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George Samuel Kirk

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George Samuel "Sam" Kirk, Jr. was a male Human scientist and Starfleet sciences division officer who lived during the mid- 23rd century .

• 1 Early history
• 2 Starfleet career
• 3 Civilian career
• 4.1.1 George Kirk Sr.
• 4.1.2 James T. Kirk
• 4.2.1 Christopher Pike
• 4.2.2 Spock
• 4.2.3 Una Chin-Riley
• 5.1 Neutral Zone incursion
• 5.2 Alternate 2259
• 6 Key dates
• 7.1 Appearances
• 7.2 Background information
• 7.3 Apocrypha
• 7.4 External links

Early history [ ]

George Samuel Kirk, Jr. was born the son of George and Winona Kirk in Riverside , Iowa on Earth . ( SNW : " Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow ") He was the brother of famed Starfleet Captain James T. Kirk ; who believed he alone called his brother by the nickname "Sam". ( TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ") Unknown to James, however, George was frequently referred to as "Sam" while serving aboard the Enterprise in the late 2250s . ( SNW : " Children of the Comet ", " Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow ")

Kirk, along with Winona and James, spent the majority of James' childhood chasing George Kirk, Sr. from one posting to another, to the point that James and Sam barely saw the man. When James asked Winona why they never saw George Sr., she told James that "he's helping people who really need it." ( SNW : " Lost in Translation ")

By 2259 , Kirk was married to Aurelan and they had three sons , including Peter . ( TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ", " Operation -- Annihilate! "; SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")

Starfleet career [ ]

Kirk served as a Starfleet officer , like his father and brother; he had attained the rank of lieutenant junior grade by 2259.

On stardate 2259.42, Kirk reported to the USS Enterprise as a member of the life sciences department under the command of Lieutenant Spock . ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ") He worked primarily in one of the ship's science labs as a xenoanthropologist . ( SNW : " Lost in Translation ")

On stardate 2912.4, Kirk was assigned to the landing party to the comet C/2260-Quentin to determine how to stop it from hitting the planet Persephone III . Kirk himself was injured but was transported back to the Enterprise with the landing party where he received proper medical attention. ( SNW : " Children of the Comet ")

By stardate 1943.7, Kirk had recovered from his injuries. ( SNW : " Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach ")

On stardate 2510.6, Kirk was involved in the landing party to investigate why the USS Peregrine had crash-landed on Valeo Beta V . He was notably stressed by the threat posed by the Gorn that had infiltrated the downed vessel. Following their rescue from the incident, Kirk attended the funeral of Chief Engineer Hemmer and the other crewmen lost. ( SNW : " All Those Who Wander ")

During a mission to Bavali Station to get the new deuterium refinery up and running, Kirk welcomed his younger brother James aboard the Enterprise . Kirk would assist James and Nyota Uhura in identifying the existence of extradimensional lifeforms that existed within the deuterium found in Bannon's Nebula , and the threat that processing that deuterium would pose to them. Following the mission, Kirk considered writing a paper on the subject, a prospect James called "thrilling." ( SNW : " Lost in Translation ")

Kirk would volunteer to take part in a mission to rescue survivors of a Gorn attack on Parnassus Beta . Kirk recognised his shortcomings during his previous encounter with the Gorn and wanted to make amends, as well as gather useful information on the Gorn species and their weaknesses. Based on Montgomery Scott's description of coronal mass ejections in the nearby Shangdi system, Kirk theorised that the Gorn may have been responding to the solar flares in a similar way to locusts . ( SNW : " Hegemony ")

Civilian career [ ]

In 2265 , Sam saw James off when the captain began a five-year mission of exploration in command of the Enterprise . Also saying farewell were Aurelan and their three sons. On this occasion, Sam mentioned that he wished to be transferred to the Earth Colony II research station . ( TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ")

The following year , Sam was working as a civilian research biologist living with his family on Deneva ; his private transmitter was designated GSK 783 .

A short time later, vessels from Ingraham B arrived carrying flying parasites , and many of the colonists, including Sam, were attacked and infiltrated by the parasites . Resisting the parasites' control was excruciatingly painful, but in early 2267 , eight months after the Ingraham B vessels arrived, Aurelan managed to break the long communication blackout and get a brief distress call out to the Enterprise .

By the time the ship arrived, Sam was dead ; his wife died soon after. Their son, Peter, lived and was ultimately freed of the parasites. ( TOS : " Operation -- Annihilate! ")

Relationships [ ]

George kirk sr. [ ].

While he was the elder son and had been named after George (though he did not use the name), Sam felt his father held "old-fashioned" views on what made a fulfilled life and successful career, which were reflected more by James than Sam. This instilled a sibling rivalry in Sam, perhaps moreso than his younger brother. ( SNW : " Lost in Translation ")

James T. Kirk [ ]

Sam and James Kirk hugging in an alternate 2266

Sam was the older brother of James T. Kirk , who was the one who gave Sam his nickname. When James was given command of the USS Enterprise , he, along with his family, were present when James left on his five-year mission. ( TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ")

Their relationship did experience signs of strain at times; Sam expressed feelings of jealousy towards James' quick rise through the ranks. In 2259 , James had become the first officer on the USS Farragut , the youngest in Starfleet history, a record previously held by their father. Sam felt James' ambition and brash attitude reflected badly on him. ( SNW : " Lost in Translation ")

An alternate timeline version of George Samuel Kirk described his brother as a "huge pain in the ass, but he's as fine a captain as Starfleet has." ( SNW : " A Quality of Mercy ")

Friendships [ ]

Christopher pike [ ].

Samuel Kirk and Christopher Pike

Kirk and Christopher Pike met sometime prior to 2259 and became friends. In fact, prior to the mission to Kiley 279 , Pike personally wanted Kirk aboard the Enterprise as a crewmember. ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")

During the briefing prior to his first away mission, Pike commented on liking Kirk's new mustache , prompting Kirk to suggest that Pike might want to try one on himself. ( SNW : " Children of the Comet ")

When Kirk reacted emotionally to the Gorn hunting the landing party on the USS Peregrine , Doctor M'Benga suggested to Captain Pike that he be given a sedative. Pike refused him, stating his belief that Kirk was "stronger than he looks". ( SNW : " All Those Who Wander ")

Kirk served under Spock in the life sciences department aboard Enterprise ; upon being introduced by Captain Pike, Spock's initial reaction was less than enthusiastic. ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")

Kirk's tendency to eat (and therefore leave dirty plates and crumbs) during departmental meetings was a source of frustration for Spock; when his Vulcan DNA was temporarily removed following an encounter with the Kerkhovians , he angrily lunged at Kirk, who was bewildered by the scale of his overreaction. ( SNW : " Charades ")

Una Chin-Riley [ ]

Kirk held a great deal of respect for Una Chin-Riley , as he described her to his brother as "the first officer that he thought James should be like," someone who kept a necessary distance from her crew because she knows she has to make hard decisions. ( SNW : " Subspace Rhapsody ")

Alternate timelines [ ]

Neutral zone incursion [ ].

Lt. George Samuel Kirk in an alternate 2266

In an alternate timeline , Sam was still serving aboard the USS Enterprise in 2266 during the Neutral Zone Incursion .

A time traveling Christopher Pike from 2259 consulted with Sam after learning that his brother was the captain of the USS Farragut . After James beamed aboard, he and Sam immediately shared a hug, warmly greeting each other. ( SNW : " A Quality of Mercy ")

Alternate 2259 [ ]

In an alternate 2259 , Sam had died due to unknown circumstances. ( SNW : " Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow ")

Key dates [ ]

• 2259 : Appointed to the life sciences department aboard the USS Enterprise
• 2265 : Sees brother James T. Kirk off on his five-year mission
• 2266 : Moves to Deneva
• 2267 : Dies after being infected by a flying parasite

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• TOS : " Operation -- Annihilate! " ( Season 1 )
• " Strange New Worlds " ( Season 1 )
• " Children of the Comet "
• " Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach "
• " All Those Who Wander "
• " A Quality of Mercy " ( alternate timeline )
• " Charades " ( Season 2 )
• " Lost in Translation "
• " Subspace Rhapsody "
• " Hegemony "

Background information [ ]

George Samuel Kirk was portrayed by Dan Jeannotte in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

Originally, the corpse of George Samuel Kirk was portrayed by William Shatner in his only non-James T. Kirk role (possessed or otherwise). According to the script for "Operation -- Annihilate!", " Sam is revealed, very definitely a Kirk… older by ten years than the captain, perhaps a little different in nose or jawline… but he looks too much like Jim Kirk to be anyone but his brother. "

Johnny , formerly George Samuel Kirk

George Samuel Kirk was to appear in 2009 's Star Trek (referred to in the film's script as "George Kirk, Jr." [1] ), where he would have been played by Spencer Daniels . Scenes featuring Daniels as Sam Kirk were filmed, but the character was entirely cut from the final release. The one remaining scene of Daniels playing Sam Kirk, in which Jim Kirk called out to him as he was driving past him in their uncle's (in the final cut, their stepfather's) Corvette , was altered to change the name of Daniels' character to " Johnny ", apparently a friend of Jim's.

George Samuel Kirk's deleted scene from 2009's Star Trek was available on Star Trek  the two-disc DVD release for the film , Star Trek  the three-disc Blu-ray release as well as the Blu-ray set Star Trek: The Compendium . In the scene, George ran away from home and his brother to escape the cruelty of their uncle Frank , finding it impossible to "be a Kirk" in Frank's household. He was also angered that Frank had claimed their late father's Corvette as his own. After George left, Jim found the keys to the Corvette and drove off in the car. As originally conceived, Jim drove by and called out to a shocked George, who had been trying to hitchhike.

Apocrypha [ ]

George Samuel Kirk appeared in the last chapter of Star Trek: Enterprise novel Last Full Measure , set in 2238 , in which an elderly Trip 's first visit to the Starfleet War Memorial coincided with that of young Sam and Jimmy Kirk, rendering the quiet reflection he had hoped for an impossibility. The scene established George's birthdate August 12, which was also when Federation Day was celebrated. However, according to "Echoes of Yesterday" in TOS Special 3 , George's birthdate was September 7, 2229 , and his death took place on April 13, 2267 . ("Operation – Annihilate!" originally aired on April 13, 1967)

George's two unnamed sons have been given many different names in various novels, comics and video games. The TOS novels The Last Roundup and Provenance of Shadows gives these boys the names Alexander and Julius. The novel The Autobiography of James T. Kirk calls them Joshua and Steven. The comic book Star-Crossed Part 2: Loved Not Wisely... calls them Brett and Robbie. The comic book story " Bloodline " calls them Marcus and Virgil. The comic story " The Unforgiven " calls them Adam and Jason. The photocomic " Sam " calls them George and Gregory. The video game Star Trek: Starship Creator calls them Stephen and Thomas. One of the sons was named Craig in the game Star Trek: Away Team .

A slightly altered version of George's deleted scene from 2009's Star Trek was found in the film's novelization . Among the scene's changes made for the book was George's revelation that Frank (who in a merger of the script and film characters the boys' stepfather, not uncle) wanted Jim to wash the Corvette, which had belonged to their late father, because he intended to sell it behind their mother's back - it was after hearing this that the decision to steal the car was made.

George Samuel Kirk of the alternate reality

The alternate reality George appeared in IDW Publishing 's Star Trek: Ongoing comic series, exploring events of the original series in the alternate reality, which clarified that the boys lived with their uncle until George ran away to live with his grandfather. This later led to a rift between the brothers, James feeling that George had abandoned their mother.

During their investigation of the neural parasites, Kirk and the crew discovered George living underground with his family to escape the influence of the parasites after their attack on the colony, with the Enterprise subsequently devising a means to banish the parasites and cure George's family, which here consisted only of his wife Aurelan and one son, Peter ( β ). At the story's conclusion, George and his family return to the colony, with George complimenting his brother's success, a degree of reconciliation having been reached between the two of them.

His mirror universe counterpart ( β ) was mentioned as being a Terran Empire scientist in the short story "The Greater Good" contained in the anthology Shards and Shadows . In 2263 , he was awarded the Zee-Magnees Prize for his work in precision frontal lobotomy. As he had no interest in a military career and his brother James T. Kirk had no interest in science unless he could manipulate it to make his life easier, neither brother had to worry about the other getting in the way of his career and having to be eliminated.

External links [ ]

• George Samuel Kirk at StarTrek.com
• George Samuel Kirk, Jr. at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 2 Marlys Burdette

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Published May 17, 2022

Strange New Worlds 101: The Kirk Family

Let’s talk about one of Trek’s most famous families.

StarTrek.com

Spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode two to follow!

Welcome back to Strange New Worlds 101! Last week, we explored the history of the Prime Directive (or, as Pike calls it, General Order 1), and this week we’re diving into one of the most famous families in all of Star Trek : the Kirk family. While fans are definitely familiar with one James Tiberius Kirk, Strange New Worlds is shifting the spotlight over to Samuel Kirk, Jim’s older brother.

Audiences first met Samuel Kirk in a way, in the TOS episode “Operation — Annihilate!” Samuel unfortunately was a victim of the strange parasitic creatures that had overtaken the colony he lived on, though his wife and child survived. Sam is also mentioned in the TOS episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”, where Kirk mentions his brother was there to send him off on his five year mission, along with his sister-in-law and nephews.

In the Kelvin universe, Samuel makes a brief appearance in Star Trek (2009) as his brother speeds past him in a stolen car. However, in the final cut of the film, Sam’s appearance is changed to “Johnny,” who is presumably a friend of young Jim Kirk; Sam’s other scenes were cut from the theatrical version.

Samuel’s full name is George Samuel Kirk; he’s named after his father, George. George Kirk’s most famous appearance in the Star Trek canon comes in the Kelvin universe. In the opening of Star Trek (2009) , George is put in command of the U.S.S. Kelvin when the Romulan mining vessel manned by Nero appears through a wormhole. After the Kelvin’s captain is killed, George orders the evacuation of all personnel and saves 800 lives, including that of his wife and his newly born son, James. However, in order to insure the escape of the Kelvin’s crew, George sacrifices himself and is killed when the Kelvin collides with Nero’s ship.

In Strange New Worlds , Samuel Kirk is a charming lieutenant onboard the Enterprise , serving under Chief Science Officer Spock. Of course, fans know that Spock’s relationship with Samuel’s younger brother Jim is one of the most important dynamics of the Star Trek franchise, so it’s a fun nod to that future by having Samuel serve onboard the Enterprise alongside Spock. We even get to see Samuel and Spock go on an away mission together in “Children of the Comet,” where Samuel displays his brother’s usual devil-may-care attitude. However, Samuel ends up unconscious for most of the mission, due to being a bit careless as he approached part of M’Hanit.

Episode Preview | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Ghosts of Illyria

We know that James Kirk will make an appearance in season two of Strange New Worlds . It would be a delight to see him interact with his brother, as the pair haven’t shared much screen time in either universe. Are two Kirk brothers more prone to shenanigans than just one? We’ll have to wait to see if we’ll see them have an adventure together.

Relive your favorite moments from “Children of the Comet” with our official recap, and share your theories and thoughts with us @StarTrek on social!

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In addition, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Who Is Sam Kirk?

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The Star Trek franchise has reintroduced a legion of fan favorite characters over the past few years, in movie reboots, prequel series and parallel timeline animated shows. Many of these characters are household names on their third or fourth iteration. But some, like the lesser known brother of Star Trek icon James T. Kirk, are practically brand new. George ‘Sam’ Kirk had a brief cameo as a dead body in Star Trek: The Original Series , but in the recently released Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , he’s given a new lease on life.

Sam Kirk had his origins in Star Trek: The Original Serie s, season 1, episode 29, “Operation — Annihilate!”, in which he was played by William Shatner in an unforgettable mustache. In 2009, the character appeared in the deleted scenes of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek , deep in the throes of a teenage crisis. It’s undeniable, then, that his role as a healthy science officer in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is his most distinguished one to date, and perhaps the only one that does him justice. In this series, Sam Kirk is given new purpose, allowing him to grow beyond the reputation of his surname alone.

RELATED: Gene Roddenberry's Son Says Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Would Make His Father Proud

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the Enterprise voyages under the command of Christopher Pike, not James Kirk. Still, the bridge crew is familiar all the same. Spock, Uhura, Christine Chapel, and Doctor M’Benga are present, and Pike himself is an old name from very early in the original TV series. Even security chief La’an has a connection to Khan Noonien-Singh, a classic Star Trek villain. Sam Kirk is brought in by Pike as a xenoanthropologist. He's an enthusiastic recruit for the flagship of Starfleet, and an obvious hint that Captain Kirk is lurking somewhere down the timeline – in the season finale, in fact.

Yet Sam isn’t just a discount legend. By the events of Star Trek: The Original Series , Sam had become a civilian research biologist, a footnote on a colonized planet far away from his brother’s adventures. On Pike’s ship in Strange New Worlds , he’s a part of the action, often raising the stakes on a crew mission that involves infant Gorn or a comet-sized demigod.

There are certain story roles to be filled on a Federation spaceship. In this case, they include repressed aliens, traumatized fighters, wide-eyed cadets, and precognitive captains. Sam Kirk is none of these; rather, he is instead the classic everyman, best described as a redshirt who survives away missions – despite the universe’s best efforts. In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 2 , “Children of the Comet,” Sam acts as the ticking time-bomb of the plot, his injuries due to misapplied curiosity encouraging Uhura to rise to the problem at hand. Later in the season, he has some banter with Uhura and La’an, and then returns in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , season 1, episode 9, “All Those Who Wander,” to have a bit of a meltdown in a situation that recalls John Carpenter’s The Thing . In this show, Sam is not a traditional hero, but he’s almost certainly the person whom the audience will relate to the most.

Throughout the series, Sam displays many of the classic characteristics of a Starfleet officer , but he doesn’t exhibit the ambition that his brother is known for. He’s disturbed by Spock’s apparent lack of emotions after they witness the death of a crewmate, but doesn’t escalate the resulting confrontation beyond raised voices. He may have Kirk’s name, but his character isn’t under pressure to be the pride of Starfleet, or the foil to Spock’s logic. The show makes it clear that he has his own job to do, and his own identity to build, no matter what guest star he encounters.

Sam and Jim had a brief meeting in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , season 1, episode 10, “A Quality of Mercy,” in an alternate timeline that was eventually erased by Pike. The brothers’ relationship in season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will be explored in more depth, but from the glimpse audiences have already caught, they seem to be on good terms. In season 1, Sam describes Jim as “a pain in the ass,” but also “smart”, and “highly skilled.” He engages in some good-natured ribbing, but there’s an undercurrent of competitiveness as well.

Evidently, there is some tension in addition to affection in the Kirk family, and it could add some much-needed expansion for Sam’s character. They share a father in George Kirk, first portrayed in Star Trek (2009) by a Hemsworth, so there is considerable history to discuss. Spock has plenty of family drama showcased throughout the franchise – why not Captain Kirk too?

In this show, Sam Kirk has the potential to be more than an afterthought for both Star Trek fans and the original Captain Kirk. Just like Captain Pike, the character is on a trajectory with a definite end, but that doesn’t mean his arc can’t be impactful. When Dan Jeannotte’s Sam Kirk finally hangs up the science blues and heads off to get infected with flying parasites, the audience should be affected. There’s time to make him an integral part of the Enterprise crew , and consequently, a beloved tragedy.

MORE: Star Trek: How Kirk Used His Trauma & Pain To Become A Great Captain

Why Is It So Easy To Break The Prime Directive?

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‘star trek: strange new worlds’ actor paul wesley on taking up captain kirk mantle in surprise finale appearance and what’s next.

William Shatner previously sent his well wishes when it was announced that Wesley was joining the Paramount+ series in the iconic role for season two.

By Ryan Parker

Ryan Parker

Former Senior Reporter

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[This story contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season one finale, “A Quality of Mercy.”] 

Paul Wesley knew instantly that everything was going to work out. The universe was clearly telling him it was his time to play Capt. James T. Kirk — after all, who better than William Shatner to give his blessing?

It was announced earlier in the year that the Vampire Diaries star had been tapped to play Captain Kirk for season two of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . But fans were in for a shock when Wesley made his debut as the iconic sci-fi character in the season one finale of the Paramount+ series this week in “A Quality of Mercy,” which is a brilliant mirror of the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Balance of Terror.”

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And he did not disappoint, bringing a unique, enjoyable take on the iconic captain who was made a pop culture staple by Shatner and then introduced to a new generation in the J.J. Abrams film series, played by Chris Pine. And as fate would have it, Wesley randomly shared a plane ride with Shatner around the time his casting was announced. Obviously, some filming had taken place by that time for the secret season finale. Shatner then publicly gave his blessing to the new Kirk: “Keep my ship and crew safe, Captain! Congratulations!”

In a chat with The Hollywood Reporter prior to the season finale, Wesley explains how much he appreciated that kind gesture from Shatner and explores how he approached Captain Kirk, including the lesson he took from riding motorcycles.

Below, the actor also talks about how he landed the top-secret role and teases how season two will better flesh out the relationship between Kirk and his brother, Samuel.

The casting process was so secretive for others I’ve interviewed, so I can’t even imagine how locked down it was for you. Tell me about how this happened? 

It was so secretive! It happened so quickly that I thought it was a prank, because it was literally a call from my agent over the weekend saying, “Hey, do you want to do a quick Zoom with [showrunners] Akiva [Goldsman] and Henry [Alonso Myers] and casting directors?” I said, “Yeah, of course. Do you know what is this for?” And they were like, “It’s a character who is very iconic in Star Trek , just talk to them and see what happens.” So, we did this Zoom, and we all just had a great time. The episode had not been written yet, but they knew they wanted Kirk to come in. So, there was no material, it was just kind of a general conversation about everything you can imagine. And that was it. Then it was literally like, “You’re leaving next week.” ( Laughs .)

That’s wild. After you booked it, how did you go about developing your own iteration of such a classic sci-fi character? Did you want any vestiges from Mr. Shatner in this Kirk?

The most important aspect is to not do an imitation of something that is sacred. And obviously William Shatner’s interpretation of Captain Kirk has really touched people; it’s been important to people for a variety of reasons. I think the most important thing is to not do an imitation because it’s an insult to the character who is so iconic — and it’s a reminder that I’m not William Shatner. ( Laughs .) So, this is a version of Kirk we’ve never seen, and every episode is different.

Obviously, the season one finale is an alternate timeline that doesn’t exist, because it takes place in the future. He’s not captain of the Enterprise. He’s never met Spock, and he’s never had all those experiences. It’s a Kirk who has been shaped differently. So in the season finale, it really was open to interpretation. In season two, we meet a Kirk who we know better. I think the most important thing was to pay respect to the important pillars of his personality: His morality, his incredible instinct, his courage, his empathy towards others and how protective he is of his crew.

How was putting on that costume for the first time — overwhelming? Empowering? Mind-blowing?

( Laughs .) All of those words are pretty accurate. Television moves rapidly, and so even just sitting in the chair — I rewatched every TOS episode, trying to understand the posture or where to put my hands — really just feeling at home in this chair. I ride motorcycles and when you first get on a motorcycle, you don’t really understand how it moves, and you don’t really understand how to do nice, tight turns. You don’t feel comfortable. And it’s like that with the chair, how you’re just sitting there. That was one of the things that I needed to understand, so it felt like I had been sitting there thousands of times. And it’s like that in this outfit. I know this outfit; I feel at home in it.

We never saw much of Kirk’s brother, Samuel, in TOS other than Shatner briefly in a mustache, so it has been a lot of fun seeing more of him on SNW . Have you and Dan Jeannotte developed a nice bond? Will that relationship be explored more?

Dan is wonderful, and it was very easy for me to immediately have this kind of brotherly connection with him. I don’t know how to describe it. But with that said, we will explore this in future episodes, particularly in season two. I don’t want to tease too much, but there is a rivalry between the two of them because they’re quite different. There is competitiveness. They both want to impress their father and it’s hard when Kirk has achieved so much, so quickly. It’s hard for Samuel to be able to deal with that.

And finally, I knew fans flipped when Shatner gave you his blessing via Twitter after you two happened to fly together. I assume that does wonders for the nerves and any anxiety with stepping into Kirk’s shoes. How did you feel?

How classy of him. He didn’t have to do that. We did have a lovely conversation on the plane, but you know, he didn’t have to do that. He went out of his way to tweet “best of luck and congrats,” which really just meant so much. You can’t even imagine how much that meant to me. He hadn’t seen what we were doing, but gave me his blessing to enjoy this character. And for me, that meant everything.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season one is streaming now on Paramount+ .

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‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’: Anson Mount & Ethan Peck on That Bridge Surprise, Pike and Spock’s Dynamic

Spoiler Alert

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series premiere.]

Going into  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , we knew that James T. Kirk will be appearing in Season 2 , played by Paul Wesley . But early on in the series premiere, there’s talk of a Lieutenant Kirk.

After Captain Christopher Pike ( Anson Mount ) boards the  Enterprise — reluctantly, though Una ( Rebecca Romijn ) has gotten into trouble while the starship was in space dock — Science Officer Spock ( Ethan Peck ) comments that Lieutenant Kirk and the chief engineer are among those officers who have to join them after the mission since a personal rotation was in progress. We also learn that Pike requested Kirk. It’s after Pike returns to the bridge at the end of the episode, having decided that he will be staying on and not returning to his cabin (and beard) that Kirk makes his debut — Samuel Kirk ( Dan Jeannotte ), James’ brother, that is. “How’s the family?” Pike asks. “All fine, sir. It’s great to be here,” Samuel replies. Pike tells him he’s posted to Life Sciences, with Spock.

“I don’t think that Pike would have given Sam a job if he didn’t believe in him and his abilities,” Mount tells TV Insider. “Clearly they’ve known each other from back in the day. They probably served together in some capacity on another ship or from school, not entirely sure yet, but I do think that the character of Sam brings a great quality to the show beyond just the juiciness of being Kirk’s brother. He has a completely different personality and sense of insight and humor than any other character on the show.”

The series premiere also sees Pike confiding in Spock about the fate he saw in  Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 that he knows awaits him. “I saw my own death, Spock, at least the death of the man I am now. I know exactly how and when my life ends, and I didn’t just see it. I felt it, every agonizing second,” Pike admits. “Most humans, we like to think that right until the very last instant, somehow, someway, we’ll cheat death. At least I did.”

Marni Grossman/Paramount+

Spock asks if it’s soon. It’s almost a decade away, Pike says, wondering, “Is that soon? Suddenly that feels soon. I can’t stop seeing it.” Spock suggests that “knowledge of death is vital for effective leadership,” but “knowledge is one thing,” Pike says. “But I experienced it. How will it live in me? Will it make me hesitant? Cautious? Not cautious enough? I’m already second-guessing myself, and that’s the last thing a captain can afford.” Spock tells him to “seek out the good in knowing your own death, use it to be the man you most essentially are. … The captain.” But Pike continues to see his future in his reflection throughout the episode.

We saw how far Pike was willing to go for Spock in  Discovery Season 2, and we know, from  The Original Series , what Spock will one day do for the captain. That and the conversation they have in the  Strange New Worlds premiere is “very” indicative of their relationship on the new series, Peck says.

“They’re on a very unique journey together, [as are] Anson Mount, who plays Captain Pike and myself, Ethan Peck,” he continues. “There is no other relationship in my life quite like ours, where we are embarking on such an incredible journey. I would call this experience the greatest journey of my lifetime thus far. It’s been really spectacular. And so there’s a really great sort of parallel between our lives and our characters’ lives. So yeah, that sort of indicates a great amount of respect, of curiosity between the two characters. I think Spock looks to Pike almost as though he were like an uncle figure, a father figure because he’s not speaking with [his father] Sarek [ James Frain ] currently. And he doesn’t have a lot of human role models in his life. Of course [his mother] Amanda [ Mia Kirshner ] and I think [his sister] Michael Burnham [ Sonequa Martin-Green ] served as one, very important one. But Pike is sort of the best natural fit to educate Spock on that part of himself.”

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds': Watch the Opening Titles (VIDEO)

Adds Mount, “That is one of the most revered relationships, not just in science fiction, but in television history, and to get to lay the earlier groundwork for that relationship is a tremendous sense of responsibility and it is a great honor, especially getting to work with Ethan Peck, who I have grown to admire so much. I think that he is so much farther ahead in his development as a man than I was at his age and I have a great admiration for him as a person and as an actor. And so I’ve just been trying to really go off of that. It’s much easier to work with somebody you like and it’s much easier to develop an onscreen relationship when it’s somebody that you’re comfortable with and who you are continuing to get to know better.”

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‘Strange New Worlds’ Showrunner Talks Lieutenant Kirk In Season 2 And “Bending” Star Trek

| May 17, 2023 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 235 comments so far

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 debuts in just four weeks, and the co-showrunner is dropping some hints.

First Officer Kirk

The brand new issue of SFX magazine includes a cover story about the upcoming season of Strange New Worlds with an interview with co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman. He goes out of his way to avoid spoilers but does confirm a few previously reported details, including the return of the Gorn and Jesse James Keitel as Captain Angel. He also offered some insight into the return of James T. Kirk:

What we’re dealing with is Lieutenant Kirk, First Officer Kirk. We’re not dealing with Captain Kirk, and there’s opportunity there. Paul Wesley is really this wonderful – to me – hybrid of Shatner’s Kirk and his own. That is, of course, serviced by this moment in the Kirk timeline where he’s dating Carol Marcus. So you’ll see…

Paul Wesley first appeared in the season 1 finale as Captain Kirk of the USS Farragut from an alternate future. He is playing the younger Lt. Kirk in season 2, years before taking command of the Enterprise. It’s unclear if Goldsman’s reference to Kirk as first officer was related to his posting on the USS Farragut or is revealing that he gets temporarily assigned as first officer on the USS Enterprise while Una (aka “Number One”) faces a court martial following the season 1 cliffhanger. Wesley can be seen in the season 2 trailer beaming onto the Enterprise.

Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk from the season 2 trailer

Bending Star Trek

Goldsman also talked in general about how the show approached developing season 2, saying, “The pitch was ‘We’re going to do what we did last year, but more’, and we did.” One new element for season 2 will be a comedic crossover episode with Lower Decks , which Goldsman confirmed will include “full-on animated pieces,” noting how they worked closely with Lower Decks showrunner Mike McMahan to help “find the tone” that was a mix of both shows. Later in the article, Goldsman talks about how Star Trek can allow for different kinds of storytelling:

Star Trek allows you to be in space adventures, or at-home adventures or on-planet adventures. And then amongst them, there can be dramas and westerns and comedies. So Star Trek has wide arms when it comes to the kind of entertainment it can accommodate, as long as it’s Star Trek. I think that is what we will always be discovering: how much does it bend before it breaks? Weirdly, that’s our job, to keep trying to put it out there, bend it a little bit and not break it.

He also talked about their approach to Trek lore:

Part of what’s interesting is we’re interpolating history. There’s pieces that are dark that we’re filling in. Having said that, we will body-check canon when we need to, and we have. We’ve moved some folks around in terms of timelines, we put some folks together who aren’t necessarily canonically together at the same time, we pull some things forward because ultimately story wins. But trying to stay within canon is an awfully fun exercise, and leads to solutions that you might not come up with if you didn’t have those boundaries.

Spock, Pike, and Number One from the season 2 trailer

The June issue of SFX Magazine with Strange New Worlds on the cover is out today.

The cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are on the cover of SFX 366 (in UK shops now). Also inside: Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, Transformers, the new Gremlins animation, The Walking Dead and more! More info: https://t.co/Tmn50ONmyn Buy online: https://t.co/CViLm4yNgE pic.twitter.com/R8jYjwqNzz — SFX magazine (@SFXmagazine) May 17, 2023

Season 2 of Strange New Worlds will premiere Thursday, June 15 on Paramount+ in the U.S, the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The second season will also be available to stream on Paramount+ in South Korea, with premiere dates to be announced at a later date. Following the premiere, new episodes of the 10-episode season will drop weekly on Thursdays. Strange New Worlds airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe.

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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Kind of weird that in the trailer’s stinger Kirk clearly has captain’s stripes. I wonder how all of that is going to work.

It will not work. That’s his whole point about “bending Star Trek”.

Star Trek needs to be spanked as well. 🤣

Hopefully its just a wardobe malfunction.

Captain temporarily assigned as first officer? I see no problem with that given that Spock and Kirk were both Captains and Spock was first officer in the movies.

They wouldn’t bump him all the way down to lieutenant for a temporary assignment as XO, though. Kirk as a lieutenant at this point in time makes a ton of sense, but the uniform doesn’t.

I will laugh very hard if he just borrowed one of Pike’s shirts or if he’s pretending to be captain for some reason.

I imagine they just used a photo of Kirk from the SNW episode “A Quality of Mercy” that takes place in an alternate future where Pike avoided his accident and stayed on as captain of the Enterprise during the events of TOS episode “Balance of Terror”. Kirk was Captain of the Farragut instead of the Enterprise in this reality.

Yes. Definitely the first time there’s been a rank insignia error in Star Trek.

Not the first time.

Discovery had to add correct braid in post for the first few days of shooting.

The stripes don’t mean anything. With the exception of Pike and Uhura the entire Season 1 main cast had incorrect stripes.

Honestly if that was as bad as the “bending” got it wouldn’t be that big a deal.

Someone, and their co-signirs can’t count or pay attention to details.

In the portion of the trailer where he is with Cadet Uhura, he has NO Captain Stripes. 😂

The franchise has been around for over fifty years. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with creative storytelling. Nostalgia is only going to carry you so far.

Well said! Nostalgia is fine, as long as it’s handled with care and finesse. If they’re part of the story, or worked in organically, I’m fine with Easter eggs, references, cameos, and other memberberries. When they’re used as a replacement for a competent story, or to emotionally manipulate the audience into caring about what they’re watching (I’m looking at you, every current Star Wars production other than Andor ), that’s when I get annoyed.

In regards to James T. Kirk being on the show again: do I need Kirk in Strange New Worlds ? No; of course not. Do I mind his presence? Not at all…for now. I think Paul Wesley has done a fine job. I don’t need or want a Shatner impersonator (or a Chris Pine impersonator, for that matter), so Paul’s take on James T. Kirk is working out fine for me so far. This is pre-TOS, while he’s still becoming the man we’ve come to know, so I don’t expect him to be a carbon copy, and I welcome the opportunity to learn more about the man before he became the Captain of the Enterprise.

That being said, I don’t want him to overstay his welcome. I still want this series to be about Captain Pike and his crew, first and foremost. Kirk can visit, but I don’t want him staying too long.

Nostalgia bores me.

Creative storytelling needn’t be sloppy storytelling.

“Art consists in limitations. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.” – Chesterton

Canon =/= nostalgia

In the video TrekCulture made about the interview they quoted Goldsman saying “they hadn´t gotten to the events in The Cage yet.” That is of course wrong. And it makes me nervous that they will somehow change events of history so much that The Cage hasn´t happened. Which is stupid for many reasons not least among them that in Discovery season 2 disproves that.

He clearly means the present day bits of the bottle episode re-edit.

If you mean the Menagerie I hope you are right cause the comment as it stands is clearly incorrect.

To be fair, it seems like Akiva’s a bit confused. More than once he suggests that The Cage hasn’t happened yet, when we know full well it happened before the events of DISCO S2. It seems that some people are reading too much into certain things in the article.

Yup, its embarrassing and ridiculous. These people shouldn’t be anywhere near the franchise. Star Trek is a living breathing universe, a legacy an ideal. Not just some tin pot sci-fi show. These people haven’t a clue.

Well now you´re overreacting. “These people” as you say are doing a great job. I just don´t want them to change the timeline for The Cage.

Glad to see you dropping in Emily.

Hope you’re hopeful as I am to see more of the new characters in SNW this season.

If you’re going to ‘body-check canon, then make it a new timeline/reboot (which would be fine!).

Otherwise, there is no point in even having canon. Also, he may be a fine actor but he just looks too old to be believable as Kirk at that point in time.

That’s my problem with him. I don’t know why they made that decision, but it was a poor one.

There was no reason to include Kirk in this series.

Agreed. I was hoping that the series finale of SNW was going to involve just one scene of Kirk and company coming aboard to take over from Pike. Maybe recast the crew of “Where No Man Has Gone Before” as a cool Easter egg. But seeing Sulu, McCoy, Scotty, etc. would make more sense to most viewers.

This is exactly what I have been saying since Kirk first appeared last season. The last scene of the series should be Kirk taking command, taking the chair with a slight smile on his face because we all know what is to come.

Agreed, it makes no sense for Kirk to be there. I don’t mind it that much but it clearly breaks canon.

“Mendez: You ever met Chris Pike?” “Kirk: When he was promoted to Fleet Captain”

True. But they have done it already with the Gorn & Chapel. And the article finally has them admitting they don’t care about canon at all.

I get the idea of “bending” canon but that should only if they NEED to in order to make a good story. But thus far all their “bending” was completely unnecessary. There was no reason to use the Gorn. They could have used a different alien that didn’t have a history laid out. There was no reason to include Chapel if that character was going to get in the way of future events. These things could have been done with new characters or species without changing ANYTHING about the story they were telling. That is what is galling.

WAY too old to be a 27-year-old Kirk!

I dunno, if we can accept all the visual inconsistencies of a franchise that has lasted 57 years with unbroken continuity, I think it’s okay for Young Kirk and Jack Crusher to look a little off for their ages.

People just look older in the future. Probably all that warp travel.

…and all that beaming around takes a toll.

It’s worse than smoking

Upgrading the special effects is something I expect to happen as the show gets closer to the time in which it’s set. But there are a zillion actors, so there’s no need to cast one who doesn’t look the part.

Another word for canon is continuity. Regardless of what you call it, the franchise has beat the holy hell out of it almost from day one. Just because some choose to obsess over it doesn’t mean it should straightjacket anyone looking to exercise a little creativity with the franchise.

Yeah. Canon can be a fun challenge to incorporate and lead to its own storytelling innovations, as the producers have been saying, but it also shouldn’t be a straight jacket if a story element is too good to pass up. A lot of the pedantic things that get picked up on just don’t make for a better *story* if time has to be taken to address them.

Correct. Again, their problems thus far could have easily been dealt with through other means that wouldn’t affect their storytelling in any way shape or form. The Gorn is a perfect example? There are other aliens they could have used. Or barring that make up a new one. Just because that new alien was never dealt with on TOS doesn’t preclude they didn’t exist. TNG did it all the time. No one cared. In that sense the comments in the article I find to be disingenuous. They do indeed feel compelled to go the ‘memberberry’ route when it makes no sense canonically AND they could tell the same story with new elements.

Seems to be a thing with ST producers these days (see: Speleers, Ed).

The thing is, Pike’s command of the Enterprise, aside from The Cage , has been a big empty space until DISCO S2 reintroduced him, Number One, and Spock. Pike has at least another five full years of commanding the Enterprise (or as long as the series lasts) before he meets his fate, and there’s a lot of blank canvas on which to paint new tales of the characters and test the fan-imposed limits of canon (because, let’s be real here: canon is far more important to fans than anyone else, and they’re the ones trying to dictate it when they’re not really in a position of authority to do so).

So, people getting all bent out of shape about canon being “body-checked” need to calm down a bit and trust that they know how far they can go and what they can’t safely mess with.

This has been my point from day one. If you are going to change up everything that made Star Trek Star Trek then just say it’s a reboot. I very much doubt many will have a problem with a rebooted show. I sure wouldn’t. A rebooted show would be judged 100% on how good the show was. But a prime universe set show that blows off all the established rules and in universe realities will just get blasted for blowing them all off.

The above poster was correct. These people shouldn’t be running Star Trek. They’ve been at the helm for many years now. Have made a good number of shows. It’s pretty obvious they don’t know exactly what they have or how to handle it.

All the promotional material show Kirk interacting with La’an. You think Kirk’s first meeting with Spock, something that’s never been featured canonically in over 50 years, would be the hype and the focus of the marketing. Yet unless I missed something we don’t even see any shots of Kirk and Spock together in any of the trailers or promotional photos.

Maybe they’re looking to leave that untouched, since their friendship is so iconic and important to the franchise as a whole. Just guessing; I could certainly be wrong.

Yeah, it seems as if the Kirk-Spock meeting would be a fateful one! Maybe they’re saving that for later? Maybe Spock is off trying to get Una out of hock or something?

You don’t need a first meeting, cuz we’ve already seen their first meeting of minds, which is a lot more important, back with pilot #2 in 65. The teaser in WNMHGB is a wonderfully succinct setup for these characters.

Oh, I love WNMHGB! I didn’t say we NEED a first meeting. But now that they’ve decided to put a younger Kirk on the ship while Spock is there, it seems like a moment with lots of dramatic possibilities. Like the OP, I’m surprised the showrunners would choose to forego that, so I was thinking of alternate possibilities.

Kirk, Spock. Spock, Kirk. Now, if you want to enrage a few folks, turn up the lights, que the Trek harp music, and have them engage in a long, passionate embrace.

You’re welcome.

Was done in fan fiction in the 60’s and 70s.

….. taking sloppy storytelling to a whole new level.

It could be that this is such a big deal for the season, the first meeting of prime Kirk and Spock, that they do not want to spoil it in the trailers.

That is my theory. I think the beginnings of their bond could potentially be a major storyline of this season.

Yep. Personally I’m hoping it will be much more Kirk/Spock and much less Kirk/La’an.

As usual I agree with you man. I think they are saving it as well for the episode. OR maybe it will just be in the next frailer. The one we got was just the teaser.

Yeah honestly I can’t imagine bringing LT Kirk into this season and not having THE moment which Kirk and Spock begin their historic friendship. I mean what could be more important for having Kirk there than that. Almost 60 years into this franchise and we still have never had an explanation for how that happened!

I think I remember reading somewhere that will happen this season although how can it not since Kirk will be on the Enterprise unless Spock is stuck in 1950’s Earth or something. 😅

At least they should have a decontamination gel scene together.

I know they have to support their Kirk but the casting of Paul Wesley as Kirk is truly the shows biggest whiff to me. He’s closer to a Saturday Night Live mockery of Kirk. The actor just isnt up to it. He’s not that guy.

I have no idea how they looked at his work and thought he was their guy.

I guess Austin Butler was too expensive so they needed to find a different CW soap actor…

He’s closer to a Saturday Night Live mockery of Kirk.

I’m inclined to disagree with you on that point. If he was a SNL mockery of Kirk, he’d be trying way too hard to look and sound like Shatner as Kirk, which would be a profound mistake.

I’ll grant that Paul Wesley doesn’t have the same charisma that, say, Chris Pine had with his take on Kirk for the KT Trek films, but I think he’s better than he’s being given credit for.

Even if he is twice as good as I think he is(n’t), twice nothing is still nothing.

He’s fine. Relax.

He hasn’t been seen to play anything but an alternate reality Kirk thought. Still okay to reserve judgment I think.

Not to be the grouchy fanboy here, but I have to agree that Paul Wesley is an… interesting casting choice for kirk. I get much more of a “serious Jim Carey” vibe from him than I get a Shatner vibe or even a Chris Pine vibe.

I’m not sue what “Kirkish” qualities they thought they found when they cast Wesley, or even what they were looking for.

Though a friend of mine said, “Maybe the casting director was drunk.”

Agreed. He’d be better cast as playing a young Jim Carrey in a new Ace Ventura movie than a young Jim Kirk. I loved the casting of Uhura, Pike, and Spock in SNW, and I eventually came around to the new Nurse Chapel (she’s better than the TOS version!). But this new Kirk just ain’t it.

I agree. He is no Shatner or Pine. He is just wrong for the part.

Yeah Deadwood Kirk blows.

But maybe he will improve next season. 🤞

Don’t knock the ‘WOOD – any chance we can get Olyphant into Starfleet?

Hopefully they will put in Kirk’s emotion chip in season 2.

Do these comments about bending canon mean SNW is confirmed to be a different reality from the prime timeline?

No, it just means that creative people like to put their own spin on things, and they’re trying to see how far they can go without making it an alternate reality.

Too late. That entire first season could only be explained by being a 100% reboot. In that article it sounded like they wanted to say it but stopped a few steps short of actually saying it.

Nope, it just means that Pike’s Enterprise is a big, clean slate, and they choose to explore it.

It also means, the Gorn don’t belong pre-TOS as a well known villain but they are going to do it anyways because Akiva can’t resist.

nor should T’Pring be around but they need Kelvin-ize Spock

I don’t have a problem with T’Pring being on the show. The problem I have is her interaction with characters who were around on TOS. Uhura & Chapel aren’t supposed to even know she exists. They might be able to get away with her interacting with the non TOS crew but even then I think that a bit of a stretch as I think it unlikely the subject would never come up between them for other reasons.

Yep. I think it’s been confirmed they only reason they did it was because they thought the Gorn were “cool”. Which may be but per the episode they were in no one knew the Gorn even existed in Pike’s day. I consider this to be a MAJOR blunder. They may as well have Q show up now. Or have Pike encounter the crystalline entity. Because some writer thinks they are “cool”.

After watching the masterpiece of Picard it’s going to be hard to go back to watching Strange New Worlds, and I like this series.

Agreed! I’ve loved all these shows but Terry really showed us genuine Star Trek. I believe he raised the bar on storytelling and character development and now some of these characters in SNW just seem bland and uninteresting by comparison. I definitely rather have a show on the G. But, our feelings may fade as we get closer to S2 SNW.

LOL Masterpiece. It’s only a masterpiece when they pull out the senior citizens from TNG.

Loved Picard season 3 so much but I’m still excited about this season too. A big part of it is the crossover episode which is the single biggest episode I been looking forward too out of everything! 😁

Yup, totally with you. The Discoverse is just bad. Sorry to the people that love it. I’ve tried, but it is just really poor.

Masterpiece? That’s the funniest thing I’ve read on here in ages. Take out all of the nostalgia, all of the fanservice of Picard… and there’s nothing left.

It was good but far from a masterpiece. Still wasn’t close to as good as SNW season 1, and I’m thoroughly anticipating more greatness from Season 2.

Let’s just say that I and several others here feel very strongly the reverse.

If only the back half of Picard S3 had been as well written and executed as S1 of SNW, we would be much more positive towards Matalas’ proposal for Legacy.

‘Masterpiece’ is far from my thoughts on the series finale.

Hey bro you’re staying ‘we’ don’t speak for all of us????? 😒

Yeah I’m just teasing! 😬 And I know what you meant.

As far as the Legacy show I don’t understand this thinking. You didn’t like the finale so you think the entire next show will be bad? Every season of Star Trek haa had bad finales and seasons, but most actually improve in time. I think every season of Discovery has been bad, that doesn’t mean the show shouldn’t be made, just get better ideas.

But if you didn’t like the show, that’s cool, you know me by now I don’t care either way. But it’s a weird reason not to have a show. He can simply change stuff if most fans aren’t happy. Although they been doing that for every season of Discovery and still no improvements. 😂

Season 1 and 2 of Picard were just dreadful and fans still wanted a spin off show even then. Because they still wanted more stories in this era and the hope they would just learn from their mistakes. Season 3 was already a huge improvement, I imagine they would simply keep trying to make it better in the next show as they always do although I loved the finale personally. I’ve watched it three times lol.

I’ve never said that I wouldn’t support a 25th century show in principle, my negatives are

– where the finale left Starfleet as an institution (decimated, riddled with familial privilege and influence / nepotism)

– what the finale proposed as the premise for the future show.

Wow. I found the back half of Picard S3 to be on par with S1 of SNW. And that’s not a good thing.

OK. You liked Picard S3. But “masterpiece” seems too hyperbolic. It did have its moments. All the best stuff happened in the first half. Was it better than the rest of Secret Hideout Trek? Yes. Was it good? Not really.

Every Time Akita talks canon, it just pisses me off. Nowhere in there does he mention talk about it’s it importance. Contrast that with Terry Matalas’s approach to canon, and you see the problem. Akiva shouldn’t be running a prequel show.

Matalas’ approach was to turn the nostalgia fire hose on full. I get that a lot of folks liked that, and that’s fine, but it was a one off. SNW’s is (sort of) treading on new ground, there’s no story to be told that wouldn’t just suck horribly with wall to wall easter eggs and gratuitous cameos for the length of the season.

Having KIRK intrude on a show that’s supposed to be about PIKE isn’t a nostalgia exercise?

If SNW is treading on new ground then why the heck do they have all the nostalgic, legacy characters in the show? The honest answer is Nostalgia sells. They could have just got the core cast and a couple of established characters from the original TOS timeline and created the rest from total scratch but they decided to go with known quantities going so far as to even include Sybok in some ham-fisted way.

I agree SNW is as much fan service and nostalgia as Picard season 3. There’s actually very little that’s original in that show. Which is fine, I like the show but it is what it is. It most certainly is not treading new ground, let’s not fool ourselves.

Agreed! I’m a canon fan and don’t mind bending but he’s already broken it. All they have to do is set the Enterprise in an unknown quadrant and tell good stories with new aliens and new worlds. The writers trap themselves in canon rather than canon trapping them.

Easter Eggs and fan service is fine when it’s earned and useful to a good story. The problem with SNW is most of it is neither. With the Gorn, they could have told the same exact story with a new species and it would actually work better. The BoT remake couldn’t avoid it because they were outright cribbing the original story, and maybe it would have worked if they could have replicated what was most important about it. L’aan as Khan’s predecessor is unnecessary, as is M’Benga, Chapel and Uhura in their roles (Uhura probably makes the most sense to include). Everything they do, could have been done by a new character. What Matalas got right was making the canon intersections he brought in to Picard S3 meaningful and not just window dressing (for the most part). It’s amazing to me that he gets that so well. The reverence Matalas has for what has been established, despite what he may WANT to do, is not in dispute. That’s why he was so good at it. When you nail that, it allows you to do a few blatant things and they can work. Amazing that a man with the pedigree Akiva has, doesn’t get that. He’s supposed to be a better writer than that.

The man wrote “Batman and Robin”. Who are you kidding?

He also won an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind. Industry wise, he has cred. I’m not making an argument for him being a good writer, as much as I’m saying he’s got a very strong resume of work, no matter what any of us think of certain works he’s been attached to. Believe me.. I don’t think he’s that great at what he does.

You do remember that Akiva is the writer responsible for Batman and Robin so I don’t really think he is a better writer than that. (Before everyone gets up on me yes I know he won an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind, but Oscars are the biggest fluke on the planet. We live in a world for Goldsman can win an Oscar but not Alfred Hitchcock.)

Here, too. I feel attempts to comply with canon should be made. But if the story can’t be told in any other way selective “bending” of canon is acceptable. But there is a big difference between “bending” and “ignoring”. Using the Gorn isn’t bending. It’s flat out ignoring. Same as if they wanted to have Q appear.

Canon isn’t that important.

It wasn’t when the TNG writers decided to forget that the Klingons had joined the Federation.

Surely there is a tremendous difference between a throwaway line that can be interpreted metaphorically, and casting aside decades of character development for one of the most important characters in the franchise.

It wasn’t just a throwaway line though. The first couple of times we see the Klingons on TNG it’s pretty clear their Federation members.

It was also the original explanation why Worf and Alexander’s mom was in Starfleet. The writers later admitted that is was a mistake to have them in the federation and just swept all that under the rug and hoped no one would notice.

They retcon it, that’s pretty common in Star Trek. The difference is they were making new canon. Nothing conflicted with the idea, they just decided not to have them in the Federation for some reason and changed after a season so most don’t even know or cared.

With SNW it’s conflicting with old canon and they are pretending it isn’t. That’s a different thing and why it’s bothering some Trekkies.

Other real-life examples:

– Madeleine Albright (nee Korbel), born in Czechoslovakia, became a naturalized US citizen, and negotiated heavily as secretary of state with Eastern European countries re. NATO expansion, Balkan policy, etc.

– Henry Kissinger, born in Germany, also a naturalized US citizen, negotiated heavily with CEE states and the USSR as secretary of state and national security advisor.

This is incredibly common; K’heylar’s Klingon parent simply met a human, became a naturalized Federation citizen (remember, relations were good after Nardendra III), and their kid acted as an intermediary between the two states, albeit on terms that weren’t made crystal clear (and didn’t need to be).

Somehow my first response never survived moderation, so I’m retyping it, albeit less eloquently, because part 2 doesn’t make sense without it!

I thoroughly disagree that it’s “clear” the Klingons were Federation members. First off, we have seen individual member alien races (such as Bajorans and Ferengi) join Starfleet while their homeworlds have not joined the Federation.

Second, on K’heylar specifically, she has half-Klingon, half-human, and she served as a special Federation ambassador to the Klingons. She was never shown to be in Starfleet.

This arrangement is quite common in the real world. For example:

– Zalmay Khalizad was born in Afghanistan, became a naturalized US citizen, and subsequently served as US ambassador to Afghanistan, then to Iraq, and finally as UN ambassador.

– Dmitri Simes was born in Moscow, but served as a foreign policy advisor to Pres. Nixon, who appointed him to head the Center for the National Interest.

– The US intelligence community (dubiously) cultivated Ahmad Chalabi, who was an Iraqi exile in the US, as a proxy figure in Iraq.

– I noted the examples of Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger in my follow-up post, both naturalized US citizens who engaged in diplomacy with their native countries.

In none of these examples did the state in question ever become part of the US!

Third, associate membership in international organizations is a thing. For example, Australia is an associate membership of the European Broadcasters Union (which is NOT an EU body), which explains its participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The EU itself does not formally have “associate members,” but in practice, it signs multiple association agreements with countries on the periphery of Europe, some of which become full member states. For example, the current Ukraine crisis was precipitated by the EU-Ukraine association agreement of a decade ago. Turkey and the EU signed an association agreement in 1963, and (VERY long story short) until 10-15 years ago, it seemed plausible that Turkey would one day join the EU. Several commentators have suggested formalizing the concept of an associate EU membership.

The whole idea that the Klingons “joined the Federation” stems from Wesley’s throwaway line in “Samaritan Snare.” Personally, I would interpret it to mean that the Federation has either a formal associate member status or an informal, EU-like one (cf. the whole Federation-Bajoran cooperation). Alternatively, maybe Wesley was speaking metaphorically, as in the Klingons “joined up” with the Feds in playing a constructive role in galactic politics.

“Heart of Glory,” a first season episode, featured a Klingon captain referring to the Federation-Klingon relationship as “an alliance.” O’Brien said the same thing in that episode where some rogue Klingon mercenary tried to assist in stealing Jadzia Dax’s symbiote.

Thus, in sum, Wesley’s throwaway line can indeed be interpreted consistently with what we have seen in the Klingon-Federation relationship — which is emphatically NOT true of how Kirk, the Gorn, etc. are depicted on SNW.

Exactly. Mistakes are one thing. Willful and blatant disregard for no good reason is another.

True. And I think it understandable that the task is difficult and things are going to slip though the cracks from time to time. I think Enterprise did a pretty darn good job. I think it clear they were actually trying to make things work even though sometimes errors were made. The difference between Enterprise and SNW is that I think it clear the people running SNW have just decided to intentionally ignore the canon any time it got in the way of the some writer’s “fun”. Not just the small things. They’ve ignored the small things too but a couple of really BIG things.

It is, Star Trek isn’t just another crappy sci-fi. The canon is a very important part and makes the universe feel real to many.

100%. It’s not that I need everything to synch up either. I need to believe that this takes place in the same universe. That the people we knew from other iterations are fundamentally the same people in this issue. I don’t really believe that this Spock is the progenitor to the Spock we know in later iterations. I don’t buy that this Enterprise is the same ship, several years earlier as what we see in TOS, just updated to look a little cooler. That’s my core problem.

Window dressing I am actually OK with. How the Enterprise looks on SNW obviously would need an upgrade. But that upgrade NEEDED to be tempered by what we saw on TOS. The Captain’s quarters didn’t need to be a luxury apartment with a fireplace. The Enterprise shouldn’t have a 5 star restaurant on board. These things needed to get scaled back and evoke some of the feel of TOS without duplicating the exact look. As it stands the only thing this ship has in common with TOS is the circular bridge.

And this is another thing Enterprise did well. They updated their show but still made it look like it could evolve into what we saw on TOS. Yes, they had the advantage of being a century ahead instead of a few years. But they still respected their source material enough to make honest attempts.

100% agree and totally get your frustration.

Thank you. No matter where anyone stands on the issue, the willful disregard of it in the name of ‘story’ is lazy. Mistakes have happened in all iterations over the years. Sometimes these things are small and it’s no big deal. Sometimes it’s big (like the Gorn) and much more problematic. Another big issue is when they get character wrong. Best example of this is Khan in STID. They had no real understanding of who Khan was, but the problem is they managed to make him less interesting. I think they’re kind of ruining Pike by making him everyone’s buddy (which really has nothing to do with Canon), and not their Captain. Sure, it can be justified because we knew so little, but that doesn’t make it a good idea. I just hope they don’t screw Kirk up. They have a good actor, but I just don’t think he has ANY Charisma.

In addition to the Gorn was the complete reimagining of the character of Christine Chapel. As presented there is no way in hell viewers can reconcile such a take charge bad-ass becomes the demure nurse at McCoy’s side only a few years later. She NEEDED to be a different character. They only went with Chapel because (I’m guessing but I think I’m right) they wanted to play with the origins of the Chapel crush on Spock. And in the process wanted to “change the character for modern audiences”.

Ugghh 4 weeks. Thats SOOO long!

I don’t mind bending canon a little just don’t obliterate it either. I don’t think there is an issue with LT Kirk on the Enterprise so long as he’s not all of a sudden in command all the time like the Kelvin movies.

And seeing a Prime pre TWoK Marcus might be fun! Just please don’t let David be concieved on the Enterprise. No real reason I can offer except yuck.

I should probably watch the last three episodes of the first season. I hope the next season is better.

I don’t think the last season was perfect but I enjoyed it quite a bit! As always I hope things improve with every next stage!!!

I found it a boring and predictable. They need to stop worrying about the freaks in the fandom and cut loose and reboot all of TOS. I don’t even consider TOS as real Trek anymore.

THat’s what they tried to do with Kelvin. And Kelvin made the same mistakes that producers always do. They could have forged a completely new path and not have been beholden to canon at all. But instead they tried to remake Wrath of Khan and bring back Kirk with magic blood instead of saying in the Universe Kirk just dies a hero.

If you are going to reboot canon, fine. But then stop telling the same stories like the Gorn and Sybok again

I actually prefer Into Darkness over Wrath of Khan. Darkness is just better.

In a pig’s eye (can provide a canon reference for that remark if need be.)

If they actually had the balls to actually reboot it, I’d be on board. I still think the writing is subpar, but enjoy the cast, and to be honest there are a handful of episodes that are really good. The common denominator in the best episodes is they’re treading new ground. More of that, and this show could soar.

To be honest they are doing a low key reboot. They just need to be more up front about it. The fear of angering a loud minority of fans is holding Star Trek back.

100% agree. It’s actually insulting that they keep claiming to honor canon.

I’m good if they rebooted it too but it will never have the sane pull as the Prime Universe as JJ verse proved.

I have to agree. The holy trinity of Kirk/Spock/McCoy is just so iconic (I hate that description nowadays, but in this case it’s absolutely true) that it’s near impossible to live up to. The one thing the Kelvinverse did well was in its casting. That’s probably as good as you could hope to do. They wisely chose not to impersonate.

You’re certainly entitled to your opinion. My own opinion is that TOS is the MOST real Trek. There’s room for everybody at the table…

And TOS is the show I seen the least outside of TAS which I never seen but I know how important TOS still is for old fans.

How could you not consider TOS ‘real’ Trek when it’s the first show and set up basically all the 23rd century canon?

I haven’t even watched a third of the episodes (mostly season 3 because I know it mostly sucks) but there is no Star Trek without it. That’s a ridiculous statement.

It’s a reason why fans still care about that canon but has basically forgotten the JJ verse version. It still carries weight 55 years later.

The show is obsolete now. No one considers the Batman serials from the 1940’s canon. So why should anyone consider TOS from the 1960’s still valid as SNW overwrites it?

Oh and I have watched all the TOS episodes. Most of them were pretty bad. I’ll never watch them again.

No one considers 1940s Batman canon because when it was cancelled the next show was a reboot.

Every Star Trek show and movie has followed TOS canon. That’s why Discovery got the boot out of the 23rd century, it didn’t follow it closely enough.

And don’t have to watch it. That’s why I liked old school Trek, it followed TOS canon but you didn’t have watch it because the other shows came 100 years after it or before it like Enterprise.

I didn’t watch any TOS except the movies until 5 years after I became a fan because I only cared about TNG and VOY then. And they just mentioned small stuff so it never mattered. But for 23rd century stuff then it matters.

Because Canon is what the owners of the IP say it is, and they have stated over and over that this fits within canon. They have control. If they don’t want to work within it, they don’t have to. They can call it a reboot and be done, but they refuse to do that. It’s a choice they made… not fans.

Apples and oranges. Besides, the 40’s Batman serials were never meant to be canon. The original Bob Kane comic books are the canon.

Totally agree. Storywise, I think a build up to a Kirk reveal is far more interesting than bringing him in now. But I’m open to it. If they can make it make sense and be worth having him involved now, then I’m all for it. Same with Carol Marcus. I need to go ‘a-ha’ and not ‘groan’. if that makes sense.

I’ve seen this Kirk actor, Wesley, in other stuff and it seems like his neck has gotten much smaller and his nose looks a bit different as well.

Also I do think Goldsman gets a bit too much of a pass on some creative decisions, there definitely should be more constructive criticisms with the storylines and character choices. That goes for Kurtzman as well.

Matalas seems to have more of a understanding, bad lighting on ships and other questionable newer aesthetic decisions aside.

I’m SO excited for Season 2 of SNW! I know most fans loved S3 of Picard, but personally, I wasn’t that wild about it. But I AM wild for SNW!

I think a little of Captain Angel goes a loooooong way, and I’d be happy to never see her again; I think space pirates are kind of stupid, actually. But it looks as if I might be in the minority on that one, too. :-)

I want to hear from Henry Alonso Myers. As far as I can tell, he’s the only showrunner who’s on SNW and no other Treks. And since I like SNW way better than the other current Treks, I think maybe he has something to do with that…

Good point.

Myers was also an EP on The Magicians, a serialized show that worked. It held my attention despite being about grad students at a secret university for magicians.

(Noga Landau was the story editor for season 3 and has some script credits too. She will be the showrunner for Starfleet Academy. Makes me wonder if Myers recommended her to Kurtzman when the backdoor pilot in Discovery S4 fell flat. Bodes well in my view.)

I haven’t seen The Magicians, but it sounds like I should check it out. What network or streaming service was it on?

I think a Starfleet Academy show could be really good if done well or really bad if done poorly, so I hope it will be done well! I’m glad someone you think well of will be running it; I hope she knows her Trek.

Amazon Prime has had it streaming, but it’s gone anything in Canada recently.

It’s still showing as available in the US so you might want to start it soon.

It was originally made for SyFy (US). Getting to 5 seasons there was almost unheard of.

I just want to point out that in the trailer (and in the downtown b.t.s. footage leaked long ago) Kirk is wearing three stripes (two large, one small) that we have come to associate with season one Pike and TOS Kirk. So, if he is a lieutenant in season two, the uniform rank does not confirm that (yet).

I will also say given how controversial its been to fans that Kirk even appears you would think they would be über-meticulous about it.

Not Angel! Such an interesting character until they flipped the character into mustache-twirling villainy. Way too hammy and not particularly interesting.

You must not be fond of Harry Mudd then, either. I mean, if we’re going to be fair about it, he’s just as mustache-twirly an antagonist, if not more so, and hammy is almost an understatement for the character.

I personally preferred Rainn Wilson’s version of him.

We don’t have a lot of really outsized or campy characters in Trek these days. I thought Vadic would be but that didn’t amount to much. Captain Angel is a little less convincing as a pirate, but there’s room for villains to have a little more fun on these shows.

So true but that was the 1960’s to be fair.

I agree! I’ve already seen ALL the Angel I want to!

I felt the same way.

Perhaps if Mike McMahan gave Angel a Short Trek with the Harry Mudd Escape Artist treatment the character might get there.

This is not in the prime timeline. TOS Kirk only met Pike when he became Fleet Captain

TOS Kirk isn’t canon anymore.

Till ViacomCBS says otherwise TOS Kirk is canon. Besides, we don’t even know if Pike will be a Fleet Captain in S2. If Admiral Janeway can command a ship I don’t see while Fleet Captain Pike can’t.

Oh you know they would never say that publicly.

Then it is so WONDERFUL that you will say it on their behalf. What courage, what daring! What a load of whooeee.

I’m just a great guy.

Now you’re just trolling bto.

Always he is just trolling

Having a different perspective on things don’t make you a troll.

Having the same ‘different perspective’ on things — while usually offering little more than a one-line snipe in most of these instances, rather than new or intriguing insights to support a minority opinion — certainly does make you appear to be one.

I’m a man of few words..

Gary Cooper played a man of few words. You’re some thing else and I still can’t figure why the mods don’t act on it.

As I said before, having a different opinion isn’t trolling.

Well that’s vague… Kirk said they met when Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain. And for all we know, Pike could be promoted to Fleet Captain in season 2 of SNW. Its sort of implied in TOS that they met when Kirk first took command of the Enterprise. We shall see.

Just say its an alternative universe and it’s all fine.

The people who make these shows have said repeatedly we are in the prime universe. Why is that so hard for folks to understand?

Makes me want to say what we did to our kids when they were younger and tried to boss one another around, “Not your job.”

I can however appreciate a view that says “Why then do you insist in telling stories in the sandbox of a specific continuity if you don’t want to respect it?”

It’s hard to understand because it’s inconsistent. If I tell you an apple is a pear, it does not make it so.

Just because I tell my kids we’re going to Disneyland when in fact we’re going to the dentist doesn’t make the Dentist visit part of Disneyland..

You can SAY one thing, but if your actions clash with reality (established canon), then your word is meaningless.

It’s hard to understand because what they have done is say they are going to deliver a new car and then deliver a bicycle. And then keep insisting the bike is a car.

I don’t mind them bending cannon to tell ‘good’ stories, although I do think DSC/SNW will be relegated to alternate reality at some point, they’ll just use some event in the past to explain it (the Xindi attack, or all of First Contact, etc…..)

LOL no that will Never happen. Get use to it. Disco Forever!

Discovery is in the 32nd century, no one even have to care about that show anymore like JJ verse. Both are outside main Trek canon.

You don’t care about that show either.

I can’t wait to see it. I Care.

Oh come on… let Kirk work for it. Let’s see Lt Kirk for a while, make him sweat. Horatio Hornblower in space, let’s see him work up the ranks, that is fun! I don’t see why they want him to leap all the way to Captain, no one respects that and it makes no sense. Leave that nonsense for the Seven of Nine series or whatever, leave that out of a true non-Kelvinverse TOS show. You’ve got Captain Pike, you’ve got Number One, let the Kirks thrive on landing parties, weapons, etc. Some of the fun of Horatio Hornblower is seeing how he learned to become the legend. LET THE GUY LEARN – MISTAKES, TRAGEDIES, ETC. And if they miss out on the Farragut going down without Kirk as the phaser officer and dealing with the death of his Captain and the aftermath, well, what a waste. Also Kirk at Axanar, wish they could have shown him get some action in the Klingon War (but there is still a Cold War to go!).

Another note, why does the Farragut get the colors back on the bridge while the big E gets de-TOSed for monochrome displays. Really bugging me as the colors are a) really obviously in TOS and b) look sooo much better. Let’s not TNG snoozify SNW, they need to move those people to lower decks or the Seven show or whatever.

The years would be wrong for Garrovick’s death aboard FARRAGUT, which was nearly a decade before he took command of 1701 if the years bear out, but Kirk should definitely be dealing with the fallout and (for him especially) the lack of consequences arising out of it. You could even use it as a justification for him having a phase of being seriously trigger-happy as a result, and see some tragedy arising out of THAT. Lotsa possibilities … none of which we’ll ever see with AG riding herd.

I think SNW is supposed to be decades before Kirk would take command, I think you actually could have the whole Garrovick’s death in an episode. Or a flash back for sure! Regardless concerning the fall out, I am with you 100% That all sounds great.

Maybe I’m going to have to get some timeline issues worked out on this (I am making a huge assumption thinking TPTB have already done this.)

50 years ago, OBSESSION was my third favorite TOS ep (behind DOOMSDAY and BoT — I had some time in jr. high to write out my list of best to worst and I remember those at the top, with AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD, FRIDAY’S CHILD and … wait for it, SPACE SEED at the bottom — was seriously repelled by Khan’s treatment of Marla), so I think I still have some parts of the ep committed to memory (I should — along with ARENA and DOOMSDAY, think I must have seen OBSESSION at least 50 times.)

Pretty sure Kirk tells Bones about an incident with Farragut from 11 years prior, so that would place it around 2255 or 2256, give or take. SNW has to be around 2260, doesn’t it? That would put it around 5 years prior to Kirk getting the E, so he’d be a lt. or maybe Lt. Commander (probably former given his meteoric rise, probably getting command before hitting age 30.)

In writing this, I remember that TREK magazine had its own account of Kirk’s career that had some fun stuff, including when he commanded a small ship that was described as a flying phaser bank. (man I haven’t read a BEST OF TREK in 30 years at least.) Often wondered if Ronald D. Moore read that same account and that it might have inspired his DEFIANT in DS9, which I now remember describing to somebody as a flying phaser bank.

(sorry for digressions, my wife underwent major surgery yesterday — results thus far inconclusive, though outlook is likely grim — so I’m going nuts and just spewing at this point. Except for a sleep apnea test and three nights spent in Marin to cover THE PHANTOM MENACE vfx, tonight and last night are the only times I’ve spent not in the same bed with her since late 1995, and I am decidedly out of sorts.)

My condolences on your wife’s troubles. I can’t begin to imagine how tough it must be.

To your point about Kirk commanding a smaller ship early there is a pretty cool article on Memory Alpha breaking down his career beginnings as a “daring and creative” destroyer captain, performing feats of subterfuge and derring-do behind Klingon lines.

Hope your wife recovers, all the best to you and your family.

“Ultimately story wins”

LOL. That’s rich coming from the guy who wrote Batman and Robin.

Why is it so hard for these people to BUILD on canon? Use canon as a building block to create new stories. There’s no reason why they can’t tell these same stories within the same continuity. If the writing were so damn good, it wouldn’t matter if you invented new races and characters. Arguably, the most successful episodes of season 1 were the ones where they did that (e.g., “Lift Us Up Where Suffering Can’t Reach”).

For example, there was absolutely no reason to make the Gorn villains in season 1, except for the fact that they wanted to drop an easter egg and were insecure about introducing a new species without name dropping a legacy race to go along with it. And they didn’t care that it conflicted with canon because they wanted the name recognition.

I think this is why a lot of fans loved that Matalas dropped the USS New Jersey into the Fleet Museum in Picard season 3. No matter what Strange New Worlds and Discovery wants to say a Constitution Class starship looks like, we all know what a “real” one looks like and what the real Enterprise 1701 will look like.

I’ll summarize the comments for anyone trying to read them now:

Blah blah canon shouldn’t be messed with Debates about Paul Wesley Something something discovery isn’t canon But what about Legacy Oh no the trans character is returning, they’re just not interesting, who would be interested in trans characters

There, I just saved you all time and from feeling exhausted.

I haven’t laughed this hard all week! 🤣

Also…

Every Star Trek: Legacy detractor in various stories about Picard season 3 and the possibility of a new Matalas led series: I don’t want a show that wallows in easter eggs and legacy characters. We need to move Star Trek forward.

Same people defending Strange New Worlds: Why are people upset that the show is dropping easter eggs and using legacy characters to wallow in Trek’s past while messing with continuity? I’m excited to see the third version of Kirk in the umpteenth revision of the 23rd century instead of the “old” people in a Legacy show.

I’m sure Spock would find that to be perfectly consistent logic.

Both sides are exhausting and I say this as a guy who isn’t interested in Legacy. It’s all exhausting. and before you go off and assume shit, I already said what I’m interested in many times on many different articles. And no I don’t trust Matalas to give it to me. Legacy is going to end being all about the damn Borg again and I’m not falling for it again.

I just want to say that I liked Picard S3 (and now Picard S1 through the lense that the Borg were manipulating Picard subconsciously) and SNW. If you TOS movieize TNG as with S3, it is not horrid, unlike TNG/VOY proper. You TNGize (proper, not PIC S3) SNW and it will suck. For constancy and critical thought – Seven of Nine jumping to Captain is as horrid as Kirk jumping to Captain in the Kelvinverse. Let us enjoy some Lt Kirk stories and see the guy work for it, learn some lessons, earn some respect, etc. Side note – With Seven you got to think here is the young Starfleet that was forced to kill thousands on Earth spacedock / senior officers and friends/family like Shelby.. some have got to question her attachment to a time when her body was abused and used by the Borg for xenocide. And who is her councillor, the very David Marcus Picard who enabled their own kidnapping? That’s got to rub a lot of young traumatized crew the wrong way. I don’t think anyone did any favors promoting her without serving, that could be a whole storyline right there.

Can I ask Gritizens whether you were disappointed when Angel flipped from cool and complex to mustasche-twirling over-the-top?

I was, and I was kind of disappointed that they took the franchise’s first trans villain there. Which makes me less interested in seeing her again.

But if the character could have the kind of comedic writing that Mudd got from Mike McMann in The Escape Artist, I’d be enthusiastic.

(I agree though that there are some here who seem to find any character uninteresting who isn’t SWM or perceived eye candy for the SWM gaze – hero or villain.)

Yeah I was super disappointed. And in fact I’m not really pleased that she was a villain at all. If we had a trans woman hero to counterbalance her, I’d be okay.

I love the character but I definitely understand the tissues of making a trams character a villain.

But we still have to see how it plays out. She may have more layers and be more of an antagonists. She is being played for laughs too. I think maybe we’ll see her loosen up and that’s she’s not really evil but more like a Harry Mudd type.

Yeah but we still need a trans woman protagonist to balance it out. Or in fact another trans protagonist period.

I remember thinking for the first half of the episode that Angel was an interesting character, particularly during the discussion with Spock about his human and Vulcan halves; it was a not-so-subtle but still very Trek way of working a real-world issue into the story.

Then the villain switch was thrown and my interest went out the airlock.

It’s too high a barrier to entry to have this grim, cheerless, 40-year old looking guy be a ‘younger’ Kirk and have anyone believe that he’ll grow into the charming 35-year old that everyone remembers from the original show.

Yup, it’s ridiculous.

I just pray that they dial back on the soap opera approach to Spock and T’Pring for Season 2. I don’t they made it such a focus in the first season other than “we need to give Spock a plotline”, which is weird when they shoehorned him into everyone else’s

That didn’t bug me as much as Chapel being FULLY aware T’Pring existed. Especially considering she even asked Spock who the woman was on TOS.

But at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if Q shows up on SNW. Just because some writer thinks it’s “cool”.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the crossover episode gets the highest ratings this season. They then must do a sequel but this time as a Lowers Decks episode. Pike and co. as cartoons!! Yes, baby.

In other words, they can’t be bothered to keep things in check. Hmmmm maybe NOT making another bloody prequel, which has its own pre-established history, wasn’t the way to go AGAIN??

Akiva Goldsman and the Discoverse writers should be no where near this franchise. Their careless attitude and poor handling of canon is depressingly lazy. Paramount Plus need to give the franchise to Terry Matalas and Mike McMahan etc. People that respect what came before while making new canon, without haphazardly wrecking what came before. Kurtzman’s cabal haven’t a damn clue.

I think that Trek Movie’s Laurie Ulster put it best on another thread, the makers of SNW are fans and know TOS very well.

They are however, because they are long time fans, writers with their own ideas about the stories that they want to tell in this universe. They’ve got their own head canon and their giving it back to us.

They are taking the story of the Enterprise and its characters before TOS where they wanted to see it go. It may or may not be where we wanted or expected. We’re just along for the ride with their vision. (Something like my feelings about the last 3 episodes of S3 of Picard.)

For my part, I’m going to continue to love the show for what it is and not sweat what it isn’t too much. I do wish Akiva wouldn’t shoot out his opinions like this though. It’s kind of the opposite of building positive excitement. Bell Media did a better job with its clips. (And yes, it runs against the grain as a Canadian to praise the monster telecom for anything.)

Coda – Akiva Goldsman was once a kid trying to run a TOS fan club and attended one of the first cons in the early 70s, when both were barely a thing.

No. I don’t see how both those statements can be true. Based on what we have seen so far they couldn’t be fans of TOS they wouldn’t blow off elements just because they wanted to something “cool”. Especially when they could tell the exact same story by just using using writing skills and coming up with something else that actually works within they sandbox they are playing in. If the knew TOS well they wouldn’t blatantly blow off elements from TOS just because to make their stories work.

It’s great that they are telling stories where they would like them to go. The problem is anytime something from TOS gets in the way instead of working around it they just opt to ignore it and pretend it still falls in line with canon.

I’m sorry but their persistence in telling us this is prime universe is insulting to the fans. Perhaps they could be cut some slack if what they were bringing us had some quality to it. But it just doesn’t. At best they have been mediocre. There are no standout episodes. I’m not a big fan of TNG but even THAT show had some standout episodes. Thus far nu-Trek has had none.

They are using canon in a way that is active, taking what already exists and telling really fun and exciting stories. Perhaps it is not the most meaningful, yet. But… not lazy. Your comment is just the definition of griping.

You had me with the SNW & Star Trek Discovery people shouldn’t ever be allowed to touch Star Trek ever again. But I would extend that to Mike McMahon as well. His Lower Decks has been a complete fail on every level. The jury is still out on Matalas. There might be potential but the entire 2nd half of Picard S3 was typical Secret Hideout garbage.

I support this bending but not breaking Cannon ideas. Because it keeps new things and Star Trek Fresh for the “new generation” of Fans.

@Shatterland

“When they’re used as a replacement for a competent story, or to emotionally manipulate the audience into caring about what they’re watching (I’m looking at you, every current Star Wars production other than Andor), that’s when I get annoyed.”

Exactly. I second that statement.

“ trying to stay within canon is an awfully fun exercise, and leads to solutions that you might not come up with if you didn’t have those boundaries.” I wish more writers understood this! It’s not a hinderance, it’s just asking you to get creative and discover different ideas.

I don’t mind them bending the canon as long as it’s in the service of telling a good story. I just hope they handle the Gorn better next season.

Here too. But it is a bit of a gamble. It can only be tolerated of the end result works. Which hasn’t been the case from Secret Hideout.

And the only way to handle the Gorn better is to completely drop them and forget they ever appeared on the show to begin with. Their very presence is a HUGE FU to TOS.

Reboot City, baybeeeeee

I’m very nervous. I’m nervous because Akiva Goldman and his writers have shown they don’t understand how to write Star Trek, specifically dialogue. But what is really concerning reading this is this type of tinkering with known canon and Trek history is dangerous, and because people that don’t understand Trek are handling it, they can only make it worse. The more you mess with the lore and history, the bigger the chance of it getting screwed up.

Given that Akiva Goldsman has been a fan since TOS was in first run (attended early cons and had a club / early fanzine), it’s hard to make the case that he doesn’t understand Trek.’

His headcanon and priorities are clearly different than many of ours, but saying he and other EPs don’t know Trek just comes off as arrogant and ill-informed.

The fact that we’re at the point in this franchise that Oscar-winning screenwriter, who are longstanding fans themselves, are creating and running their own shows says something about the maturity of the franchise.

It also means that fans with different ideas about what’s most important are likely to disagree. Whether EPs, writers, production designers or viewers.

Akiva being a fan, and a successful writer, is going to have views and isn’t shy to express them. Matalas also has his views on what he likes most, and at times I haven’t found him as respectful of the work of others in the franchise as I would like. Both could be more circumspect surely.

I’ve been watching Trek since 1966. I don’t agree with all the creative choices that Goldsman and Myers have made, but I’ve been loving SNW for what it is, am delighted that more is coming. I’ll wait judge what’s on screen and hope that Goldsman and Myers continue to please.

Idk. Having characters refer to the ship as “Enterprise” and not “The Enterprise” shows the writer does not know how to write for Star Trek.

Oh come on. This is what you feel is important?

English usage varies and native speakers don’t habitually use articles in formal names, even when it’s the formal name. (I can think of examples in my daily work life.)

French speakers never miss an article, Slavic speakers don’t use them even when the should.

I do think it’s important. Mark Altman also does. When Ortegas says “Welcome to Enterprise,” it feels like a place. When referring to the ship as “The Enterprise,” it feels more like a character. All throughout Star Trek up to Discovery, characters always called ships “The Enterprise” or “The Voyager,” etc. DS9 was just “DS9,” which is more fitting since it’s a station.

I’m sorry, but it’s my nu-Trek “ick.”

OK. You have a point. But I still think it minor compared to the HUGE other things going on there.

I agree but we have come to our conclusions through entirely different means. I say it was because they used an alien that was 100% clear no one 10 years later had ever heard of. I say it was completely changing a character from demure to a bad-ass take charge kind of person. But the use of a definite article? Um… Ok?

That’s what confuses me. Goldsman has a history of supposedly being a “fan”, but if he’s been a fan for this long, he’s running the show. How could the showrunner make a Star Trek show that is missing the basic common-sense lore, style and characterization that a fan “should” bring to this show. It would be like having a huge fan of Firefly showrun a reboot, recast everyone, and change the lore, and how the characters should be true to themselves. Also, it wouldn’t be Firely without characters saying things like “I reckon” and “y’all”, and instead using modern language, and using laser guns instead of a Colt 45 or whatever. It would feel all wrong. It would make you wonder what show THEY were watching, because the rest of us were watching a space western. Same here. Terry Matalas is a fan, and his Trek show was RIGHT IN LINE with how the characters should act, speak, and the lore matched canon perfectly. Actually, he had to “fix” what Akiva Goldsman was doing with that show. Picard didn’t even act like Picard. I digress. This is not Star Trek.

Just being fans doesn’t mean you are a good choice to be running a Trek show. Goldsman says he’s a fan yet constantly ignores important in-universe history and and characters. McMahon says he’s a fan yet is way too afraid to actually poke fun at Trek in his supposed Trek comedy show. So far only Manny Coto has achieved the balance of being a big fan and still producing good Trek. So fandom is hardly a necessity here.

But let’s also be brutally honest here. Even if SNW was said to be 100% a reboot (which it is in every way but official name) it still wouldn’t be very good. It pales when compared to even the most mundane of the new-Trek era of the late 80’s to early ’00’s.

If his tunic shows the wrong rank? It will be fixed in post-production. Filming in downtown Toronto poses its problems. Somebody in wardrobe made a mistake, and the 1st AD was most likely yelling: “gotta shoot!”

This wouldn’t be the first time they’ve fixed the braid in post.

Gersha Phillips has shared that all the TOS coloured uniforms for Discovery S2 were shot without braid the first few days.

Given that the writers send the requirements to the costume designer, and showrunners and other EPs have to sign off in the costumes before they’re made, it sounds as though the rank insignia aren’t getting the scrutiny they should when the drawings are signed off.

With the exception of Pike and Uhura, the entire main cast had incorrect rank stripes in Season 1. Clearly whoever is in charge doesn’t care at all about these things.

“We’re not dealing with Captain Kirk, and there’s opportunity there. Paul Wesley is really this wonderful – to me – hybrid of Shatner’s Kirk and his own.”

Yes…..to you…..

To me: Nothing near being SHATNERS Kirk, NOT even 1% hybrid

Bending canon my ass. They’ve clearly broken it as far as I’m concerned. And I would have no problem with it, if they simply admitted it to be an alternate universe. But I feel a bit insulted, if they feed us asinine explanations how what they did is not a retcon.

I can’t help but view SNW as a reboot. I actually have no problem with that and I enjoy the show much more for it (although it’s nowhere near as perfect as many fans make out; we’ve yet to have one truly “classic” 10/10 or even 9/10 episode yet).

100% – I just wish they would admit it instead of trying to play both sides equally poorly

Although the fast forward episode was very interesting, in my opinion the series should not have ANY KIRK. But hey, the damage is done. What I’d like them to do now is come up with some space-time phenomenon where they’ll erase Michael Burhnam and Discovery from continuity.

Here’s my comment about SNW and canon for what it’s worth. Discovery also messed with canon in big ways.

But I also never really found the show enjoyable or entertaining.

I watched it bc as a die hard I’m supposed to watch it but more often than not the canon problems just pissed me off.

SNW has canon problems too. But the shows FUN and Pike is a joy to watch. I’m not particularly pissed off that the Gorn are a bit different or the shop doesn’t look exactly the same. It feels much more like what a modern re-imagining should look and feel like that Discovery ever did.

I LOVE Star Trek canon. But SNW does it much better than Discovery IMHO

Also let’s be honest trek canon has a lot of gaping wholes in it already. And the TOS error had a TON of wholes

If they spent as much time, money and effort BEING Star Trek instead of “bending” it, they might be onto something good.

“Interpolate”, “body-check”. This guy is soooo…deep.” (props to Lawrence Kasdan)

So I read this: “ We’re going to do what we did last year, but more” Which of course, means ‘We plan to ignore even more elements of the show that comprises of our source material.’

But then there was this… “ we will body-check canon when we need to, and we have. “

So they are fully aware they made ridiculous changes that don’t line up at all and don’t seem to care. At this point they may as well just include Q on the show. Or what the hell? Have Jean-Luc Picard as a boy in an episode. They flat out admitted they move characters in time just to make their stories work.

Here is the thing… I’m not a slave to canon. Smaller issues are fine. But there are just some things that cannot be touched. Show “history” is a big one. If events of future shows preclude using some elements then SNW writers need to find a different way to tell their story. These guys have just flat out admitted, finally, what has been amazingly obvious. They will change anything they want to make their story work. What they really needed to have said was, “We change so much that none of us consider this show to be set in the prime universe. It’s in the KU or even some other one. But this show is 100% a reboot of Trek which is why we can play fast and loose with Prime canon.”

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Star Paul Wesley Discusses Playing Captain Kirk for the First Time: ‘It’s Not an Imitation’

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

Senior Entertainment Writer

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SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in the Season 1 finale of “ Star Trek : Strange New Worlds,” currently streaming on Paramount+.

One day in 2021, Paul Wesley got a call from his agents asking whether he would be interested in playing James T. Kirk, the iconic “Star Trek” character originated by William Shatner in the original “Trek” series from the 1960s.

“It was a lovely call,” Wesley says. “I told them that I had actually been neighbors with William Shatner, believe it or not, many, many years ago — pure coincidence. We just talked a little bit about ‘Star Trek,’ a little bit about Kirk. We hung up the phone and then the agents called and said, ‘Do you want to do this?’ And I was like, ‘What?!’ It happened that quickly. I really don’t know what to say.”

According to Myers, Wesley was cast after the production had already held “a bunch of auditions” to find the right actor to play Kirk. “We were looking for someone who had a combination of gravitas and fun and was sort of familiar and yet different,” Myers says. “Honestly, we tried a lot of people and he was the guy that we all agreed on who we felt could do it. And then when we talked to him, he really seemed to understand what the role entailed and what he could bring to it.”

After news broke in March that he’d been cast in the role, Wesley tweeted about meeting Shatner on a flight to Los Angeles following Shatner’s voyage into low Earth orbit on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space shuttle. “I’m not one who usually believes in fate but this was more than a coincidence,” Wesley tweeted . “So thanks Mr. Shatner for the good company.”

The episode leaps into an alternate timeline after Pike, who’s known that in the future he is horrifically injured and disfigured, attempts to avoid his fate. Suddenly, Pike jumps seven years into the future, and lives through what would happen if he survived and remained captain of the Enterprise. For one, he encounters Wesley’s Capt. Kirk, who now is leading another Federation starship, having never joined the Enterprise — or met Spock (Ethan Peck).

In what Wesley said was his first ever interview about the role, the actor discussed what it felt like to take on a character who has loomed so large in pop-culture for over half a century, why he felt it would be “blasphemous” to try to recreate Shatner’s performance, and why the Kirk of the “Strange New Worlds” Season 1 finale is different than the Kirk from the original series.

From your tweets about meeting William Shatner on that flight, I gather you’re a “Star Trek” fan. What pulled you into “Trek”?

You know, it’s funny. I was born in the ’80s, so it’s not like I grew up watching the original series live. With that said, I’ve always had an appreciation for films from the ’60s, ’70s. I always like to think of if I were watching that live in that era, and I think, “Holy crap, that was the first show that really gave people this sense of a bigger world out there.” And so when I watched the original series, even when I was younger, I still got that sense of awe, that sense of, Wow, how cool would it have been to see this live on television? It really was is this incredible form of escapism for many, many people. It offers this incredible sense of hope that I think people really need.

In your first meeting with the “Strange New Worlds” producers about playing Kirk, was there a sense yet of what kind of performance they were looking for, how they were going to recreate this character who had been played by the original actor in a very specific way?

I think one of the most important things that I said — well, they may have said it first and I entirely agreed — was that I think the biggest insult would be to do an imitation of what William Shatner originated and what people fell in love with. If I did that, it would just be a reminder that I’m not William Shatner. And that in a way it’s almost like an insult of character, right? I think William Shatner, when you watch the original series, he’s so incredibly charming. He has this incredible sense of leadership, but it’s done with this little twinkle in his eye that no one can quite describe. It’s what made him so famous. It’s what made that character so iconic, and it’s just not something you can easily replicate. That’s something that comes organic to the actor himself.

So what essence of Kirk as a character, separate from what Shatner was doing in his performance, did you want to capture?

A director I was working with on “Star Trek,” said, “Kirk’s the kind of guy that will jump off out of a plane without a parachute and he knows he’ll figure out a way to land midair.” Obviously, that’s an extreme example. But his instinct, his gut, is his North Star. It’s something that I really wanted to make sure that I captured. And then on top of that, he has incredibly good sense of morality. He is someone who I think is selfless for his crew. He’s someone that, even though he has his bravado, I think at the end of the day, he has a deep sensitivity, and he cares about doing the right thing. I think those are the pillars of Kirk, if I had to really pick apart the archetype.

In the Season 1 finale, we jump ahead in time and meet a Kirk who never becomes captain of the Enterprise and hasn’t ever met Spock. Did that affect your approach at all?   

Yeah. It was liberating. We can talk about it openly because the Season 1 finale is an alternate timeline. Kirk hasn’t been influenced by Spock, by Uhura. In many ways, he’s the same Kirk. But he’s not really the Kirk that we know, because he’s had a completely different life. So there’s room in Season 1 for exploration of Kirk in a different way. It allowed me to put less pressure on myself, at least for that particular episode.

You knew this would be the first time audiences would get to see you as Kirk, so what were you hoping to communicate within this alternate version of him?

It’s sort of an iconic moment for Kirk: He’s talking to Pike in the first scene, and then Spock interjects, and Kirk is intrigued by this man who said something that Kirk immediately flags as, that’s pretty sharp, that’s pretty wise. I want to capture that he recognizes, “Oh, that’s an interesting guy,” and they form a connection, even if it’s for a split second. Little Easter eggs like that. I wanted to capture a little bit of that bravado, but at the same time, that particular episode, there was a lot at stake there. There was less room to play with Kirk’s humor. There was some charm, but he was very mission driven in that episode, so we didn’t explore Kirk as much as we will in Season 2.

When Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn (as Number One) and Ethan Peck (as Spock) were cast for Season 2 of “Star Trek: Discovery,” there was no sense yet that they would ever been in their own “Trek” spin-off. So has anyone talked with you about playing Kirk beyond “Strange New Worlds”? Do you expect to be playing Kirk for a long time?

Ultimately, I don’t know what their plans are. All I can say is that I’m really enjoying being a part of this storyline, because it’s a Kirk that we’ve never seen. This is a younger Kirk. It’s before he was fully developed as a man. I know we saw a little bit of that with Chris Pine in the J.J. Abrams films, but it wasn’t part of the original canon. That’s the Kirk we’re dealing with [on “Strange New Worlds”]. So anyway, I really don’t know.

Even if there’s not necessarily a long professional commitment, there is a certain cultural commitment that you’ve now made in playing Kirk. How does that feel, to be stepping into that tradition?

It feels amazing. First of all, I was part of a cult-y family, in a sense — I don’t mean cult in a bad way. I mean, a cult classic. You know, “Vampire Diaries” was obviously a different audience. It was much more younger skewing. It was a very successful show. We created our own fanhood — there was a real community that was built around it. There were multiple spinoffs.

It’s much smaller than the “Star Trek” world. But I know what it’s like to be involved in those worlds, in the spotlight, so to speak. And frankly, my goal after “Vampire Diaries” was to do something that took me out of that world in a way, because you don’t really want to be stuck in that world forever. As an actor, as an artist, as a person, you want to evolve. You want to try different things. So when this opportunity came along, I said, “Of course, I want to jump into it.” This to me feels like the next evolution for me as a man now. I’m in my late 30s. I want to go to that next phase. I don’t mean to demean “Vampire Diaries”; it’s awesome. But I mean, “Star Trek” feels like a more adult level of that. So I was very excited to move on to that next phase of my life.

So now that you’ve nearly wrapped Season 2 of “Strange New Worlds,” what can you say about what to expect?

I can’t talk about it too much, but man, I had such a blast on Season 2. The writing is so good. It’s so fun. Season 2 is where we get to really let loose and explore Kirk. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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The Wild History Behind That Cameo In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

This post contains spoilers for the first episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" premieres this week with a strong pilot episode that centers Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), the canonical commander of the Starship Enterprise before Captain James T. Kirk came aboard. The latest "Trek" series is set to follow Pike's crew, and Paramount+ has already revealed that Kirk himself will be joining the show's second season , where he'll be played by Paul Wesley.

So who, then, does Captain Pike keep calling for? As the Enterprise gears up for its first in-series mission, Pike keeps asking the crew to have a Lieutenant Kirk report for duty. In the episode's final scene, the crew member finally arrives ... only it's not James Kirk. It's Sam Kirk. "Samuel Kirk! Welcome to Enterprise. How's the family?" Pike declares as he engages Sam in a super-friendly handshake.

Sam Kirk, who is played by Dan Jeannotte, sports a blue Starfleet uniform and a fun little mustache (more on that soon). He also seems to know Pike personally, as he calls him "Chris" before correcting his language to be more work-appropriate. Just before the premiere episode ends, viewers learn that Kirk will be "working on life sciences," and that his boss will be none other than Spock (Ethan Peck) himself. Okay, but who the hell is this guy?

A mustache for the ages

The Kirk bit works as both a funny fake-out for fans who await Wesley's debut as James T., and one of the new show's many nods to "Star Trek: The Original Series." Samuel Kirk is a character within existing "Trek" canon, and he makes his debut appearance in the first season finale of the original series.

Sam Kirk first appears in the 1967 episode "Operation — Annihilate!" The USS Enterprise is on the hunt for the source of a wave of a strange mass illness, and their search brings them to the Federation colony of Deneva. Kirk (played by William Shatner) receives a distress call that turns out to be from Aurelan, the wife of his biologist brother Sam, and gets to the planet as quickly as he can. Unfortunately, when he arrives, he finds Sam already dead at the hands of a parasitic hive mind creature.

When the team stumbles upon Sam's body, Kirk turns it over to identify him, only for audiences to discover that he's played by none other than Shatner himself. It's one of the original series' many, many bits of accidental comedy, as the character pretty much just looks like Shatner with a small, fake mustache and different hairstyle. And while Sam is alive and well in "Strange New Worlds," he's still sporting that same little 'stache.

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" does plenty to pique longtime fans' curiosity in its premiere outing, but few moments are as sensational and surprising as the introduction of this Kirk sibling. We've only met him for all of one minute, but Sam Kirk already seems to be a playful presence, perhaps in possession of some of his brother's charms. Plus, Spock gets to be his boss, which sounds like a great "Trek" dynamic if ever I've heard one. Sam's not wearing a red shirt, and we know he won't die in "Trek" canon for some time thanks to the events of the original show. Let's hope Sam sticks around.

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" arrives Thursdays on Paramount+.

Den of Geek

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 1 Easter Eggs and Reference Guide

From familiar planets to Enterprise captains, to the complicated history of Star Trek, here’s how Strange New Worlds episode 1 dives deep into the franchise’s past.

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This article contains major Star Trek: Strange New Worlds spoilers.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 1

Nobody expected Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to be lacking classic Star Trek Easter eggs. However, what was unexpected was just how hardcore SNW would be in its love and adoration for T he Original Series . Considering this show is probably the one that’s most welcoming to new fans, it’s somewhat ironic that it’s also the series premiere with the nerdiest Trekkie references, at least since Lower Decks Season 2.

From obscure characters suddenly coming into the forefront, to fleeting references to classic Trek aliens, and even one huge meta-fictional reference to a sci-fi classic, when it comes to Easter eggs, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has it all. Here’s every reference and deep cut we caught in the series premiere.

“Mathematical probabilities” 

The opening voiceover from Number One/Una — later revealed to be part of her log entry — mentions the “mathematical probabilities” relative to whether or not there is life on other planets. This seems to reference a wonderful speech from Dr. McCoy in the TOS episode “Balance of Terror,” in which he says: “In this galaxy, there’s a mathematical probability of three million Earth-type planets. And in all of the universe, three million million galaxies like this. And in all of that, and perhaps more, only one of each of us.”

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“It’s classified” 

Throughout the episode, Pike and Number One both mention events that are “classified.” As Una makes clear toward the end of the episode, they’re talking about the ending of Star Trek: Discovery season 2 , in which crews of both Enterprise and Discovery fought the evil AI known as Control, and Discovery opened a time portal wormhole to the future. Presumably, even April doesn’t know about this! (Though, by the end of the episode, he does.)

The Day the Earth Stood Still 

Pike is watching the 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still , which apparently, he watches a lot, referring to it as a “classic.” This Easter egg is interesting in several ways.

First, The Day the Earth Stood Still was directed by Robert Wise, famous to cinephiles as the person who directed The Sound of Music (1965) and West Side Story (1961), but, more famous to Trekkies as the director of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979 .

How can the director of The Motion Picture exist as a real person in the Star Trek timeline? Well, in Star Trek: Picard season 2, we learn Rick and Morty exist in the Trek timeline, which suggests that Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan also exists in the backstory of Trek, somehow. There are several more examples of this kind of metafictional ouroboros in Trek. The most famous is probably the fact that starting with The Motion Pictur e, and prominently demonstrated in Enterprise ’s opening credits, the Star Trek timeline has a NASA Space Shuttle named “Enterprise.” In our universe, that space shuttle was only named “Enterprise,” because Trekkies mounted a letter-writing campaign.

So, does Star Trek, the fictional art, exist within Star Trek the fictional universe? Pike watching The Day the Earth Stood Still seems to be the latest evidence that the answer is a big yes.

But, The Day the Earth Stood Still thing is even more layered than that. The entire plot of the movie is a kind of anti-Prime Directive story. Instead of avoiding contact with a lesser developed culture, Klaatu arrives on Earth to directly interfere. He’s intent on stopping us from being destroyed by a nuclear war. This exact type of thinking directly parallels exactly what Pike does later in the episode. 

Not answering your communicator 

Pike ignoring his communicator, and then, getting directly confronted by a Starfleet officer in a shuttlecraft seems to reference Star Trek V: The Final Frontier . In that film, Kirk just straight-up doesn’t take his communicator with him on a camping trip, which results in Uhura flying a shuttle down to Yosemite National Park to pick up him, as well as Spock and Bones. 

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Robert April, the first Captain of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Adrian Holmes makes his debut as the first live-action actor to play Robert April, a Starfleet hero with an odd history of quasi-canonicity. The name “Robert April” was one of Roddenberry’s earliest ideas for the primary hero of Star Trek , which later became Pike, and then, of course, Kirk.

For several years, including the early version of the Star Trek: Encyclopedia, a photograph of Roddenberry himself, seemingly wearing a Starfleet uniform, was thought to be “Robert April.” Additionally, the quasi-canon Animated Series episode “The Counter-Clock Incident” presented a fairly generic Robert April, voiced by James Doohan, and, who looked kind of like a knock-off Animated Serie s Kirk. (This episode also floated the weird idea that the Enterprise 1701 was the first ship equipped with warp drive, which obviously makes zero sense.) 

April’s canonicity was pretty much up for debate for a very long time until one moment in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, in the episode “Choose Your Pain,” when Saru researched noted Starfleet captains. On that list is Pike, Georgiou, Archer, and Robert April. From there, in Discovery Season 2, Pike’s service record also indicated that he was April’s first officer on the Enterprise . This was a very quick Easter egg from Discovery season 2 in the episode “Brother,” but Strange New Worlds takes the idea that Pike was April’s first officer as given. This is why April says to Pike: “Your first officer doesn’t do downtime well, mine used to be a lot like that.” By “mine” he means Pike. 

Spock’s engagement 

Some fans might find Spock’s engagement to T’Pring a kind of violation of canon, but the truth is, several classic TOS writers, including Dorthohy Fontana’s novel Vulcan’s Glory , created scenarios in which Spock and T’Pring met prior to the events of “Amok Time.” Strange New Worlds takes place in roughly 2258 or 2259, while the events of “Amok Time” — in which T’Pring conspires to have Spock fight Kirk to the death — happen in 2267. This means Spock and T’Pring have a very long engagement. 

Pike is reading a report about the Gorn

Briefly, as Pike is taking a shuttle up to the Enterprise , we see on his datapad these words: “First Contact Report, Species Unconfirmed, GORN.” At this point in canon, the Federation doesn’t really know much about the Gorn. However, in Discovery season 2, Leland and Pike spoke about Cestus III, which, in TOS , is where the Gorn attacked at the beginning of the episode “Arena.”

Interestingly, in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine era, there’s a city on Cestus III called “Pike City.” They’ve even got a baseball team.

Shuttlecraft Stamets 

Pike is apparently flying aboard the shuttle called “Stamets.” This is a clear reference to Paul Stamets from Discovery . However, as far as the vast majority of Starfleet is concerned, Paul Stamets died when Discovery “exploded.” So, this shuttle was named in his honor, but of course, Pike knows that Stamets didn’t really die, and is, as far as Pike knows, hopefully living a good life in the 32nd Century. (Which is mostly true!)

Pike’s approach to the Enterprise references Star Trek: The Motion Picture

From the design of the spacedock to the camera angles, to the reflection of the Enterprise in the window of the shuttlecraft, nearly everything about Pike flying up to the Enterprise feels evocative of a similar scene in Star Trek: The Motion Picture when Kirk and Scotty famously fly up and around the Enterprise for…a very long time! This scene is much shorter than in T he Motion Picture , and notably, Pike doesn’t take the shuttle all the way in, he beams on board once they’re close enough. 

The transporter chief in Strange New Worlds is called “Chief Kyle” played by André Dae Kim. In The Original Series , another backup transporter officer named “Chief Kyle” was played by John Winston. 

Chief Engineer and Lt. Kirk aren’t on board yet

By the end of the episode, we learn this “Lt. Kirk” isn’t exactly the Kirk you were expecting (we’ll get to that in a moment). But, more interestingly, is the idea that Enterprise leaves spacedock without its new chief engineer. 

The Pike era has made something a joke of there being several chief engineers of the Enterprise under Pike’s command. In Discovery ’s “An Obal for Charon” Pike and Number One talk about “Louvier” being the chief engineer of the Enterprise . But, in John Jackson Miller’s novel The Enterprise War , we learn that Louvier is just one of many, many people to occupy this position. This kind of echoes the first season of of Star Trek: The Next Generation , during which time, the show couldn’t seem to decide who was the chief engineer. 

However, by the end of this episode, Hemmer, played by series regular Bruce Horak, does beam aboard the ship. And, as fans will soon see, is very much the chief engineer of the Enterprise going forward. 

Spock references Burnham and “three months”

Spock mentions to Pike that it’s been about “three months” since the events of Discovery season 2, which could imply this is still 2258, or maybe a bit later. Spock says “The weight I carry for the loss of my sister feels heavier.” And Pike says “I miss her too.” This refers to Michael Burnham, though they don’t speak her name outright.  

USS Archer 

The ship Una took for her first contact mission is called the USS Archer . This is a reference to Captain Jonathan Archer, the captain of the USS Enterprise NX-01 in the series Enterprise . Interestingly, the Discovery season 4 premiere revealed an “Archer Spacedock.” Also, there was another USS Archer in the 24th century, referenced in Star Trek: Nemesis . Could there have been a USS Archer in that giant Stargazer -led fleet at the beginning of Picard season 2 ? Maybe?

Pike’s flashforwards

All of Pike’s flashforwards, in which he sees his own future, are directly taken from the Discovery season 2 episode “Through the Valley of Shadows.” This makes these flashbacks that are also flashforwards. Weird.

Klingon Moon Boreth 

Spock mentions the Klingon Moon Boreth, which is where Pike had his future vision in Discovery . Boreth was first introduced in a TNG episode called “Rightful Heir.” At that time, time crystals were not discussed, and Worf was seeking spiritual enlightenment. Spock references the notion that maybe Pike was visiting the monastery.  

“It’s almost a decade away”

Pike puts his accident roughly ten years in his own future. But if this is 2258, it’s more like eight years away. Right now, “The Menagerie” happens in 2267, and his accident in 2266. But, if we say the accident doesn’t happen until right before “The Menagerie” in 2266, then it’s nine years, so…close enough? 

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Here’s a funny thing: Of all the points in the Star Trek chronology, the exact years of The Original Series have a tiny bit of wiggle room. Right now, canon tends to agree that Kirk’s five-year mission was from 2265-to 2270. However, there was a hot second there in the ‘90s where everyone thought it was 2264-2269. The point is, that the exact time frame of The Motion Picture has always changed. StarTrek.com puts The Motion Picture in 2273, which would only put it three years after the end of Kirk’s five-year mission, which hardly seems right. That said, for a while, it was thought that TMP took place in 2271, which is only about one year after The Animated Series (which isn’t entirely canon anyway).

On top of all of this, there is only one episode of TOS that takes place in 2265 , the supposed first year of Kirk’s five-year mission, and that episode is “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Bottom line? The exact moment when Kirk took command of the Enterprise might not necessarily be the start of the five-year mission. Just because you’re on the classic Enterprise , doesn’t mean you’re doing a five-year mission. Pike did two five-year missions, but not back-to-back, and we know that because there’s some non-five-year-mission action in there during the Klingon War and Discovery season 2 (in fact, right now, canon puts “The Cage” in 2254, which would be close to the end of Pike’s first five-year-mission.)

So, if five-year missions are not the marker we think they are for Kirk and Pike’s respective captaincies, then the moment Pike stepped down and Kirk took over, may have happened much earlier than 2265, and Kirk was perhaps the captain of the NCC-1701 Enterprise for either a shorter or longer time than we’ve previously assumed.

Why bring any of this up? Well, if Strange New Worlds plays a little fast-and-loose with the differences between eight years and ten years, just consider: we’ve really only seen like three years of Kirk’s five-year mission, and most of that wasn’t even shown in order.

“Fascinating”

Spock says “fascinating.” This catchphrase is famous, and originated with the TOS episode, “The Corbomite Maneuver,” the first regular episode of Star Trek that was filmed after the first two pilots.

Vulcans invented First Contact 

Spock says glibly, “as you know, Vulcans invented first contact.” This refers to Vulcans making contact with humans in 2063, as depicted in the film Star Trek: First Contact , and subsequently explained in the prequel series Enterprise . What Spock means is that Vulcans developed the policy of contacting a sentient species only when they developed faster-than-light travel. That rule was later incorporated into the Federation’s General Order 1.

Spock’s map and controlling the computer with his hands in the air

As Spock shows Pike and La’an a map of “worlds in this sector with warp,” he uses his hands, casually, to point at the screen, and change what’s being displayed without touching it. This might seem like a small thing, but it’s actually a huge Easter egg that references “The Cage.” In the first TOS pilot episode, Spock made various records display on a screen by simply pointing, which, in 1964, seemed amazing . 

Spock’s map in this scene also contains the names of several well-known Star Trek planets, including, but certainly not limited to:

• Sarpeidon ( TOS “All Our Yesterdays”)
• Cardassia Prime ( DS9 , et al.)
• Bajor ( TNG, DS9 , et al.)
• Argus Array ( TNG )
• Xahea ( Discovery , et al.)
• Trill ( TNG, DS9, Discovery )
• Talos ( TOS , et al.)
• Thalos ( DS9 )
• Beta Niobe ( TOS )
• Klaestron IV ( DS9 , “Dax”)
• Wolf 359 ( TNG “The Best of Both Worlds.”)
• Denobulia ( Enterprise )
• Azati Prime ( Enterprise )
• Doctari Alpha ( Discovery )
• Deep Space Station K-7 ( TOS, “The Trouble With Tribbles,” et al.)

As well as several core planets of the Federation, including: 

This map is massive and there’s certainly a lot more. Of note: Spock mentions that the Federation is free to make contact with any of these places. This means the Federation was aware of the Bajorans and the Cardassians at least a hundred years before the events of The Next Generation and Deep Space 9 .

Dr. M’Benga’s familiarity with Spock

Babs Olusanmokun plays the TOS character Dr. M’Benga, played by Booker Bradshaw in only two classic episodes. However, in one of those episodes, “A Private Little War,” we learn he’s something of an expert on Vulcan medicine. His subtle nod at Spock here could indicate a bit of non-canon backstory. The novel The Vulcan Academy Murders by Jean Lorah established that M’Benga worked in an exchange program on Vulcan before joining the Enterprise .  

Nurse Chapel is…from the civilian exchange? 

M’Benga says Nurse Chapel is from the civilian exchange, which could indicate she’s not actually a Starfleet officer. By the time of The Original Series , she probably is part of Starfleet, but if she’s a civilian at this point, it could go a long way to explaining why she’s still an underlining a decade later. The TOS episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” tells us Nurse Chapel was in love with a scientist named Roger Korby, but things didn’t work out sometime before the start of the show. If meeting Korby is still in Chapel’s future in SNW , it stands to reason that he could have derailed her career, which sent her back to Starfleet again. Or something. 

Classic Beaming Sound from “The Cage”

When the transporter is used throughout the episode, and prominently in sickbay, we hear some of the old-school sound effects from The Original Series , but also, some of the very first, later unused sound-effect from “The Cage.” It’s a nice bit of continuity. What once sounded like a “mistake” now is part of the real-deal sound.

The Discovery wormhole 

Number One refers to “zero point,” saying it’s “where we and the crew of Discovery opened up a wormhole to the future. This references the events of Discovery season 2, in “Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2.” In that episode, the Enterprise provided cover while Discovery jumped 930 years into the future.

Second Civil War, Eugenics Wars, WWIII 

As Pike recounts the history of Earth, he’s referencing events that, of course, would be in our future. Well…kind of. Pike seems to roll the concepts of “the Second Civil War,” “the Eugenics Wars” and WWIII, all into one time period. This is a slight retcon that Star Trek canon has been grappling with since TOS . In “Space Seed,” Spock mentioned that the Eugenics Wars were fought in the 1990s and that it was the last of your “so-called World Wars.” However, in TNG , WWIII and “the Eugenics Wars” were posited as separate events. Then again, Spock admitted in “Space Seed” that the records of this time period were pretty spotty. 

Interestingly, Star Trek: Picard has recently grappled with these inconsistencies, too. In Season two, Picard even mentions how incomplete the records from the period are.

So, what’s the takeaway? Well, at this point, Star Trek canon is kind of throwing up its hands and saying: a lot of bad stuff happened in the mid-to-late 21st century on Earth and we’re not sure what to call it anymore. 

Doubling down, calling it the Prime Directive 

April tells Pike and the crew that General Order 1 will now be called “the Prime Directive.” Pike scoffs at this saying the term will “never stick.” This of course is an inside joke. “The Prime Directive,” was first mentioned in the TOS episode “The Return of the Archons” However, in the DISCO era it’s mostly been called “General Order 1.”

At the very last minute of the episode, we learn that the Lt. Kirk who was mentioned earlier was not Jim Kirk, but instead, his brother Sam Kirk, now played by Dan Jeannotte. Pike asks Sam about his family, which is a reference to the episode “Operation— Annihilate!” in which we learn that Jim had a brother, who was married with at least one child.

In “Operation— Annihilate!” Samuel Kirk appeared only as a corpse, played by a mustachioed William Shatner. But, like in that one scene from TOS , this Sam Kirk is also rocking a mustache. 

Prior to this point, we never knew Sam Kirk served on the Enterprise , nor did we know that Spock met Jim’s brother before he met Jim. The role reversal is somewhat obvious. Spock will be Sam Kirk’s superior, even though much later, Jim Kirk will be Spock’s superior. Will saying the name “Kirk” in Star Trek ever feel the same again? With the reintroduction of Sam Kirk, Star Trek is certainly putting the strange firmly into Strange New Worlds .

Ryan Britt is a longtime contributor to Den of Geek! He is also the author of three non-fiction books: the Star Trek pop history book PHASERS…

Paul Wesley on His 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Debut as Captain Kirk

He also spoke about about 'The Vampire Diaries' and the impact the franchise had on audiences.

Editor's note: The below article contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The Season 1 finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds delivered a lot of unexpected twists and turns as Captain Pike ( Anson Mount ) was given a glimpse into a future that could be, were he to alter the course of his destiny. With Pike avoiding his date with death, Captain Kirk ( Paul Wesley ) never became the captain of the USS Enterprise and instead moved up the ranks aboard the USS Farragut to become captain to an entirely different crew. Pike ultimately learns that by saving himself, he puts everyone he cares about at risk, forever altering the courses of their fates and inadvertently causing a deadly war with the Romulans.

After fans spotted Wesley on the set of Strange New Worlds Season 2 back in March, Paramount announced that the actor had been cast as Captain Kirk in the series, though most Trekkies assumed that he'd be beaming up to the series starting in the second season. Ahead of his debut as Captain Kirk, Collider had the opportunity to talk with Wesley in one of his first interviews since the announcement. In our 1-on-1 interview with Paul Wesley, he spoke about growing up with Star Trek , sitting beside William Shatner on a flight after being cast as Kirk, whether his Captain Kirk is more like Shatner or Chris Pine , his first day in the Captain's chair, what he can tease about Kirk in Season 2, and he discusses the end of The Vampire Diaries franchise and the impact it had on fans.

COLLIDER: First of all, I just want to say congratulations on being cast as Captain Kirk.

PAUL WESLEY: Thank you.

Star Trek was very much something that was part of my childhood. Was it something that you grew up with and were a fan of before the audition?

WESLEY: Yeah. It's funny, I was born in the '80s, so obviously I didn't watch it live, but I've always [been] someone who watches films and series from the '60s, the '70s. I enjoy it. I think there's something about it. There's something about the nostalgia of not having 18,000 streamers and a bazillion special effects artists. There's something about the purity of the shows that were created in the '60s and '70s.

I think that, for me, I watched Star Trek and I always envision myself watching it live and having a limited amount of television channels. We didn't have the same technology that we have now, and so it was really the most incredible form of escapism for people. It was a way for people to see. I love the title of this new series, Strange New Worlds , because it really is. It truly encapsulates what the show is about, which is about exploration. It's [a] space adventure. It's about this crazy little community of people that are exploring worlds, and that is really what this show is. I love that there's an optimism. Again, it's fun, but at the same time, there's a lot of meaning [and] there's a lot of metaphor. We get to analyze our own behaviors on planet earth through the actions of this crew.

RELATED: 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 2 Casts Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk — See the First Image

I remember when you were cast back in March, you mentioned that you ran into William Shatner on a flight. Did you get any advice from him?

WESLEY: No, because I was still playing a little bit coy about it. I was under this sworn secrecy, NDA madness, so I wasn't able to be like, "Hey, so, as you know, I'm playing Kirk, give me the tips." I had to kind of tiptoe, and I had to really play it dumb in a way. I wanted so badly to just talk to him about it so openly and I [also] didn't want to bother him. He [had] literally just got back from space, and he was on this plane, and we happened to be sitting next to each other. I also didn't want to sit there and talk his ear off for four hours.

We talked a little bit, but it was really less about Kirk. I'm sure he's been talking about Kirk for the last however many years and I think it was really more about just sort of chatting. We've actually spoken before very briefly. He's a classy guy. When the announcement came out that I was playing Kirk, he tweeted, "Congratulations." I just thought that was such a classy move. He didn't have to do that at all.

Kirk is such an iconic character. You're now one of three people who have gotten the chance to play him. When you took on the role, were you aiming to emulate Shatner or Chris Pine, or did you approach this as a completely fresh character?

WESLEY: No. What William Shatner did is not touchable. You cannot mess with William Shatner. He created Captain Kirk. Period, end of story. For me to try to imitate William Shatner in any way would be, I think, an insult to Captain Kirk. Right? I think it's important to just understand who Kirk is, what his childhood was like, what he wants, what he doesn't want, what the pillars of his personality and his character traits that are important to the development of that character. With that in mind, you can then play and create your own interpretation, because it is. There's a different Spock, there's a different Uhura, there's a different everything. You have to just create your own things. You can't just do an imitation, because that would be too shallow.

I would say he's somewhere in between, because this is a younger Kirk. In the Season 1 finale, it's like an alternate timeline that really has never been done before, and so there's a little bit more room for interpretation. But as we get to know Kirk in Season 2, it's a younger Kirk, it's pre-Enterprise Captain Kirk. It's a little bit of that... He's a little bit more of that, I guess, in that Chris Pine world. But Chris Pine was the Kelvin. He's sort of in between all of it, but at the end of the day, it's a different Kirk. It's a different Kirk than we've seen. I think that was really the only way to do it, frankly. There's no other way.

You mentioned the finale. You get to be in the captain's chair. What was it like the first day you got to be on the bridge of the USS Farragut and got to sit in the captain's chair?

WESLEY: TV schedules are crazy, right? You don't get to prep for two months. It's daunting showing up on set [the] first day [like], "Oh my God, I got to sit in this chair that presumably I've been sitting in for, comfortably, hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of times, and I'm sitting in it for the first time." It's like all of those things are just so pivotal, and so I was just trying to be as comfortable as possible, trying to get out of my head that I was playing Kirk. You just have to try your best to just get that out of your head, have fun, explore, because ultimately, the reason people fell in love with Captain Kirk is because William Shatner was having fun. He was using his instinct, he was charming, he got to do so many different things, and if he wasn't using his instinct, then using some of his own personality in that role, maybe people wouldn't have appreciated it as much. I think I really just wanted to be myself in some ways while paying respect to the character.

Season 2, we get to explore a little bit more of Kirk. The Season 1 finale is plot-driven, it's Pike's episode. I mean, it's Pike's show, let's be honest. But really, I am sort of part of this plot. It's a little less getting to know Kirk, and it's a little bit more about the dynamics between the two captains. It's about the action that's taking place. There's a lot at stake. Season 2, we get to have a little bit more of exploration, I think.

I'm sure you can't say much about Season 2, but we do get a tease in the finale of Scotty, which I was really excited about.

WESLEY: Isn't that great?

Are there any Original Series characters that you would love to see in Strange New Worlds ?

WESLEY: Well, the Gorn.

That's a good answer.

WESLEY: Right? Yeah. That's the most iconic. We'll see whether that comes to fruition.

Before we wrap up, I feel like I would be remiss not to at least cross the IP streams a little bit. Legacies just got canceled, bringing the end of The Vampire Diaries era on television. What is it like for you to be part of something that has had such a long-lasting, overarching reach for audiences? It's a lot in the same way that Star Trek has been around for so long. It's such an integral part of people's lives.

WESLEY: When I was first cast in The Vampire Diaries , we all knew that there were some special things there. We didn't know that we were going to create this universe. I had no clue there would be spinoffs, and I didn't know that these characters would become so iconic and that the series would become so iconic. I had done God knows how many pilots at that point, and you're just doing your best, hoping something sticks.

We put a lot of time and effort into The Vampire Diaries . I'm just glad it resonated with people. I think that show, particularly Seasons 1, 2, and 3, it's pretty high-level stuff. I know it was on the CW, so it's a little bit more like, "Well, it's Vampire Diaries, and it's these 'attractive young people biting each other in the neck.'" A lot of people think it's not for them, but at the end of the day, when people watch Vampire Diaries Season 1, 2, and 3, it's really pretty good stuff. I'm really proud of what we created. Who knows? Maybe there'll be another spinoff in the future. I certainly won't be a part of it, because at Vampire Diaries you don't age, and I do age, unfortunately. I can't play Stefan's dad. Nor do I want to.

But yeah, I'm grateful. It's a needle in a haystack. It's extremely rare as an actor to be a part of something that becomes a cultural phenomenon. To do that twice now, to play this character that has been such a huge part of people's lives, I feel very blessed to not only have been a part of creating The Vampire Diaries universe, but now to be jumping into this even bigger, more important universe in many ways with this iconic role. I don't know. Karmically. I feel quite blessed.

You can stream the entirety of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+. Check out Paramount's special bonus content about the finale below:

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds EP Teases a ‘Totally Different Kirk’

Keisha hatchett, staff editor.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , premiering this Thursday on Paramount+, will take viewers on a bold new adventure as Starfleet’s finest encounter new life while traversing the galaxy.

The episodic series enlists a number of characters from the original Trek series, including Captain Pike (played by Anson Mount), Spock (Ethan Peck), Number One (Rebecca Romijn) and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) — and future Enterprise captain James Tiberius Kirk ( Vampire Diaries ’ Paul Wesley ) will also appear, but fans will have to wait until Season 2 for a glimpse at the beloved character in action. So how will Kirk fit in with the Strange New Worlds crew?

“This is a science fiction show, so there are many ways in which a character can enter a story and exit a story,” Henry Alonso Myers, who serves as co-showrunner alongside Akiva Goldsman, tells TVLine. “We are absolutely in an era where [Kirk] is alive and present, and as much as we’re trying to tell the stories of how [Spock, Pike and Uhura] came to be the person that they become, there are other people who we also want to tell that story for.”

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The Kirk we’ll come to meet in the show might not be what fans expect. Myers is aware that people will have strong opinions about Wesley’s version of the captain-to-be, given Kirk’s lengthy history and reverential legacy within Star Trek canon.

“When people come to it, I’m sure they’ll have feelings about their own interpretations of the previous ones. We don’t want to deny those. We love all the Kirks that have existed,” he explains. “Our goal was to tell a story of this Kirk, in this time period, which is a totally different Kirk that has only been touched on in the Kelvin Universe,” played by Chris Pine in the J.J. Abrams-produced film trilogy. “We hope the fun of the show is telling the inner stories that they maybe wouldn’t have been told back then about younger versions of the characters who have yet to become who we know.”

Are you looking forward to Paul Wesley’s Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ? Drop a comment below. 

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42 comments.

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I’m confused. All the Trek TV Shows are supposed to be set in the same universe right? So if Wesley’s Kirk just a younger version of Shatner’s Kirk? Like Peck’s Spock is the younger version of Nimoy’s Spock.

With that theory, it’s safe to assume SNW takes place after Enterprise but before TOS, and as someone stated in the comments of a previous post about this show, after season 2 of Discovery.

Yes, the new series takes place after season 2 of Discovery and before season 1 of TOS…what’s confusing about that?

Everything you stated seems correct. If the part that seems confusing is the talk about “this version of Kirk,” I’m pretty sure they mean it on a more meta, storytelling level. Obviously, it’s the youngest we’ve seen Kirk in the TV timeline, and it’s not Shatner playing him. And it sounds like they’re not going to be obsessing over making the performance and personality match exactly (much like Peck’s Spock is more brash and emotional than Nimoy’s.) Though it’s entirely possible that this will be a Kirk from another alternate universe or some sort of alien doppelganger or something. It is Star Trek, after all.

Yes exactly. Thank you. And you are totally right about this possibly being a Kirk from an alternate universe or alien doppelganger.

Strange New Worlds depicts the Constitution-class Enterprise, NCC-1701, during the command of Captain Pike, which occurred from approximately 2251 to 2262 (at which point Capt. Kirk took command). . I’m not certain if the show will take place before or after the “Discovery” second season episodes that featured Pike and company, which occurred approximately in 2257. . “Star Trek: Enterprise” took place from 2151-2155, or about 100 years before “Strange New Worlds.”

I read in another article that it takes place a year after their adventure with Discovery.

They’re set in the same universe, but Strange New Worlds is being produced in a very different earth from the one that produced the original series. A Kirk who thought women were not suited to the captain’s chair, as he said in an episode of the original series, is a Kirk who would have never been admitted to Starlet Academy in today’s version of the Trek universe.

And you don’t cast Ethan Peck on a show and only give him a romance once every seven years.

No one working on the original series thought they were laying down a blueprint for the next 70 years of television and movies

Wearing my geek hat proudly here … the Vulcan pon farr does NOT mean that Vulcans can’t have “romance” off-cycle. It only means that every seven years they MUST!

This is Kirk before he was in command of the Enterprise. My prediction is that Strange New Worlds will run for several years. It will conclude with Pike turning over command to Kirk. Then the show will continue with Kirk and his crew. TOS ran 79 epiosdes and since it was a five year mission there are many stories left to explore.

The producers said that it exists in the classic Trek timeline, in an attempt to hold onto older fans. However, no. Discovery, Picard and SNW all take place within a new canon, created by the new producers. Do not approach any of these shows (even Picard) as a continuation of classic Trek canon, or you will be stuck in a constant loop of trying to explain how it can possibly make sense. Just go in fresh and pretend that nothing came before it, and you might have a chance of enjoying it.

Yes, they can claim it, but there are too many changes that require it to be hand waved away to work. Different looking Klingons, the fact that the Mirror Universe keeps playing a big part but no one records it so future crews are aware of it, etc, etc. They already made a new universe with the JJ verse, so I’m not sure why they’re so freaked out by another timeline. Other, than as you said, pandering to old fans. Heck, when they started Discovery I thought it was in the JJverse…but then they wanted to boost it by using all the old characters, so that went out the window.

The funny part is, old school fans would have been more open to the new shows and updated styles if they’d somehow integrated the alternate timeline idea, the way they did with the Kelvin timeline. I’m not a huge fan of those movies, but I can watch them without constantly pointing out how wrong they are. Meanwhile, I can’t watch Picard because it clearly doesn’t work with established canon and it ends up offending more than entertaining. Imagine if instead of an android, Soji was from the classic universe, trapped in this new timeline and pursued by someone who wanted her dead, and Dahj was her counterpart. It riffs on the Spock/Kelvin idea, but spins it in a new direction. It also allows known characters to be completely different people without violating what came before.

I agree. I’ve only seen clips and it turned me off. Also the writers seem to be putting more of their own issues into the writing and the show then the actual Star Trek universe; just a terrible tone and missing the mark of something timeless.

I guess this Kirk will be Captain of a different ship? He wont be Lt. Kirk on the U.S.S. Farragut?

The Enterprise was said to be Kirk’s first command. As a result, depending on when SNW is set, we’ll either see Kirk during the Farragut era, or just after that. . We don’t know much about the years after he left the Farragut… all we know is that at some point during that time, he was teaching at the Academy, and at one time, instructed Gary Mitchell. They could easily plug in some “Strange New Worlds” stories that occur during those years.

Didn’t some people see that Kirk had Captain’s stripes in SNW?

He could be a Captain but not assigned to a ship yet. We know he taught at the Academy at some point before taking command of the Enterprise. . It would be better if they made him a Commander . . . and anyway, he isn’t really supposed to know Pike. Uhura, M’Benga, and Chapel could all presumably know Pike, and those are characters they chose to use on the show. It’s a little harder to reconcile Scotty, Sulu, and especially Kirk knowing Pike before TOS season one.

I’m guessing they mean a Kirk that is acceptable to 2022 culture, which isn’t what fans want or have issue with.

There’s an IMDB listing for a Farragut Crewman in the finale of season one so I expect we’ll be seeing Kirk on the Farragut.

Kirk is actually more of an interesting character than the general Shatner-flavored-stereotype of him gives credit for. If you pay attention to the scripts during TOS he’s not just a man-whore who gets into fights too often, he’s also supposed to be a science genius and ex-academy teacher with a tragic past (as a kid he was one of a tiny number of survivors after the population of colony he was in were nearly all massacred by an evil eugenicist). And then there’s another terrible tragedy on the Farragut which either has or is about to happen in this show. So there’s plenty of stuff there to make him an interesting character that is already canon as well as the 1960s macho stereotype.

My only feeling about this new version of Kirk is that I’m tired of new versions of Kirk. There’s a reason why Next Generation introduced all new characters. It’s because it’s a universe big enough to support endless numbers of new people without continually rehashing the old as nostalgia bait. And with diminishing returns to go along with their watered down iterations. It’s The Orville is, at present, the best Star Trek show available.

Curious … when did you get tired of new versions of James Bond? Of Batman? Of Sherlock Holmes? Of Ebenezer Scrooge? I’ll admit that I was skeptical of new actors playing these roles, but I was won over by the Abrams cast (if not the scripts) and the Strange New Worlds ones as well.

The difference with all those characters you mentioned is that they were literary inventions first. Kirk is Shatner and anything else is a lesser iteration. Also, the worlds of Bond, Sherlock and so on, center around those characters. The Trek universe is much larger and not defined by Kirk as it’s centerpiece. None of these rehashes are necessary. (Hell, the second J.J. Abrams film was such a blatant rip-off of Wrath of Kahn that it was laughable.)

I don’t think there’s a whole lot of difference. There are many fans of James Bond and Sherlock Holmes who have never read the books.

As to the rehashes, as I noted, the writing was horrible, but the casting was mostly solid, and I had no problem accepting new actors in the established roles. I like these characters, and continue to be enthused by seeing their new stories.

I think I would have loved an 80’s Star Trek spinoff called, “Kirk”, or better yet “Shatner”. I wouldn’t mind a new show with another Captain Kirk or any Star Trek if it actually was like a Star Trek show and was good but all these Paramount+ Star Treks don’t feel like Star Trek and the writing seems bad, like fluff with writers who can’t seperate their own lives from the Star Trek universe and don’t know how to create classics like the old shows were.

I’m tired of all of those. Do something new.

Agreed. TNG jumped 70+ years ahead and used all new characters, without any relatives of known characters. When TOS characters appeared, it was an event, and TOS was respected as canon (even though fans and producers all knew that we’d come a long way since then). Fans were worried that TNG would disrespect TOS, but they were eventually shown otherwise. Modern producers seem to demand that we go along with them, rather than work to earn our trust in them. Oddly enough, The Orville overcame many of the same hurdles as TNG, but worked to prove itself.

I think Wesley will give an interesting interpretation of the character. There are those that didn’t get Chris Pine’s version and there were those that embraced it… it will likely be the same here. I liked Pine’s portrayal and I am a fan of Wesley, so I think I’ll enjoy it. Looking very forward to this show. Now, if they’ll move forward on the Michelle Yeoh spinoff, I’d be thrilled.

Any time line of Star trek is welcome!! If you want TOS, or TNG then re-watch those series. I am so excited for a bold new modern story to take us to the stars!

why does paramount feel it is mandatory to have at least 1 or more hatchet-headed/spike kyke/gender-mocking bozos in every new ST Show….

You mean… attractive, clean-cut men? That seems like a weird objection, and an entirely disproportionate amount of hate to put behind it.

Could you guys please stop strip mining our childhoods. Please. Thanks

I am excited about this. I guess we’ll see. One thing that keeps bothering me every time I see the picture above, is couldn’t they have found a uniform that actually fits Paul Wesley? It bunches up on him in all sorts of weird ways. Very strange.

Well. There is a huge opportunity to screw with Cannon once again. At the beginning of the Menagerie a season 2 part TOS episode, Commodore Mendez asks Kirk if he’s ever met Pike. He replies, “only onceat the transfer of command” when he took over the Enterprise. Any other interaction with Pike in season 2 completely screws up the history of trek. So, Kirk can meet, Chapel. Spock, uhura , m’Benga, just about anyone else but not Pike. Will the writers miss this point, most likely.

If there’s one thing Nu Trek doesn’t care about, it’s canon. They will ignore it whenever they think it best suits the story they want to tell.

Any time there is a new Star Trek, I’m excited to see what might transpire. TNG is still my all time favorite. I’ve read nothing but positive reviews for SNW. And, I’m really looking forward to seeing a different version of Spock. Ethan Peck did a great job on embodying his character on Discovery. :-)

So William Shatner’s groundsetting portrayal or Leonard Nimoy’s portrayal of Spock are no longer vaild? Those don’t count now? THESE are the definitive canon takes on the characters?

The performances can both still be valid, within the context of their own shows. The point is that something new can’t be overly shackled to what came before, especially when what came before is now over fifty years old. Sci-fi is all about guessing what the future will become, and those guesses change over time. This applies to people just as much as technology.

But if these shows are canon to The Original Series, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise then by that very factor they have to be shackled by what came before in those 50 years! You have to be consistent with the canon Gene Roddenberry set up back in 1961 in order for the claims that this show is the gap between Enterprise and TOS they have to follow the canon and not mess with it! If they’re going to do their own thing, why not just say so?! Stay to the canon or do your own thing with the timeline like JJ Abrams movies did, don’t bait-and-switch like this… RESPECT THE CANON!

Back in the 90’s, shows like DS9 and Voyager had pretty high quality. TV had come a long way since TOS was produced. Technology had come a long way, and the way the future looked had changed a lot. However, the producers of those shows chose to honor TOS as part of its history. When they showed the Kirk era, it was Shatner’s Kirk. Some of it didn’t look as good, but the producers and the fans were in on the fictional world together. We embraced what came before, because it *was* what came before. Star Trek isn’t just about predicting what the future will look like, it is about telling stories within that specific universe, which was never *our* future. Constantly rebuilding the foundation of that universe weakens the whole structure.

Kirk sarà un personaggio nuovo, nuovo per come sarà interpretato. Non con il ruolo di cappa e spada della serie TOS o il capitano rampante di JJ Abrams, ma molto più introverso e, forse, più complessato, vista la giovane età. La serie mette curiosità e non vedo l’ora di vederla….. sarà, probabilmente e spero, meno psicologica della seconda stagione di Picard e dinamica e attiva come Discovery…. vedremo! Per il momento, lunga vita e prosperità!!!!

I loved all the older star treks. Even Enterprise, except the finale, was tied with Voyager as my favorite but these paramount+ Star Treks just look awful from the clips. Just shells of the older shows with a few remnants of the older shows. The writing just doesn’t seem good or and they seems to betray a lot of the Star Trek universe. Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t see Paramount Streaming existing for too much longer especially with the economy turning so bad. My parents gave me a bunch of their old Star Trek paperbacks a long time ago; I guess I’ll just read them if I want some new, “old” Star Trek. I was going to try the trial of paramount+ but I’m not sure that I will bother since they only have maybe two shows that I would probably watch.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike. A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike. A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike.

• Akiva Goldsman
• Alex Kurtzman
• Jenny Lumet
• Anson Mount
• Christina Chong
• 1K User reviews
• 38 Critic reviews
• 9 wins & 33 nominations total

Episodes 31

• Captain Christopher Pike …

• La'an Noonien-Singh …

• Lt. Erica Ortegas …

• Una Chin-Riley …

• Nurse Christine Chapel

• Nyota Uhura …

• Dr. M'Benga

• USS Enterprise Computer …

• Lieutenant George Samuel 'Sam' Kirk

• Jenna Mitchell

• Captain Batel …

• Admiral Robert April

• Captain James T. Kirk …

• T'Pring
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Bruce Horak , the actor who plays Hemmer, is legally blind, just like his character's species, the Aenar, who are also blind.
• Goofs There are some rank insignia mistakes. Number One is introduced as "Lieutenant Commander Una Chin-Riley" yet she is wearing the rank insignia of a full commander: two full stripes. A Lieutenant Commander's rank insignia is a full stripe under a thin stripe (in TOS it is a full stripe and a staggered stripe). It is not uncommon for a ship's first officer to be a Lt. Commander if they have not been in the position long. Spock at this point is a Lieutenant but he is wearing Lieutenant Commander's stripes; a Lieutenant just has one stripe. La'an is the ship's chief of security and the ship's second officer. She is also wearing Lt. Commander stripes but is addressed as a Lieutenant, but it would make more sense for her to be a Lieutenant Commander. Either way both of their rank insignia are not matching the rank they are addressed by. Ortegas is addressed as a Lieutenant but is wearing Lieutenant Commander's strips. A Lieutenant Commander may be addressed as a Commander or Lieutenant Commander but never as just a Lieutenant, so either her rank insignia or the manner she is addressed by the rest of the crew is in error.

[opening narration]

Captain Christopher Pike : Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

• Connections Featured in Nerdrotic: Woke Hollywood is FAILING, and That's a Good Thing (2022)

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• May 5, 2022

Technical specs

• Runtime 52 minutes
• D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

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REVEALED – Strange New Worlds’ Secret Legacy Character!

The anticipation is building for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ premiere tomorrow. We’ve expected thrills and surprises since rave reviews began rolling in. Speculating about legacy characters turning up is nothing new. The reveal of Adrian Holmes ‘Admiral Robert April’ only intensified speculation. Who could be next? The answer to that question has now been revealed! Strange New Worlds’ Secret Legacy Character is someone we were not expecting, but let’s explore more!

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING

Please Don’t Read on if you don’t want spoilers! You have been warned!

An Old Face Beams Onboard!

We’ve had our eye on a distinctive, moustached crew member for a while. He makes a number of appearances in the trailers, indicating at least a couple of episode appearances. With little to nothing to go on, we figured the character was probably a recurring actor in a support role. A new interview with Akiva Goldsman however, casually blows his secret wide open.

Paul Wesley’s casting as James T. Kirk was revealed some weeks ago after the actor was spotted filming season 2. It turns out, he’s not the only Kirk on the show. George Samuel “Sam” Kirk will also make a surprise addition to the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds cast, as revealed today by The Wrap .

INTERVIEWER: The series is a basketful of Easter eggs. I mean, in the first episode, you bring back Kirk’s brother, Samuel — with the mustache!  AKIVA GOLDSMAN: [ Laughs ] Almost the whole show is made of Easter eggs! There are boxes and boxes of them. Via The Wrap

Who is Samuel Kirk, The Secret Character?

Originally appearing in Star Trek: The Original Series , “Sam Kirk” was the brother of the famous James T. Kirk. In fact, it was only his brother who called him Sam. Whether that might change in Strange New Worlds , does remain to be seen. However, all is not good for the future of this Kirk, as he does eventually meet his fate.

When his brother undertook a new five-year mission, commanding the USS Enterprise, George Samuel Kirk saw him off. It’s noted that his wife, Aurelan and their three sons also saw off James Kirk. Sam would mention that he wished to be transferred to the Earth Colony II Research Station.

Strange New Worlds’ Secret Legacy Character, Sam Kirk was a Starfleet Scientist, specifically a research biologist. Additionally, given we see him in a blue uniform in parts of the Strange New Worlds trailer, this would match established lore. However, what does this do to Mr Spock’s position as science officer onboard the USS Enterprise under Pike? Perhaps the two are working together?

The Original Series episode “Operation — Annihilate! ” sees the death of Sam Kirk and his wife. Flying parasites saw Kirk and his fellow colonists of Deneva attacked. While his wife, Aurelan Kirk managed to signal for help, Sam Kirk would meet his demise. When the USS Enterprise, under the command of James T. Kirk arrived, Sam Kirk was dead. Additionally, his wife died shortly thereafter. However, their son, Peter Kirk would survive.

Behind The Scenes Of Strange New Worlds’ Secret Legacy Character

You might not know, but the Kirk brothers are closer than you might expect. I mean this in the fact that William Shatner played both characters. Well, he just played the corpse of George Samuel “Sam” Kirk. Additionally, Sam Kirk was to appear in the 2009 Star Trek Film . However, this scene was cut from the final film.

StarTrek.com has an official page for Sam Kirk. While the page has hardly any information on it, part of me expects this to now be updated in the coming days. Regardless of what we learn about this Kirk, it is going to be fun. The legacy of the Kirk family seems rather well connected with Christopher Pike in some senses.

How to Watch

The premiere episode ‘Strange New Worlds’ will stream from Thursday, May 5. It is available on-demand via Paramount+ in the US, Latin America, The Nordics, and Australia. Plus CTV Sci-fi Channel / Crave in Canada, Voot Select in India, and TVNZ in New Zealand. The UK and parts of Europe will also be able to watch via Paramount+ next month when the service launches on June 22. Information is currently unavailable for the rest of the world and will be announced at ‘a later date’.

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Paul Wesley's Captain Kirk on Star Trek is not like William Shatner: 'This is a whole new look'

The Vampire Diaries alum opens up for the first time about playing a younger Kirk on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and what's in store for season 2.

Warning: This article contains spoilers from the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1 finale.

A new captain has beamed up to the command deck.

Vampire Diaries alum Paul Wesley was announced in March as a young Captain James Tiberius Kirk on the upcoming second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . But — SPOILER ALERT — Wesley's Kirk ended up making his debut in the season 1 finale, which dropped on Paramount+ Thursday.

According to Wesley, who opens up about the role for the first time with press, the original plan was to never formally announce his casting. The network and producers hoped it would be a surprise for Star Trek fans when he popped up on screen at the end of SNW . But meddling paparazzi threatened to leak images of him from the set, so the powers that be decided to announce his season 2 role, while holding onto the season 1 surprise.

"I'm glad they did [announce it] because it allows people to digest it in a way," the actor tells EW.

Trek fans know Kirk by way of William Shatner on the original Star Trek series of the 1960s, while a newer generation got their introduction to the character from Chris Pine in the J.J. Abrams Trek films. This Kirk, Wesley says, is somewhere in between. "This is a whole new look," he notes.

The SNW finale sees Captain Pike ( Anson Mount ) getting a visit from his future self. He's not just shown, but lives out a potential tragic future that could happen if Pike's prophesied death doesn't play out as its meant to. This future takes place several years down the line when Pike meets Kirk, who's captain of the U.S.S. Farragut and arrives on the scene amid a conflict with the Romulans.

Wesley discusses taking on the role, what people can expect from his performance, and what's coming in season 2.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I feel like you're probably getting this a lot these days, but how does it feel to be Captain Kirk?

PAUL WESLEY : Gosh, how many adjectives? I could give you about a hundred and it would still not really describe it. Obviously, it is incredibly daunting. Ever since I got the role of Kirk, I'll literally be speaking to someone and there's a massive language barrier and I can't quite communicate certain words. Then I'll say "Captain Kirk." There's nobody on the face of planet earth... or I should say, most 99 percent of people know who Captain Kirk is. That is crazy. It's arguably the most iconic fictional character. There's Hans Solo and there's Captain Kirk.

There's the generation of Trek fans who know Kirk through Chris Pine and there's the other generation who know Kirk through William Shatner. What is your personal Captain Kirk?

He's somewhere in between. At the end of the day, the most important thing for me and the most important thing for the showrunners was to not insult the original series' Kirk by doing an imitation of [Shatner]. It's an interpretation that is different. I think doing an imitation of either [Kirks] would be an insult. We just remind people that it's not William Shatner. This is a whole new look. It's a whole new Spock. It's a whole new Uhura. It's a whole new Kirk. It's a new Pike. They're old characters interpreted in a new way. What is most important is to pay respect to the integrity of who Kirk is — his wants, his needs, his deep desires, his morality, his spontaneity, his instinct.

What was really important for you to bring out in him with your debut in the season 1 finale?

In the season 1 finale, it's actually a Kirk that we've never seen because he doesn't really exist. It's an alternate projected timeline of something. If Pike hadn't died and he was still commanding the Enterprise, what would this world look like? Of course, it doesn't exist. It's just in his mind. So he meets Kirk, and Kirk is not captain of the Enterprise. Kirk is captain of the Farragut. Kirk has never met Spock, he's never met Uhura, he hasn't gone through all the things that the original Kirk had gone through. So, in a way, it allowed me to... I'm not gonna say whatever I wanted, but it's a looser interpretation, right? We're not sticking to a regiment. So it was a little liberating because I didn't have as much pressure. I can't talk about season 2 too much, but it's a little bit more in line with a Kirk that we know, but it's pre-Enterprise. The most important thing is, to answer your question, is to maintain that sense of Kirk having this incredible gut instinct that he relies on, that is preternaturally accurate in a way, a morality, courage, charm, humor. We don't get to see as much of that humor in the season 1 finale because there's something very intense happening. Season 2, we get to explore a little bit more of Kirk.

In the finale, we see Kirk and Pike hitting up against each other. Do you see this episode as setting up that particular character dynamic in season 2?

Yeah, I do. The two men have a great deal of respect for one another. Pike sees this future, so he kind of knows Kirk in a way, but Kirk doesn't know him. So it's fascinating to see this. It's like, I've met you before, but I can't tell you that I've met you before and I can't explain to you how I've met you before. I do think that the two have different command styles and different approaches, but I think there's a lot of respect between the two men. There's never really a sense of animosity or real competitiveness. There's a deep sense of respect, 'cause ultimately they want the same thing. Kirk just knows that he'll figure it out quickly and he's relied on that his entire life.

We found out about you playing Kirk with the anticipation you would come in season 2. Obviously, you have this surprise appearance in season 1. It sounds like you've been hanging onto this secret for longer than I think a lot of us realized. Did you have to shoot this appearance under the cover of darkness, as it were?

Yeah, totally. I didn't tell anyone other than very, very close family and friends. And it was like an "if you say anything, I'm never talking to you again" kind of thing. Ultimately, we weren't even really gonna announce that I was playing Kirk at all until suddenly I just appeared on screen in the finale. But then we were shooting season 2 and a couple of photos came out because we did an episode where they go to earth. That's when they said, "Okay, let's just announce it because there's a lot of speculation," etc. I'm glad they did because it allows people to digest it in a way, you know? It was really hard to not tell. I ran into some people who are diehard Star Trek fans. This was before the announcement. Friends of mine that I hadn't seen in ages, and I'm like, "Well, I'm doing this show called Star Trek ." They're like, "Oh! What character?" I'm like, "Maybe you've heard of him. Captain Kirk." They're like, "Shut up! No, you're not." Nobody believed me. They literally thought I was a crazy person. Then the announcement came out and they were like, "You weren't kidding!" It's such an iconic role that everyone thinks you're pulling their leg. So I was glad that the announcement came out.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1 is currently streaming on Paramount+.

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Related content:

• Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley to play Captain Kirk on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
• Anson Mount talks Strange New Worlds , fan love for Pike, and having the best hair quiff on TV
• Spock is getting even sexier in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds trailer

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SNW James T Kirk Takes The Captain’s Chair

By rebekah 17 May 2024

Commanders,

we would like to introduce you to the newest version of the oldest Star Trek hero, Strange New Worlds James Kirk! First introduced in the finale of season 1, SNW James Kirk appears as a more brash and cavalier style of captain than Pike is comfortable with, but as Pike learns, sometimes that’s just what the galaxy needs.

In STFC, as it was in Strange New Worlds, James Kirk is a more aggressive sort of captain. His abilities reflect this difference in command style, as you will see if you use him as the captain on a ship in place of SNW Pike. Where SNW Pike balanced offense and defense, SNW James Kirk presses the attack immediately and aggressively.

Captain Ability: Command Prodigy –

• SNW James Kirk reduces enemy Shield Mitigation by 40% vs non-Armada Hostiles. Synergy adds +30% for a perfect synergy or +15% for normal. Maximum value is 100%.

With perfect synergy, this allows your ship to fully bypass hostile shields! This is ideal for use against any hostile that has high shield HP as compared to hull HP. Some examples of these are Borg probes, Silent Enemies, Jem’hadar hostiles, Cardassian hostiles, and normal Federation/Klingon/Romulan faction hostiles.

Officer Ability: Phaser-Bank Operator –

• SNW James Kirk increases base Weapon Damage by 200%/600%/1,200%/2,000%/3,500% vs non-Armada Hostiles.

Sometimes the simplest answer is to just hit the enemy as hard as you can. SNW James Kirk will certainly assist with that!

Here are some examples of SNW Pike based crews where you could try using SNW James Kirk instead to strengthen your offense!

SNW James Kirk / SNW Uhura / SNW Una – For fighting battleships with an interceptor

SNW James Kirk / SNW Ortegas / SNW Una – For fighting explorers with a battleship

SNW James Kirk / SNW Spock  / SNW Una – For fighting interceptors with an explorer

*If video player doesn’t work, please click the link beneath the video or try a different browser

If you would like to try using the two SNW Kirk brothers together, here are some excellent ways to do so!

SNW James Kirk / SNW Sam Kirk / SNW Una | Tom Paris below deck – For general use. Critical damage will be very high.

SNW James Kirk / SNW Sam Kirk / SNW Hemmer – The most effective crew for defeating surveys quickly.

SNW James Kirk / SNW Sam Kirk / SNW Pelia | SNW Chapel below deck – For hunting the Gorn

Whatever combination you choose, we wish you luck out there.

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“We absolutely keep track of it”: Despite 5 Seasons, Star Trek: Discovery Failed to Learn the Real Reason Strange New Worlds is a Better Show

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds may have been relatively new to the scene as far as the adventures of the USS Enterprise are concerned but it is far from being a lame attempt at a cash-grab spin-off. Starring Anson Mount, Rebecca Romjin, and Ethan Peck in the lead cast, the new series explores worlds far beyond the stretches of what the known galaxy holds.

For a reason not too dissimilar,  Star Trek has become a subject of debate over the difference between Discovery  and its more modern counterpart and the reason behind its failure to surprise the audience as much as Strange New Worlds  is capable of doing.

Star Trek Learns a Way to Balance the Old and the New

However, if a show veers too far off the given track so as to entirely fall off the plane of acceptable storytelling, the audience not only gets whiplash from the ruined plotline but feels deceived and harassed by the destruction of a perfectly good story (for instance,  The Witcher  Season 2).

“We’d like to use you as much as possible”: Star Trek: Discovery Actor Was Sure Her Character Won’t Make it Past Two Episodes

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  finds a perfect balance between what can be done and what ought to be done and presents the fans with a show that allows creative liberty and experimental storytelling within the limits of the established mythology of the 58-year-old franchise.

Star Trek  Fans Discover the Reason Behind Showʼs Success

The audience has understandably felt the connection and the intensity of  Strange New Worlds  over that of  Discovery  and it is high time to reflect on what makes the former more deliberately successful as a show as compared to the latter. In a Television Critics Association panel held on February 2022, Strange New Worlds  creator Alex Kurtzman revealed [via Showbiz Cheat Sheet ]:

I think anyone who has ever traveled in the world of Star Trek knows they’re inheriting canon. That sort of fires in both directions. We absolutely keep track of it, we have writers on all the staff that keep track of it, we have a frequent showrunners’ meeting where the showrunners of all the shows get together in advance of the scripts they’re about to write as they’re starting to break seasons. And they all share ideas and information about what they’re doing so that we can stay ahead of any problems that may come up so we’re not stepping on each other’s toes.

“It didn’t do us any good”: Star Trek Legend Leonard Nimoy Never Forgave a Movie That “Nearly Derailed” the Franchise

Alex Kurtzman also contributed to the Star Trek  reboot by penning the scripts of the 2009 film starring Chris Pine and its 2013 sequel starring Benedict Cumberbatch in  Star Trek Into Darkness that served as a direct remake of  Wrath of Khan.  After Star Trek Beyond underperformed at the box office, a fourth film that has been in development hell since 2018 is still in the works at Paramount.

Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds are available for streaming on Paramount+

Screen Rant

Jonathan frakes teases his star trek: strange new worlds season 3 episode.

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Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 7 Crossover Ending Explained

Law & order: svu could fix its biggest casting mistake if mariska hargitay gets her wish, fire country season 2 ending: why bode didn't crash the wedding explained by max thieriot, star trek director celebrates season 3 episode wrap with bts videos.

• Jonathan Frakes teases his upcoming Strange New Worlds season 3 directorial effort: a Hollywood murder mystery.
• Frakes remains a beloved Star Trek director with numerous successful episodes under his belt.
• Frakes shot more scenes for his episode, which he thinks is a "winner."

Jonathan Frakes teases the episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 he directed. Along with playing Commander Will Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Captain Riker in Star Trek: Picard , Frakes is one of Star Trek 's most prolific and beloved directors. Jonathan's first directing gig for Strange New Worlds was season 2's crossover episode with Star Trek: Lower Decks, which was a smash hit with critics and audiences. Frakes is back behind the director's chair for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3.

In an upcoming exclusive interview with Screen Rant to discuss the episode of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 he directed, episode 9, "Lagrange Point," Jonathan Frakes was asked about his upcoming episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 . While careful not to get into trouble and reveal any spoilers, Frakes gives a tantalizing hint about his Strange New Worlds season 3 directorial effort. Check out his quote below:

As far as I can go is a part of it is a Hollywood murder mystery. And I'm also incredibly proud of the episode. I went back and shot a little more of it last week. I think it's going to be a winner.

Jonathan Frakes has directed 8 episodes of Star Trek: Discovery and 6 episodes of Star Trek: Picard along with 2 episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

Ensigns Boimler and Mariner from Star Trek: Lower Decks cross over into Strange New Worlds, but how do the get home, and do they harm the timeline?

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season Is Wrapping Filming

Strange new worlds will be back for season 4.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is nearly done filming, with production wrapping up on the tenth and final episode of the season, which is directed by Maja Vrvilo, who also directed Strange New Worlds season 2's finale. Strange New Worlds' cast is beginning to wrap up this tenure in Toronto and head home for hiatus. On her photography Instagram, @onejessavision, Jess Bush, who plays Nurse Christine Chapel, shared a photo of the entire cast of Strange New Worlds assembled on the USS Enterprise's bridge . Check it out below:

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds received an early season 4 renewal from Paramount+. Unlike Strange New Worlds seasons 1 and 2, which were filmed back-to-back, there will be a break for the cast and crew before they return to Toronto at an unspecified date for Strange New Worlds season 4. But with Strange New Worlds season 2 ending with a cliffhanger, and new episodes on the way directed by the likes of Chris Fisher, Dan Liu, Jordan Canning, Valerie Weiss, and Jonathan Frakes, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 can't premiere on Paramount+ soon enough.

Source: Screen Rant Plus, Instagram

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is streaming on Paramount+

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 - Everything We Know