Starfleet Academy’s Craziest Quote Will Outlive Star Trek’s Unfairly Canceled 2 Season Series

Published Oct 16, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT

John Orquiola is a TV Editor, Senior Writer, and Interviewer with a special focus on Star Trek. John has over 5,000 published articles at SR, and he has interviewed the biggest names in Star Trek on the red carpet and VIP events, among other beloved shows, movies, and franchises.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 3 roared out of the gate with a quote so funny and memorable that it will outlive the series, which was unfairly canceled after only two seasons. Executive produced by Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's second and final season will premiere in March 2027 on Paramount+, with special guest stars Bill Nighy and Rosemarie DeWitt coming aboard.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1, episode 3, "Vitus Reflux," took place three weeks after the start of the new academic year. An intercollegiate rivalry quickly formed between Starfleet Academy and the cadets of the War College, which shares the Academy's San Francisco campus and starship, the USS Athena. Tensions quickly escalated into a prank war.

The War College scored 'first blood' by pranking Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard), Series Acclimation Mil (Kerrice Brooks), and Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané). A War College vs. Starfleet Academy Calica game didn't settle the score, but by following Chancellor and expert prankster Nahla Ake's (Holly Hunter) example, Starfleet Academy out-foxed the War College into surrendering and emerged victorious.

Lura Thok Dropped The Funniest Quote In Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1

Commander Lura Thok (Gina Yashere) saw all the trouble between the cadets coming at the start of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 3. When the ferocious Cadet Master took her concerns to Captain Ake, Lura dropped the funniest and what will surely prove to be the greatest pun in Starfleet Academy's history:

"As a graduate of the War College, I can promise you, they shenanned once, they'll shenann again."

Lura Thok's ingenious reworking of "shenanigans" can be credited to Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 3's writers, Kiley Rossetter and Alex Taub. However, Gina Yashere is a talented comedienne adept at clever wordplay, so it would not be surprising if she ad-libbed Lura's immortal pun.

"They shenanned once, they'll shenann again" immediately caught fire with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's fans. It became a meme, and was widely shared online across social media. Lura Thok's pun was an early indicator of the quality of Starfleet Academy's writing and the depth of characterization the series boasts.

As an intimidating hybrid of a Klingon and a Jem'Hadar, Lura Thok is a treasure trove of hilariously bloodthirsty quotes like, "You will pay with blood, sweat, and shame. Why are none of you crying?" and "No blood will be shed on my court without my express permission!"

However, "They shenanned once, they'll shenann again" will be the one Commander Thok and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will be remembered for in the years to come.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Ending With Season 2 Will Always Be Unfair

Image via Paramount+

Low ratings resulting in part from the damaging online backlash and hate campaign for being "too woke," and Skydance's undefined new direction for the Star Trek franchise doomed Star Trek: Starfleet Academy from the get-go. Luckily, season 2 was already filmed by the time Paramount+ canceled the show, giving the streamer 10 new episodes of Starfleet Academy as part of its Star Trek content in 2027.

Regrettably, Paramount+ ending the youthful, live-action Star Trek series will leave Starfleet Academy half-finished, cutting off the cadets' college experience during sophomore year. Starfleet Academy was intended as a four-year show, at least. In better circumstances, Starfleet Academy could have continued indefinitely with a new class of cadets featured every few years.

Star Trek faces a crisis where its fan base is aging as Gene Roddenberry's franchise turns 60 in 2026. Starfleet Academy was designed as a means for Star Trek to reach the coveted young adult demographic. As with most TV shows, Starfleet Academy needed time to find and cultivate its audience, and that would be in the best of circumstances without being used as a pawn in the "woke" culture war.

Nearly every Star Trek series becomes better appreciated after it goes off the air, and the same destiny awaits Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Meanwhile, Lura Thok's crazy good "They shenanned once, they'll shenann again" quote is bound to outlive the series it was born from and become part of the cultural lexicon.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1 is streaming on Paramount+

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  Holly Hunter

  Nahla Ake

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  Sandro Rosta

  Caleb Mir