Paramount+ has announced thatPaul Wesley will be playing the role of Captain James Tiberius Kirkon the upcoming first season ofStar Trek: Strange New Worlds. The actor will be joining the cast of theStar Trek: Discoveryspinoff when the series arrives for streaming beginning on May 5th, 2022. But the new actor to play the role of Kirk has already been christened for his first voyage by the actor who originated the role back in 1966, with William Shatner sending a Tweet instructing Wesley to “Keep my ship and crew safe” before congratulating him.
Wesley is not the first actor to play the role of Captain Kirk besides Shatner. In the J.J. Abrams-directed Kelvin movies, the first of which was released in 2009, Kirk was played by Chris Pine. Speaking of Pine’s interpretation of the character, the actor will be reprising the role in the forthcoming fourth Kelvin movie, the details of which remain under wraps.
Meanwhile,Strange New Worldswill see Wesley’s Kirk appearing alongside the current captain of theEnterprise, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). First introduced in the second season ofDiscovery, Kirk will join Pike with returning Starfleet officers Mr. Spock (Ethan Peck) and Number One (Rebecca Romijn).
In addition, the bridge crew will be rounded out by La’an Noonien-Singh (Christian Chong), Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), and Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun). While some of these characters previously appeared onStar Trek: The Original Series, others are being newly introduced for this series.
Captain Pike and Captain Kirk Have an Established Relationship
Pike’s relationship with Kirk has long been established inTrekcanon. The character first appeared in the originalTrekpilot, “The Cage,” where Jeffrey Hunter played him. However, the pilot was sent back to be majorly retooled beforeTrekwas picked up, with Hunter’s Pike being replaced by Shatner’s Kirk as Captain, and Number One (Majel Barrett) removed from the bridge crew (Barrett instead portrayed Nurse Chapel onTOS, as well as providing the voice of the ship’s computer across multipleTrekshows – not to mention a bunch of other roles, including Lwaxana Troi onStar Trek: The Next GenerationandStar Trek: Deep Space Nine).
In the two-partTOSseason one episode “The Menagerie,” Pike’s fate is revealed. Reusing footage from “The Cage,” it is revealed that Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain but was subsequently injured while rescuing some cadets and paralyzed. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), who served with Pike for over 11 years, makes secret arrangements to help Pike return to Talos IV, where he will be able to spend the rest of his life “unfettered by his natural body.”
Strange New Worldswill follow theEnterpriseduring some of those 11 years. While it is not yet clear which episode ofStrange New Worldswill feature the debut of Wesley as Kirk, the first episode will arrive for streaming on May 5th. How many episodes will viewers have to wait to see Wesley’s incarnation of Kirk in a torn uniform shirt? Hopefully, not many!
