Star Trek: Strange New Worlds explores the early years of the USS Enterprise. Starring some familiar faces, the first season of the show on Paramount will focus on Captain Pike, while also exploring new versions of Spock, Uhura, and Number One.
However, before its first season has even aired, the Star Trek: Discovery spin-off has been teasing Captain Kirk’s arrival. He’ll be played by The Vampire Diaries’ star Paul Wesley in the upcoming second season of the show.
Speaking about the introduction of his character, co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers has said the new version of Kirk will be "totally different" from previous portrayals. The producer, who helms the show with Akiva Goldsman, says they’re very aware people will have strong opinions about the character when he’s introduced.
"When people come to it, I’m sure they’ll have feelings about their own interpretations of the previous ones," Myers explained to TVLine. "We don’t want to deny those. We love all the Kirks that have existed."
However, he added: "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. 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."
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is already getting a rave response, with the Total Film verdict giving it four stars. According to Richard Edwards’ review, the series harks back to Gene Roddenberry’s original mission statement for the USS Enterprise as it introduces characters that feel both familiar and new. It does this in "style" in what we’ve called "an extremely promising start" for the series.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds airs on Paramount Plus in the US on May 5 but a UK airdate is TBC. Ahead of its release, check out our Star Trek timeline for how to watch the shows and films in order.
