Paul Wesley cast as Kirk for s2 of Strange New Worlds

[Morrus]

This is unexpected. They've just started producing season 2 (s1 launches in May).

STAR TREK: A New Captain Kirk Is Coming To STRANGE NEW WORLDS - Get A First Look

For many years, William Shatner was synonymous with James T. Kirk on the small screen, but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has now cast The Vampire Diaries actor Paul Wesley as the iconic Enterprise Captain.

comicbookmovie.com

I looked it up, and he's 39. Is that a little old to be starting as Kirk while Pike commands the Enterprise? Unless he's playing him a bit later in his career.

 

[Thourne]

Going on memory I think Kirk was supposed to be 33 or 34 when he got command.
At the end of the Enterprise and Pike's appearances in Discovery I believe they were only 1/2 way through his command of 15ish years.
That means Kirk would be around for about 8 more years before the ship would be his to command.
Seems odd to me as well.

 

[Thourne]

Tried to find a definitive age on when Kirk took command of the Enterprise but I found answers ranging from 32-34.
Anyway

 

[Morrus]

Unless s2 jumps the timeline forward. s1 is Pike, s2 is Kirk? Otherwise, Kirk should be in his 20s while Pike commands the Enterprise, not 40.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

1. No.

2. He's too old for this timelines, right?

3. Just no.

4. The biggest problem with prequels is the need to introduce fan service - "Oh, look, I recognize that!" Unfortunately, every time you do that you can create real problems- call this the "Spock's undeclared sister problem." I am not confident that they will use Kirk appropriately, and I am concerned that they are already announcing this ... it doesn't make me happy about the internal level of confidence in the show.

5. Really, just no.

6. I have no problem with bringing Kirk back- for example, I think Chris Pine did a great job channeling Kirk in the Kelvin timeline movies. And if they want to have another show, at some point ... after all, the Enterprise had a Five Year Mission, and we never got to see the rest of it ... that would be awesome. TOS first aired in 1966 .... more than 50 years ago. They're welcome to have a go at it.

7. C'mon. No.

8. I love Kirk. I am really, really looking forward to Strange New Worlds. I love Anson Mount, and loved what they already showed in Discovery, and the ending of the first trailer ... that sound ... I can't wait. But this is the first off-note that has me worried. I don't understand why they are announcing Kirk for the second season before the first has aired. I don't think SNW needs Kirk. I hope that it's just a quick cameo, and that it's not some convoluted "Kirk is actually Number One's half-brother through a secret Romulan plot" thing, and I am more confident in Paramount's handling of the franchises now than I was a few years ago ... but I am worried.

9. Obligatory- my reaction on hearing the news .... from ....

...to ....

 

[MarkB]

The reason they're announcing it now is that some bystanders posted images of the actor on-location and in costume in Toronto. Basically they've had to get out in front of the resulting speculation.

We still don't know when in Pike's tenure on the Enterprise the series is set. If they pick it up straight after his appearance in Star Trek Discovery, that'd leave about seven more years before Kirk took over, but they might be setting the show later than that - or even earlier.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

The reason they're announcing it now is that some bystanders posted images of the actor on-location and in costume in Toronto. Basically they've had to get out in front of the resulting speculation.

On the one hand, sure, that's a reason.

On the other hand, I mean ... not really? Let people speculate.

I don't think P.T. Barnum ever said, "I hate it when people talk endlessly about my stuff..."

We still don't know when in Pike's tenure on the Enterprise the series is set. If they pick it up straight after his appearance in Star Trek Discovery, that'd leave about seven more years before Kirk took over, but they might be setting the show later than that - or even earlier.

The fundamental issue I have is that they don't need to do this. The show should be strong enough on its own. Again, at this point they've build up enough trust that I'm hopeful that it's treated well ... but this is also the first, "Captain, we have detected a space-time disturbance," that SNW has provided me. Not red alert ... yet.

 

[ko6ux]

This seems ... unnecessary.

I really hope that this doesn't mean Anson Mount isn't sticking around as Pike. Maybe Kirk is captaining a different ship at this time and this is just a cameo? Which ... again ... would be totally unneeded.

If they really feel the need to flesh out every single second of the U.S.S. Enterprise's back story before TOS, I'd rather see a series with Robert April in command than I would young Kirk.

 

[Rabulias]

I am hoping this is either:
1) One episode of time travel into the future for Pike and his crew. If it's a good story.
2) A flash forward of some type. Remember, Pike has already seen something of his destiny. This may be more of it, perhaps even set during the "Menagerie" episodes?
3) A one-time framing sequence for a story, set during Kirk's first five-year mission. Spock says, "Jim, in light of our current situation, I must relate to you a similar event that Captain Pike encountered years ago. It was a dark and ion stormy night..."

 

[MarkB]

I am hoping this is either:
1) One episode of time travel into the future for Pike and his crew. If it's a good story.
2) A flash forward of some type. Remember, Pike has already seen something of his destiny. This may be more of it, perhaps even set during the "Menagerie" episodes?
3) A one-time framing sequence for a story, set during Kirk's first five-year mission. Spock says, "Jim, in light of our current situation, I must relate to you a similar event that Captain Pike encountered years ago. It was a dark and ion stormy night..."

It doesn't need to be an anything-forward. Captain Kirk could easily have been a captain already before he commanded the Enterprise, and this could just be him working with the Enterprise crew for awhile, much as Pike did with Discovery's crew.