yashere Sarah Coulter
Yahsere is the academy's tough, no-nonsense Cadet Master, Lura Thok, who made franchise history as its first half-Klingon, half-Jem’Hadar character.
Yashere said 2026 was a year of bouncing back, after "losing everything I owned in the Altadena fires, and setting me and the missus up living our best lives in Costa Rica.” The actor overcame the obstacle of stereotyping, she said, by “busting out of the boxes that people felt I fit in as a Black queer, non-Halle-Berry-looking woman in this industry, and finding success and joy on my own terms."
On right: Kerrice Brooks as SAM: Series Acclimation Mil Paramount+
Kerrice Brooks plays a new kind of hologram named SAM, an acronym for “Series Acclimation Mil.” Her character is the academy’s first “photonic” cadet, referring to beings or tech composed of particles of light and energy. In season one, SAM became the adopted daughter of The Doctor, Star Trek's 900-year-old emergency medical hologram, portrayed since 1995 by stage and screen veteran Robert Picardo.
The queer Washington, D.C. native says embracing depression was their biggest obstacle in 2026, something the 26-year-old said “stems from a lot of unaddressed experiences from my past.”
Karim Diané attends The Critics Choice Association's 3rd Annual Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on May 29, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association
Rounding out the foursome is Karim Diané, Star Trek's first out gay Klingon. Cadet Jay-Den Kraag is very non-traditional, as Klingons go, in that instead of yearning to fight, he's studying to be a doctor, wears a skirt, and has a boyfriend.
Upon learning he was selected for the Out100, the 24-year-old Congolese-Guinean actor offered this message for the world: “The goal was never to fit in. Have you seen what everyone else is doing?!”
From L to R: Sando Rosta, Holly Hunter, Karim Diané, Bella Shepard and Robert Picardo of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy at New York Comic Con at the Javits Center in New York, N.Y. on Oct. 10, 2026. (Photo by Dawn Ennis)Dawn Ennis
Earlier this month, Diané took to the stage in his adopted hometown of New York City alongside Picardo and several other members of the cast at New York Comic Con, to announce they will be returning with their second and final season in March 2027.
He had already revealed to Out in an exclusive interview in June that season two of Starfleet Academy is "more gay" than ever. "Than ever. It's the gayest Star Trek ever!" he said in a video accompanying the story. "It's even better than season one. It is so exciting. There's so much romance. There's so many gay things. So gay!"
Diané told fans at New York Comic Con that when he felt too exhausted to act after one long, 11-hour day on set in Toronto, co-star Bella Shepard provided the fuel to restart his tired engine. She told him: "You're a baddie. You're a bad bitch.You got this, She's like, 'You're the sexiest Klingon I've ever seen!' She's just gassing me up, and I'm just like, 'You know what? I am the sexiest Klingon!' And I got right back up."
Each actor on stage was asked to describe their character in terms of their strengths and weaknesses in this, their sophomore year. "Jaden's greatest strength is his loyalty and truly his dedication. I mean, that's a Klingon thing, right? He's so dedicated to his friends, he's so dedicated to the task at hand, he's so dedicated to becoming the best medical student that Star Trek has ever seen, um, which is super cool and it's super noble and honorable. And then his weakness ties into that. I think his weakness is discernment.Who deserves tha loyalty and you'll see him struggle with that in his episode in season two."
