Paul Wesley will take on the role of Captain Kirk for the Trek prequel series’ second season.
With the Star Trek prequel series Strange New Worlds still due to air, news has broken of some pivotal casting for its future.
We’ve known since January that the Captain Christopher Pike fronted USS Enterprise show is getting a second series, but this new announcement gives further hints of the show’s direction.
Set after her crew’s appearance in Season Two of Discovery, the series will follow the Enterprise on a mission of exploration; Anson Mount’s Pike has the Captain’s chair, Rebecca Romjin and Ethan Mount return as Number One and Science Officer Spock.
Enter Captain Kirk
The casting of actor Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries) as James T. Kirk begs all sorts of questions; while Discovery was set a decade before the original series, Strange New Worlds is busy filling in the gap.
Thanks to the original series two-parter ‘The Menagerie’, which reworked the first pilot ‘The Cage’, it’s documented that Kirk met Pike when the latter was promoted to Fleet Captain. However, how and when Kirk took command of the Enterprise is open to interpretation.
The released photo sees Kirk sporting those essential three gold braids on his sleeves, so perhaps he’s commanding another ship? We know he served on the Farragut but there’s little else specific said onscreen. The extended media of book and comics, of course, might have other ideas.
To be honest, introducing Kirk into the show has caught us rather by surprise. Then again, plenty of other familiar characters have been cast too; Strange New Worlds has a Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) and Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) on its roster. Perhaps we will see Christopher Pike gain that promotion in the show? Certainly, it’s likely we’ll enjoy a first meeting between Kirk and Spock on-screen.
All the young Kirks
The other question, of course, is how far Paul Wesley will be encouraged to go in recreating William Shatner’s idiosyncratic performance. It’s much parodied, and perhaps of its time, but instantly memorable too. One guide, we suppose, is the action hero version of the latter-day Star Trek movies, which see Chris Pine in the role.
With a Star Trek 4 movie reportedly heading into production this winter, we may soon have parallel young Kirks; Pine is currently 41 years old, while Paul Wesley is 39. Interestingly, William Shatner was only 35 when he first played the role.
Strange New Worlds begins on Paramount+ on the 5th of May. UK viewers remain in limbo for the moment, waiting on the service to launch via Sky. It’s possible the series may be available to purchase on streaming or shown on Pluto TV (like Discovery Series 4).
We’ll keep you posted.