Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is still two days away from its Season 1 premiere, but last month’s news that the series is set to bring in legendary Star Trek character James T. Kirk set the Internet ablaze, igniting all sorts of speculation on just how that might work.
The Vampire Diaries vet Paul Wesley is set to inhabit the gold uniform of the future Enterprise captain in Season 2, currently in production, and his participation in the series was announced by Paramount+ after a number of photos from a location shoot in downtown Toronto outed his casting to the public.
We got a chance to chat with Strange New Worlds executive producer and co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers at the show’s April 30 premiere event in New York City, where he advised that fans should “put on [their] thinking hat” when it comes to figuring out how Kirk beams aboard the series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go2OuzF1HP0
TREKCORE: I know you won’t tell me how or why, but I wonder if you would talk about bringing in Paul Wesley as — I’m not going to say ‘Captain Kirk,’ I’m going to say ‘Jim Kirk,’ because I don’t know the answer to that question.
HENRY ALONSO MYERS: All I can say is is that… you’re a sci-fi fan. Put on your thinking hat! [There are] a lot of different ways that we can meet this character. A lot of different ways. Some of them are the obvious ones and some of them are less obvious.
TREKCORE: So, assume nothing until you see the product.
HENRY ALONSO MYERS: Assume nothing. Yes.
I mean, what I would really say is that he’s a guest on our series. He is important to our series. He has big roles on the series. Paul inhabits him wonderfully. But like I’ve said, we’re not trying to change what our series is. Our series is the stories of Pike’s Enterprise, you know what I mean?
But, like, Kirk was around back then! And it would probably be a mistake not to tell — like, you don’t want to leave a story on the table, not telling interesting stories that haven’t been told. We’re telling stories about young Spock, and young Uhura, and young Chapel, stories that hadn’t been told.
At some point, you’re going to have to wonder, “What happened with young Kirk?”
Strange New Worlds‘ ten-episode first season runs through July 7; the show’s currently-filming second season will beam down in 2023.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuts with its premiere episode on Thursday, May 5 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada.
Additional international distribution has not yet been announced.