Paul Giamatti has been cast as Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s villain, and the actor’s impressive career proves how suitable he is for the role. Giamatti is the second starry addition to the cast of Paramount+’s next Star Trek show, which also includes Oscar-winning actress Holly Hunter as Starfleet Academy’s Chancellor. Executive produced by Noga Landau and Alex Kurtzman, who is also directing the series premiere, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will begin production in fall 2024 in Toronto. The involvement of Paul Giamatti and Holly Hunter should mean that Starfleet Academy has audience appeal beyond its YA demographic.

Paul Giamatti is a Star Trek fan, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that he’s signed on for the upcoming Paramount+ show. Giamatti’s casting was announced on X by the official Star Trek on Paramount Plus account, which stated that his villain would be a recurring guest character on the show. It’s been teased that Paul Giamatti’s character will have an ominous connection to one of the new Starfleet Academy cadets. As both a Star Trek fan and one of Hollywood’s best-loved character actors, Paul Giamatti is perfectly suited for this villain role in Starfleet Academy.

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Limbo in Planet of the Apes (2001)

Paul Giamatti will be no stranger to Star Trek’s prosthetics.

It’s unclear if Paul Giamatti is playing a human or alien villain in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, but if he is playing an alien, then the actor is no stranger to playing other creatures. Giamatti played Limbo in Tim Burton’s 2001 Planet of the Apes remake, opposite Mark Wahlberg. Limbo was a slave trader who came into the possession of Mark Wahlberg’s Leo Davidson. Although he was morally dubious rather than outright villainous, the role of Limbo feels like good preparation for playing a Star Trek villain. After all, Limbo ended Planet of the Apes as a relatively reformed character.

Although far from being one of Paul Giamatti’s greatest movie performances, it’s the role that feels most like a training ground for his role as Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s villain. The best Star Trek villains aren’t two-dimensional antagonists, and instead have depth of character and the capacity for change. Limbo in Planet of the Apes is just one of many roles that Paul Giamatti has played like this. It just has the added bonus of preparing him for any heavy alien prosthetic make-up that he may have to wear.

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Chuck Rhoades in Billions (2016 – 2023)

Paul Giamatti’s been playing a TV villain for years.

Paul Giamatti has played U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades in Billions for the past seven years. A specialist in financial corruption, Rhoades has relentlessly pursued billionaire Bobby Axelrod across all seven seasons of Billions. As the show went on, Paul Giamatti became the villain of the piece, hellbent on punishing billionaires for their obscene levels of wealth. However, he started out from a fairly honorable position, wishing to stamp out rampant financial corruption. Chuck’s descent into becoming Billions‘ primary antagonist could be good training for Paul Giamatti’s role as the unnamed Star Trek: Starfleet Academy villain.

Billions ran for seven seasons between 2016 and 2023, meaning that Paul Giamatti is used to the rigors of making prestige television. Having dedicated seven years of his life to a show like Billions, it may be surprising that Paul Giamatti signed on to an upcoming Star Trek TV show. Presumably, this is why Paul Giamatti’s role in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is being billed as a recurring guest star for season 1, rather than a series regular. However, the relative freedom of being a recurring guest may entice Giamatti to return for future seasons if Starfleet Academy takes off on Paramount+.

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Pig Vomit in Private Parts (1997)

Paul Giamatti’s breakthrough role was a different type of villain.

Paul Giamatti’s breakthrough role in Howard Stern’s biopic Private Parts proved that he had a particular skill for conveying boiling rage. Giamatti played Kenny Rushton, dubbed “Pig Vomit” by Stern, with whom he regularly clashed. Kenny was the head of WNBC, which hosted Howard Stern’s show. In a 2024 episode of Q with Tom Power, Giamatti revealed that he never knew his character was based on a real-life network head until Stern complimented him for portraying Pig Vomit so accurately.

Paul Giamatti also described his character in Private Parts as almost “Shakespearean” in its comic buffoonery. Shakespeare and Star Trek have a long history, so Paul Giamatti’s understanding of the Bard and how he influences contemporary writing and performing will stand him in good stead. However, it’s the levels of rage that Kenny achieves while calling Howard Stern the Antichrist that should make Paul Giamatti an eminently watchable villain in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

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Dr. Lawrence Hayes in San Andreas (2015)

Paul Giamatti masters technobabble in The Rock’s disaster movie.

Paul Giamatti played seismologist Dr. Lawrence Hayes in Dwayne Johnson’s 2015 disaster movie, San Andreas. When the movie opens, Hayes is experimenting with new technology that can predict earthquakes, which becomes pertinent when his colleague Kim is killed by one. Lawrence’s technology predicts a massive earthquake heading for San Francisco, and takes to the airwaves to warn the public. Hayes’ warnings to evacuate the city aren’t taken as seriously as he’d have liked, but thankfully The Rock was on hand to do a lot of the rescuing with his helicopter.

Mastering Starfleet techno babble is a great skill for any Star Trek actor to have, and Paul Giamatti’s role as a seismologist in San Andreas proved he’s more than capable. There’s a level of ridiculousness to some of the dialog in many Star Trek shows that occasionally veers into the B-movie territory of San Andreas. Thankfully, Paul Giamatti is well-versed in what will be required from him in delivering Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s techno babble dialog with much-needed gravitas.

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The Rhino in The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Paul Giamatti is no stranger to sky-high fan expectations.

Taking on a role in a Star Trek TV show can be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it’s a chance to be part of an iconic franchise that has had a genuinely positive cultural impact. On the other hand, hardcore fans can be out for blood the moment a Star Trek show puts a foot wrong. Thankfully, Paul Giamatti’s experience of playing Rhino in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 should have given him a thick skin for any incoming insults from the more toxic corners of Star Trek fandom.

Following the release of Andrew Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, fans slated Paul Giamatti’s “terrible” Rhino. However, despite fan criticism, Paul Giamatti revealed to Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast that he enjoyed the experience of playing the iconic Spider-Man villain. Giamatti was a fan of the Rhino and had coveted the role for years, so it’s heartening to hear that fan criticisms didn’t hamper his enjoyment. As a Star Trek fan too, it seems that Paul Giamatti will be able to navigate potential fan negativity surrounding his role in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

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Paul Hunham in The Holdovers

Paul Giamatti played a boarding school teacher with high standards.

One of Paul Giamatti’s most recent roles is perhaps his best pre-cursor to Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. In Alexander Payne’s Oscar winning movie The Holdovers, Paul Giamatti played grumpy history teacher, Paul Hunham, who was forced to look after the boarding school students who didn’t go home for the holidays. Given the tease that his character is connected to a cadet, Paul Giamatti could be playing one of Starfleet Academy’s mentors. If that’s the case, then Paul Giamatti’s villain could turn out to be an evil version of the cranky but sympathetic Paul Hunham in The Holdovers.

Paul Hunham’s high-standards and disdain for the privileged and feted students that he taught was played to perfection by Giamatti in The Holdovers. The bond that Paul eventually formed with promising but troubled student Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) hints at the types of stories that a Starfleet Academy series could tell. Whatever Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau have planned for the YA Star Trek show is clearly enough to convince an actor of Paul Giamatti’s talents to come aboard, which makes Star Trek: Starfleet Academy an exciting prospect.