Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek, Starfleet Academy

Starfleet Academy: Hunter & Giamatti on Ake Staying One Step Ahead

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy stars Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti offer insights on the latest Ake-Braga confrontation in episode six.

In the latest Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode "Come, Let's Away," the young cadets at the institution, along with the War College, are in a training exercise to a derelict Federation ship when they stumble upon an ambush from the Furies and the one person Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) has to reluctantly turn to for assistance is her most bitter rival, Nus Braga (Paul Giamatti). In their deadly chess match, Ake must tread carefully and maneuver to save her cadets. Hunter and Giamatti spoke to Collider to break down not only Ake's mannerisms, but also how they play off each other in their rivalry.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Stars Holly Hunter & Paul Giamatti on Finding Ake's Voice and Physicality; Ake-Braga's Posturing

When asked about how Ake established herself through her movements, "That was something that organically happened when I read it, Hunter said. "I was thinking about her physicality that I wanted to explore with her, then when I got to the set, 'Wow!' They just invited it for me, and the more sets I was introduced to, the more my mind opened to the possibilities of going over the back of a couch. It just became like, 'Ooh, a new world opened up for me that I really found enticing. I was really turned on by the idea of being somebody who lived like that, then it just manifested.'"

As far as Ake's sacrificing herself for her cadets and playing the long game with Braga on trying to secure his secret to defeating the Furies with his treachery in mind, "Exciting that the whole thing takes a turn, and it was a very well-written scene," Giamatti said, crediting episode writers Kenneth Lin and Kiley Rossetter. "They really accomplished it well on the page that was easy to play out, but she [points to Hunter] discovered this great thing in that scene when the moment she comes back and tries to kind of hit me to get me to comply I remembered was brilliant, because it was really going to fool people into thinking that I'm going to play along. I thought, 'What a brilliant, interesting choice to find,' but the script had that room that you can find all those interesting things, like that."

With Ake playing up her suspicions, "And I think it was also important, so that I would truly be double-crossed, but yeah, I would take the freaking fall. Not kind of halfway, 'But well, I suspected it.' No, but to really hook, line, and sinker, and be devastated," Hunter said. "Almost selling it in a comedic moment [gesturing a payoff with his hand], too, was kind of brilliant, so it's just like, "Ooh," when the turnaround comes, it's even more brutal. It was great," Giamatti adds. For more on their dynamic, you can check out the entire interview. New episodes of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy stream on Thursdays on Paramount+.

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