We’re getting closer and closer to the premier of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the continuing adventures of Captain Christopher Pike,
played by Anson Mount!
But what about the adventures of the USS Enterprise?
Star Trek lore is clear that Pike eventually hands over command of the famous starship to the equally famous and legendary Starfleet Captain,
James T. Kirk,
and now it seems we’ll be meeting the young Captain in the upcoming series.
But how does this fit into the storyline and does it mean that we’ll be losing Anson Mount’s Pike
sooner than we thought we would be?
Let’s explore more!
Welcome to Trek Central! I’m your host, _Captain Jack_, and let’s get into it!
Yesterday, thanks to TikTok and members of the public, we saw that actor Paul Wesley was on the set of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2!
He was seen alongside actress Christina Chong, who we know is playing La’an Noonien-Singh!
Given the Captain’s outfit of Wesley’s character, many jumped to presume this would be a random Starfleet Captain,
or perhaps Matthew Decker, yes the one who becomes Commodore Decker!
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Thanks to Paramount confirming the casting, we know that Paul Wesley is playing the iconic role of Captain James T. Kirk
in the SECOND Season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
We did learn recently that yes, the show was renewed for a second season in January 2022.
Season 2 is also in active production right now, which is confirmed given we’ve seen actors and actresses on set, such as Wesley himself.
Alex Kurtzman commented on Paul Wesley’s casting by saying “Paul is an accomplished actor,
an astonishing presence and a welcome key addition to the show”
Notice the use of key, it might tell us that Captain Kirk isn’t going to be just a cameo on Strange New Worlds and in fact might be sticking around for a little bit longer?
But what about Captain Pike?
Before we explore that, we did also get comments from Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers,
both Executive Producers of the upcoming series.
Their joint statement says the following,
“Like all of us, he is a life-long Star Trek fan and we are excited by his interpretation of the iconic role”, talking about Wesley’s casting.
Now, we do know that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will follow the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike played by Anson Mount.
It follows the USS Enterprise and Pike’s crew before James T. Kirk rises to the Captain’s chair!
So, how does Kirk appearing in the show affect the storyline now?
Well we know that Strange New Worlds takes place sometime before The Original Series,
with the best understanding of when it takes place being at least 4 months after the events of Star Trek Discovery Season 2,
when the Enterprise has been repaired and heads off to continue its exploration.
And considering the announcement is just being made, we will not see Kirk in the first season of the show,
but if the first season of Strange New Worlds takes place in 2258 or 2259,
we still have almost 7 years, or 7 seasons going by conventional trek season to year ratios, before Kirk takes command of the USS Enterprise.
So might we get a time jump? Or might Kirk merely be a recurring character helping out the USS Enterprise before he eventually takes command?
Let’s take a look at what we know about Kirk in the years before he takes command, to see where the story may go?
Well to be honest, we do not know a lot about what happens to Kirk in the years before he becomes captain of the Enterprise.
The main thing we know that happened to Kirk during the years before he took captaincy of the Enterprise in 2265, is that of the Farragut incident.
. In 2257, which would either be during or after the Federation-Klingon War seen in Star Trek Discovery Season 1, the USS Farragut, which Kirk was serving onboard, in some position operating the phasers of the ship.
The USS Farragut was attacked by a Dikironium cloud monster, which killed over 200 members of the crew,
and Kirk blamed himself for a delay in firing the phasers. He was a lieutenant at the time
Funnily enough, this incident was actually recently covered in the Discovery Tie-in novel “Die Standing” by John Jackson Miller, which I highly recommend reading for an interest.
Anyway if Season 2 of Strange New Worlds is in the year 2259 or 2260, it is only 2 or 3 years from Kirk being a Lieutenant to a Captain,
as Kirk is seen wearing Captain rank stripes on his collars in the promo picture we see of him.
This isn’t the hardest thing to achieve, especially in extraneous circumstances, as we have seen characters like Kirk become captain really fast in the Kelvin Timeline,
and Picard as well going from Second in Command to Captain after the Stargazer incident.
But if Kirk is of Captain rank here, that doesn’t mean he will take command of the Enterprise, since he only takes command of the Enterprise in 2265.
The Idea of Kirk having captained previous starships before the Enterprise is not unheard of, as the Making of Star Trek and some more ancillary beta material has gone into this,
with him taking command of the USS Lydia Sutherland in the year 2263.
This idea could be brought forward a few years, and we could see Kirk on some missions alongside the USS Enterprise.
erhaps appearing as a cameo character in the second season and beyond?
Recently there were some leaked set photos of Paul Wesley acting alongside Christina Chong’s La’an Noonien Singh.
Obviously Kirk can’t find out about La’an’s ancestry, due to not knowing who Khan was, but it seems like Kirk does what Kirk does,
and try to romance her in the episode where they are together.
because of course he does!
Also in these set photos, the badge which is usually a delta, does not look particularly delta-shaped on our new Kirk.
This could be that Strange New Worlds will incorporate the mission patch system seen in The Original Series,
where each ship and starbase have different symbols for their badges to distinguish them from one another.
I guess in-universe, this will be seen as Starfleet trying something new for a decade, before returning to the whole starfleet simply using the Starfleet Delta.
This does help further the idea that Kirk will be seen aboard a different ship for Season 2 of Strange New Worlds,
however his promotional picture does show him also with the delta badge, but maybe this is just for promotional purposes.
Also in this promotional poster, where we see Kirk doing a very good Kirk lean in his captain's chair,
this bridge looks slightly different in colour scheme to the USS Enterprise Strange New World bridge.
you know i really wanted to do a "kirk lean" while stood up here...
but, we don't have a chair...
One interesting theory, which we would love to know your opinions on, is that Kirk is formerly in command of the USS Stargazer.
No, not the USS Stargazer that Picard captained… and no not the USS Stargazer which Rios captains in the latest season of Star Trek: Picard, but the first USS Stargazer.
For viewers not extremely eagle eyed, and we can’t blame you because it is really impossible to see.
In the conference room of Rios’s Sagan Class USS Stargazer, NCC-82893, there are 3 ship models on display.
One is the Sagan Class USS Stargazer, one is the Constellation Class USS Stargazer, and one is the Radiant Class USS Stargazer.
The Radiant Class USS Stargazer was created by ship model builder Bill Krause, who was hired by the production team of Star Trek Picard to design a TOS era USS Stargazer,
to add to the legacy of the ship.
Now what if it wasn't just to add to the legacy, but to have a new ship ready to go for Strange New Worlds.
This wouldn’t be the hardest thing to communicate between the two shows,
as not only do the showrunners of the new shows have monthly meetings to discuss what they are doing,
but the co-showrunner of Strange New Worlds is also one of the Co-Showrunners of Star Trek: Picard, and that person being Akiva Goldsman.
This would be a great way to not only include a really cool ship in Strange New Worlds, but also add some nice connectivity between the shows in very interesting ways.
So far, online fan-reactions to Captain Kirk appearing in Strange New Worlds are mixed to say the least.
Many fans are saying that we should be seeing Kirk as a Lieutenant, or even a cadet and not this far along in his command timeline.
Perhaps this will be a future or some sort of time-jump like we’e mentioned before, but it remains to be seen.
Some Trekkies online have commented that the appearance of Kirk in the series is undermining Anson Mount’s Captain Pike and taking the spotlight away from him.
You’d be hard pressed to disagree in some instances, given fans championed a series all about Christopher Pike and here we now have Kirk popping up.
Currently we have no further details about Kirk’s involvement in the series. All we’’ve got is the main image showing Kirk in the Captain’s seat of a starship,
perhaps not the USS Enterprise, but he does have the Captain’s rank insignia.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ first season is set to begin on Paramount+ on May 5.
We’re all looking forward to catching up with Captain Christopher Pike once again and seeing where the USS Enterprise goes on It’s adventures!
If you want to keep up to date on all the latest Star Trek news, lore and more, then make sure to hit that subscribe button to never miss a video from the team here at Trek Central!
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For now, I’ve been _Captain Jack_, thanks for watching and we’ll see you next time! Live Long and prosper my friends!