‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’: Paul Wesley Cast As Kirk For Season 2
Paramount+ series ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ is adding another iconic canon character, as they announce ‘The Vampire Diaries’ star Paul Wesley will play James T. Kirk in Season 2.
‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series will feature fan favourites from season two of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’, with Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series will follow Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.
“Paul is an accomplished actor, an astonishing presence and a welcome key addition to the show,” executive producer Alex Kurtzman and showrunners/executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers said in a joint statement. “Like all of us, he is a life-long Star Trek fan and we are excited by his interpretation of this iconic role.”
The part of James T. Kirk was, of course, originated by the legendary William Shatner in ‘Star Trek: The Original Series’, and has also been played by Chris Pine in the “Kelvin Timeline” ‘Star Trek’ movies. Wesley starred in eight seasons of the CW’s ‘The Vampire Diaries’, one of the network’s most-watched shows. He also was featured in Paramount+’s series ‘Tell Me a Story’, as well as other projects including upcoming horror film ‘History of Evil’. An accomplished director and producer as well, Wesley has directed episodes of ‘The Vampire Diaries’, ‘Roswell, New Mexico’, and ‘Legacies’.
“I am deeply humbled and still a little startled to have been given the honour of playing the inimitable James T Kirk. Ever since I was a kid, I have been awed by the imaginative world Gene Roddenberry created,” commented Wesley on Twitter. “Recently, I boarded a flight to LA to discover that the man in the empty seat beside me was the one and only William Shatner, having himself just returned from space. I could barely put two words together but ultimately I managed to say hello and we chatted. I’m not one who usually believes in fate but this was more than a coincidence. And of course, I had to get a picture. So thanks Mr. Shatner for the good company. And for seating us together, my thanks to the great bird in the sky. Can’t wait for all of you to see our Captain Kirk on your screens.”
The fan reaction to the news has been a little… mixed… Not due to the casting of Wesley as Kirk, who is a good fit, but the fact that Kirk is in the show at all. The problem is that, in the main timeline where the show is set (as opposed to the movie “Kelvin Timeline”), Kirk only met Pike once, when he is handed the Captain’s chair of the Enterprise, which is about five to seven years in the future from the events of the series (depending on how long Pike took off to wrap his head around the events of the Discovery season two finale.) Around this time, Kirk was a Lieutenant on the USS Farragut, which suffered a devastating attack that killed a large portion of the crew. Kirk blamed himself for the loss of life, citing his delay in firing the ship’s phasers, however, the ship’s executive officer disagreed, stating, “Lieutenant Kirk is a fine young officer who performed with uncommon bravery.”
It’s possible we could see the Farragut incident on screen as part of ‘Strange New Worlds’, which would be a way of introducing Kirk, but without having him come face-to-face with Pike directly. However, if you look at the photo above, Kirk appears to have three stripes on his uniform, which would suggest he is a Captain when he appears in the show… That makes things a little more interesting as his first command as Captain was on board the USS Enterprise… So is this a flash-forward? Some sort of “timey wimey” stuff? An alternative universe? We’ll have to wait and see!
‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ will stream exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., Latin America, Australia and the Nordics from Thursday, May 5, 2022. As for the UK… It is unclear if this will end up somewhere else, or be held for the Paramount+ UK launch. The latest I’m hearing is that they’re looking at June for a potential UK launch window for the streaming service, which would fit into the rather vague “Summer 2022” they officially gave earlier this year. If they do launch in June, that would allow them to dump the first half of the 10-episode series up together, then continue to run it weekly alongside the rest of the world. As of right now, we just don’t know.
The series sees Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers serve as co-showrunners, with Goldsman directing the premiere episode. Goldsman, Kurtzman and Lumet serve as executive producers in addition to Alonso Myers, Heather Kadin, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth and Aaron Baiers. The series is produced by CBS Studios, Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.
‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ does not yet have a UK premiere date, but if you want to keep track of this or any other show, you can add it via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
