‘Starfleet Academy’ Brings Back ‘Deep Space Nine’ Star as SAM Grapples With Enduring ‘Star Trek’ Mystery

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers from “Series Acclimation Mil,” Episode 5 of “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” now streaming on Paramount+.

“Starfleet Academy” paid heartfelt tribute to “Deep Space Nine” in this week’s episode, which included the return of Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko.

In the episode, SAM (Kerrice Brooks) is tasked by her Kasqian makers with explaining virtually everything about “organics.” In the course of learning everything she can, she comes across the mystery of Capt. Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), who disappeared in the series finale of “Deep Space Nine” when he was taken in by the wormhole aliens, aka The Prophets of Bajor.

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SAM becomes obsessed with discovering what happened to Sisko, while also grappling with how to fulfill her own role as an emissary to the organic world on behalf of the Kasqians. She eventually receives a book written by Jake about his father, with Jake appearing in her mind to talk about Capt. Sisko and what kind of man/emissary he was.

In an interview with Variety, Lofton praised Kerrice for the funny connection she shares with his onscreen father. “Honestly, I work well with Brookses,” he said with a laugh. “So it just happened to be nice bit of synchronicity there.”

Lofton went on to call Kerrice a “phenomenal” performer who adds to the legacy of “Star Trek.” “She was a perfect scene partner,” he said. “She elevated every moment. Her ability to channel emotions and really get in depth was just mind blowing.”

Kerrice, meanwhile, was equally laudatory of Lofton, saying he reminded her of a star. “Not even like star power, like Hollywood — but you feel guided by the stars,” she said. “You feel like you know your bearings by looking at the stars. That’s what it feels like to work with him. He’s beautiful, genuinely beautiful, inside and out.”

The end of the episode also features a piece of dialogue from Avery Brooks, never before heard in a “Star Trek” show. According to Lofton, the speech comes from an album Avery recorded years ago.

“It’s a way for me to hear his voice in another way, because he has such a signature voice, and because it’s so compelling, hearing it in this episode meant a lot to me,” he said.

“Series Acclimation Mil” was co-written by “Lower Decks” alum Tawny Newsome, who also appears onscreen as Starfleet Academy’s Professor Ila, later revealed to be Ila Dax, the Trill symbiont who served with Capt. Sisko aboard Deep Space Nine. The role required Newsome to wear prosthetic makeup for the first time, and the experience definitely made an impression.

“Never have I had more love and admiration for the Doug Joneses of the world,” Newsome said. “I knew that our Dougs and Michael Dorns, I knew these people had superhuman abilities, but doing even just one very long day in that prosthetic, I was like, ‘Oh, these people are simply built different.'”

But the central focus is SAM, with the episode even taking on unique format as she explains her life at the Academy that features onscreen graphics not normally seen in the show. “My favorite movie is the ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ movies,” Kerrice said. “And it felt like SAM’s version of that, which made me just even more excited.”

One of the charming things about “Starfleet Academy” is how well the lives of the characters reflect the lives of the actors playing them.

Kerrice is no different, saying “SAM is so technically smart and book smart, but she doesn’t know a lot about culture. And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s perfect,’ because I have a hard time with that too. So I can’t come into this episode comfortable in my own skin, because that’s not who she is.”

This episode also features an epic bar fight between Starfleet Academy and the War College. Kerrice says it was fun to film that sequence, but admits there was one stunt gone wrong.

“[Cecilia Lee] plays Dzolo, the girl that I fought,” Kerrice said. “I’ve never done fight choreo before. I appreciate that everyone’s trusting me really meant a lot, but I don’t know that they should have trusted me that much without a rehearsal. So CeCe got rocked, she got punched for real, and I felt so bad. Literally during lunch, I bought her a candle, I bought her Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups — which she actually turned out to be allergic to — I just couldn’t do right that day, essentially. I bought her flowers, and she was a trooper. And I kept saying, ‘Hit me back, please, please, please!'”