Showrunner Promises A “Totally Different Kirk” For ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’

The first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds arrives on Thursday, but production on the second season is well underway in Toronto. And in March Paramount+ surprised fans by announcing The Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley is taking on the iconic role of James T. Kirk for season two. They even released an image. At the time of that announcement, Paramount confirmed that Strange New Worlds lead Anson Mount will continue to star as Captain Pike, so fans have been wondering what exactly is going on with Kirk showing up on the show. Now one of the showrunners is offering some clues.

How Kirk became Kirk

The first season of Strange New Worlds is set six years before James T. Kirk takes command of the USS Enterprise, so his presence on the show was not expected, or at least not as soon as season two. Speaking to TV Line, co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers offered some insight, saying:

This is a science fiction show, so there are many ways in which a character can enter a story and exit a story. 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.

Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk in Strange New Worlds

The executive producer went on to explain why they brought Kirk into season two:

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.

Speaking to CinemaBlend Myers offered a bit more clarity on where we are meeting this Kirk in Strange New Worlds:

Kirk, in this time period, is younger than the Kirk that we get to know. It’s a little closer to the Kelvin universe movies in terms of [his] age range. He’s going through a different thing. He’s an officer on the Farragut, you know? There’s a lot of stuff to play that hasn’t been played before and that’s what we’re interested in.

It will be a while until we see Wesley’s Kirk as the second season is still in production and there is no announced release date.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuts on Thursday, May 5 exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., Latin America, Australia and the Nordics. The series will air on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on Crave in Canada. In New Zealand, it will be available on TVNZ, and in India on Voot SelectStrange New Worlds will arrive via Paramount+ in select countries in Europe when the service launches later this year, starting with the UK and Ireland in June.


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SMH. The character should be KIRK. Not a deconstructed Kirk, not a rebooted Kirk, not Kirk-in-name-only. If you want to create a new character, have at it.

NEW COKE is never a good idea Hollywood.

Did you read the full article or just the headline? They meant a totally different Kirk versus the Kelvin version.

Wrong. They said just the opposite of that:

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.

So… did YOU read the full article or just the headline?

No way.

“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.”

While I will give you that he spoke poorly here to make it sound slightly confusing, he obviously is contrasting the Kirk in the Kelvin universe to this young Prime Kirk. Otherwise, why even reference the Kelvin Kirk?

I interpreted this as Kirk with an emphasis on “in this time period”. Which, is true, only the Kelvin films started to explore. Early, green, but blossoming-talent Kirk.

…and that this young version of Kirk would be totally different from the young Kelvin Kirk we saw in Trek 2009. Yes, exactly!

Took it to mean: We’ll see earlier Kirk (different from who he has grown to be in TOS), and while Kelvin universe movies showed earlier Kirk too, they’ve only touched upon it, while SNW will explore more of it.

Yeah.. my first thought was ‘oh, cool.. an alternate timeline. I’m down for that. I would’ve stayed away from JTK, but whatever’. Nope.. they’re saying he’s younger Kirk. I don’t know. I thought someone figured out he’s wearing Captain rank? If that’s true, and he’s this timeline’s Kirk… WTF is going on? lol.

They literally say in the article that he’s serving on the Farragut in SNW season 2.

Well Kelvin CADET Kirk never served on the Farragut so this Kirt is already different from Kelvin. I do believe that was the intent of the line

Yes. I can read.

Dude, I was thinking that maybe you just read the headline, that’s all. My apologies if I unintentionally offended you.

It is Kirk before the Kirk of TOS. From what I understand, it is not a reboot Kirk or a deconstructed Kirk or Kirk in name only. It’s not New Coke. It is Coke before it became the Coke you know and love.

so…if its Kelvin esque Kirk that pretty much means womanizer Kirk. Since that was really the only character beat they could find for him in the first two movies.

Yay.

It’s NOT Kelvin esque Kirk. It’s TOS Kirk before he becomes TOS Kirk.

I think this is the bookworm Kirk isn’t it? Or maybe a little later from that?

Depends on if they ‘Body English’ that canon / ignore it completely or not.

I hope it’s bookworm Kirk. But audiences and TPB over the last 50 years forget that this is who Kirk really was and not a Womanizer.

Exactly. It’s not the young Kelvin Kirk. That’s what’s Myers was obviously trying to convey.

Star Wars did it right with Luke in The Book of Boba Fett they could have done the same with Kirk in these series.

But does Paramount really have Disney kind of money to spend? Five seconds of a de-aged John de Lancie is probably all they can afford. ;-)

That don’t have that kind of money and they don’t have a Jon Favreau or Dave Filoni.

That was a snooze-fest.

Well said. It illustrates the point exactly. Luke was Luke. Not re-invented Luke.

Yes, but Disney writers can actually tell a good coherent story.

Can we still say that after The Last Jedi?

Yes and No about Luke in The Book of Boba Fett.

  1. The De-Aged Luke is serviceable, but the technology is barely here and Luke in Mando hit that uncanny valley effect, and most of his shots were either wide-angle shots that weren’t detailed, or they were chest-down shots that excluded his face. The Book of Boba Fett scenes were okay, but were very flat sounding and only looked truly believable when he wasn’t talking.
  2. Regarding his appearance at all in the story: Luke was shoehorned into Boba Fett because they “had” to explain what Mando/Grogu had been up to. The Book of Boba wasn’t a great show, but having to share the screen with the stars of another show diminished what they could have done with the show and character. It really made Book of Boba more like “Mando 2.5”, like a show where the main actor/actress is sick in real life but they keep producing episodes while their on-screen absence is explained away in some way until their return.

As big a Shatner booster as I am, there’s a big difference between mocapping a shot or two of a guy in his seventies and doing a full episode of mocap with anongenerian.

In addition to being able to read, I can also analyze current trends in Hollywood, having worked in the business for most of my professional career.

If you like the NEW COKE, keep drinking it.

So, you want characters that are completely static and aren’t allowed to grow over time?
Experiences shape people into who they become.
This is a younger Kirk. He hasn’t yet become who he will be on TOS.
The me of 20 years ago is very different from today’s me. (20 years ago me would have ignored all this toxicity from supposed “fans”.)

I expect this version will be a less warm take on the character- Younger Kirk has been through many iterations throughout film, books, comics, etc. The one that I think is most compelling is the one who Gary Mitchell alluded to (“a stack of books with legs.”). Christopher Bennett’s book “The Captain’s Oath” did a great job with that concept, showing Kirk commanding a smaller vessel prior to taking over the Enterprise from Pike. We even get to see why Pike hand-picked Kirk to succeed him, and there’s also some tepid respect between Kirk and Spock on display. For SNW, I think they’ll show the sometimes rocky road to making lifelong friendships- so for Kirk, he’ll probably impress and annoy the Enterprise family at the same time. That’ll be a fun story to watch unfold.

Don’t post often and I’m not usually a nit-picker, but this has been one of my pet peeves since the press kicked off for Star Trek 2009.

I really HOPE what you’re describing is the way they go. There were so many references in TOS to how Kirk was studious, by the book, a reliable officer. Yes, he was also known for out-of-the-box creative problem solving, but much of the reputation of “Kirk the cowboy” is not really grounded in his on screen description or actions. It wasn’t until TWOK that we really start to hear lines like “Jim Kirk was many things, but a Boy Scout was not one of them.”

The Jim Kirk we saw for three seasons on TOS most assuredly WAS the Boy Scout type, in every way but the 1960’s love interest of the week trope which was used by many shows to draw viewers. Even TOS mixed that up by having Spock involved in his fare share of relationships and throwing McCoy, Scotty, and even that space-hippy lovin’ Chekhov a bone. TOS Kirk barks orders at times, talks about the chain of command, has a little bit of stress temper (that he always apologizes for a few lines down the road) and has a hard time unwinding.

I let the Kelvin Universe Kirk slide on this since that version of the character experienced a drastically different childhood. My fear though is that the current show runners will let reputation shape interpretation as opposed to following the actual template from TOS.

I want to see a Kirk that is cocky but also strict. A Kirk that has a hard time making friends because he’s always right (and actually usually is) and getting the job done is more important than making friends. I want to see a focused, driven kid at the start of his career before he’s learned to let down and joke a little, before he’s learned to rely on his brain-trust, before he’s learned even to trust his own gut instincts so he’s vacillating between rule following and gut instinct as he works out the balance between the two.

I’m afraid, however, we will end up with the horndog space cowboy because “he’s young!” (as an aside, I think a very large number of effective leaders actually mellow as they age, experience breeding casual confidence).

Please prove me wrong in these fears, Henry Alonso Meyers! ;)

YES. This is something Vic Magogna got absolutely right in STAR TREK CONTINUES. His Kirk was shown reading “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.” Imagine Pine’s Kirk doing that.

Very well put! I agree with your post.

I too hope the show writers have not interpreted Kirk to be the caricature they developed in the nu-Trek movies or take their lessons from the earlier movies (as they seem to have done with their rendition of Picard). The idea of Kirk as a rebellious horndog doesn’t really come across as strong even in the movies–that’s far more the Zapp Branigan depiction you find in Futurama. In the shows, Kirk might not be as restrained or as uncomfortable as Picard, but the man did become captain of Starfleet’s flagship and was pretty well decorated–he wasn’t exactly a rebel. I’d love to see the character development you mapped out and I actually think in the right hands it could be quite satisfying to see a younger Kirk of the TOS mold. But I’m not holding my breath. I’m not trying to be a downer, but I’ve not been impressed by the character writing in any of the new Star Trek shows.

Agreed! The Kobayashi Maru scene really illustrates the nu-Trek departure of the character. It’s what your mind -thinks- Kirk would do, but is actually really against character.

My minds eye always imagined that Kirk’s reprogramming wasn’t played as a joke – he “rewrote” the simulator, explained his belief of the no-win scenario that we get in Wrath of Khan, and was then commended for that original thinking, even if it was technically “cheating.” I like to imagine it was more like finding an exploit to beat the test – like people able to beat a classic Mario game by using an exploit.

We need a “bookworm” Kirk with a dash of panache, not Zapp Branigan. We’re going to get more Zapp, I’m convinced of it.

Yes, yes, exactly! TOS Kirk is so very different from his reputation; he’s a dyed-in-the-wool Starfleet officer.

Exactly this my friend

I maybe misinterpreting what you are saying but IOS Kirk broke Star Fleet rules, regulations and even the Prime Directive on many occasions. He always managed to come out on top but I just do not think you can call him a dyed-in-the wool Starfleet officer.

Exactly this

No, no, no…

People running Trek (live-action) HAVE NO PATIENCE (well, except for the middle-few episodes of Picard this season. ;-p ). Everything seems to be >>>>KITCHEN SINK<<<< >>>>NOW<<<<.

“…there are other people who we also want to tell that story for…” Good, fine, do it IN A FEW SEASONS. Let Pike have his show, and his time.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO IT >>>>RIGHT<<<<>>>>NOW<<<<.

:-|

Agree 1000%

It’s just a hunch, but I think Anson Mount was a bit of a holdout or the last to sign up for SNW. S2 of DSC was supposed it, for Pike. Back to the Enterprise and gone. NOBODY foresaw the response the fans had for Pike and Company. Anson is on record, saying that being on a soundstage for 12-14 hours a day didn’t excite him. Hell On Wheels was shot mainly outside, in Western Canada. I think Anson asked for and GOT his request for outdoor shooting. Logistically, it’s difficult and expensive. Anson may have just signed a one year contract, not expecting a season 2, or a quick exit, should he have decided to call it quits.

Getting an actor to play Kirk may have been Par+ covering their behind should have AM decided to call it quits after S1 of SNW. He’s back for S2 and is looking like he’s having a good time, so I think we will get a 5 year mission or 50 episodes.
He’s also a new father and very family and friend oriented. Listen to his podcast, the excellent Well Pod, to gain insight on Anson as an individual.
I’ve been fortunate to meet both Anson and Ethan at several conventions before the Covid hit. Both were generous with their time and friendly. Ethan, when he’s speaking with you, makes you feel like you’re the only guy in the room. My significant other helps with the big events at the set tour in Ticonderoga, NY. I’ve got to spend time with them both, as I drove them around, or was their gopher or whatever they needed.
There also is nothing from preventing Par+ to using those Enterprise sets for a Kirk show, in between seasons of SNW, on another ship, leading up to him taking over from Pike.

You don’t think they forsaw the response to Pike? Seriously? What do you think the last 10 minutes of Discovery Season 2 was about? That was the biggest pilot within a show ever. If anything, what I came away from that with was wondering whether there would be a season 3 of Discovery at all, or just go straight to Pike’s ship. Burnam and Discovery rode into the sunset/wormhole, and then SNW prologue was an entire act in that story.

I do think that he held out a bit, but it was just for negotiating salary, and some terms. He was clear that he wasn’t interested in serialized stories, that he wanted more TOS style… and that he didn’t want 14-15 episodes at a time, that whatever they worked out on schedules needed to fit his lifestyle — which I think is probably important to Rebecca Romeijn too.

I do think Disco S2 was testing the water for a Pike show. And most trek shows first season are shoddy. And we’ve almost had it already. So SNW ALMOST will be launching in its second season. I’m predicting now that SNW S1 will be the best first season of any trek show ever. And if they get it right – could be this eras TNG.

Well best since TOS anyways.

Thx

(Season 2.)

If this was TNG (what about 26 episodes?) then yes, but what are we going to get 10? That is NOT ENOUGH (Yes, I know I could Google this, just don’t feel like it…).

Give the series some time to stand on its own. The sets are not going to evaporate, the world is not going anywhere. Have some PATIENCE.

Got Punctuation?

Yes, lots actually. :-p

So true! Star Trek has lasted more than fifty years already, so there’s plenty of time to tell stories! Tell us PIKE’S story this year and for the next four or five. Young Kirk will wait; he’s not going anywhere. :-)

Who even is Kirk? TOS Kirk, movie Kirk, Kelvin Kirk, and the general public’s version of Kirk all exist. All different, and that’s not even touching the beta canon and fanworks. Even if they do follow the TOS canon, this should again be a different Kirk, somewhere between academy “stack of books with legs” Kirk and “James R Kirk” Kirk.

That’s not to say that characters can’t grow and evolve, but Kirk suffers from inconsistent writing to the point that it feels like there are multiple characters who just happen to have the same name. Even movie Kirk and TOS Kirk feel completely different in some places.

I do love TOS Kirk and the other versions to different degrees but this feels like unnecessary nostalgia bait. Can we please have some new characters?

It’s likely Kirk commanding a ship before the Enterprise.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Kirk in an earlier command.
It’s never been done before.

This is the best scenario for Kirk of the Prime Universe.

It is interesting that the younger Kirk is being played by an actor several years older than William Shatner was in the original.

He may be 3-4 years older than Shatner was, but he certainly doesn’t look older. He does look like he could be 30 year old Kirk, or perhaps a little younger.

But I sure don’t think he will look as good as Shatner does at 91.

Who knows what plastic surgery will be like by that time?

Shatner’s work tightened his face up so much he practically had that Asiatic/BurtReynolds look for awhile in the late 90s. I’m pretty sure that he must have started messing with his looks in the mid 70s, because I couldn’t even watch his COLUMBO episode, it was like he was a bad Halloween mask or something (funny, since he then was one.)

I will say Shatner’s taste in toups got a lot better over the years, the curly Brady Hair he had from the early 70s through about TFF was insanely distracting, but the aging/graying Lee Majors look starting with TUC was a distinct improvement, and I sometimes don’t even notice the hair on BOSTON LEGAL.

Oh, man, no. Until this moment, I’ve had high hopes for the show… but if they’re making Kirk like the Kelvin version, it means they’ve completely misunderstood the character. TOS made it clear that Kirk had always been a by-the-book guy, going all the way back to the Academy. The ONLY reason Kirk is the way he is in the Kelvin movies is that his father wasn’t around. If he’s like Pine-Kirk, then that will be a major mistake.

It’s a little closer to the Kelvin universe movies in terms of [his] age range. He’s going through a different thing.”

Exactly. He’s not like the Kelvin young Kirk. That’s what Myers was imperfectly trying to say, but some fans read print like lawyers would and do factor in context and use of language.

Looks like Captain’s stripes on his wrists.

This is my concern. I like that he says that Kirk is on the Farragut, that fits into established canon. But he should be a LT or LCDR at this point, he should not be a CDR or a CAPT.

And I hope he only interacts with other members of the Enterprise crew, not Pike. He said in Menagerie that he had only met Pike once, when he took over command.

Maybe this picture is from a dream Kirk is having, or he’s on something like the Shore Leave planet, and they’re showing him what he most desires. It’s science fiction; there are LOTS of possibilities!

Henry Alonso Meyers said that this is a different Jim Kirk than the one we know and that’s because we’re gonna be seeing a Jim Kirk that is coming fresh off the loss of his crew on the Farragut. If he got transferred to the Enterprise after losing the Farragut, he would probably be a very closed off person, a person who was hard to get to know because he has all this trauma with him and Spock will be the one to help him sort through his trauma and help him to put it behind him so that he can become the Captain that we know. I speculated about this when it was announced two years ago now almost that they wanted to make Captain Kirk bi-sexual for Strange New Worlds and I theorized that the main reason for that change is because Spock is gonna mind meld with him on numerous occasions and that is a very intimate experience and they can’t write it off as not being intimate because both of their minds and their souls will be open to each other and that will be the beginning of the bond that they shared together on TOS, with Dr.McCoy, of course. And this is the theory I’m sticking with for what kind of James T. Kirk we’ll be getting in SNW.

We’re getting a broken Captain Kirk in the beginning of season 2 but by the end, he’ll be moving forward and putting the trauma of the Farragut behind him and then he’ll transfer off of the Enterprise. That would be a good story for Captain Kirk and one that hasn’t been done with him before. Live long and prosper, Trekmovie 🖖.

Well that was not encouraging. I’m so weary of hearing about “different takes”

It’s so bizarre that they would feel the need to both bring Kirk in AND have him be a different take on the character. These people are high on their own farts.

I’m unfamiliar with this actor, nor have I seen the Vampire Diaries. My understanding is the show had 8 seasons and 171 episodes (Thanks Alexa) Wesley did get Shatner’s blessing. We may just see Kirk in an ep or two that foreshadows what’s to come. My nitpicky beef with this actor is he needs to be more athletic looking. Shatner thru season 1 and 2 was a muscular guy (minus his variable waistline). Anson Mount is older than Smith and he’s maintained his athletic physique, as has Ethan Peck. If Smith IS the new Kirk? If he’s talented, I’ll get behind him. Can we just bulk him up a little? I’m not talking Superman or Wolverine bulk, just get him in the gym.

If he’s like me the gym might not mean “bulk” it may just mean “strength”.

Unless I eat like 6,000 calories a day for months and who has time for that?

Someone needs to see shirtless Pics of Paul Wesley!

A lot of people seem confused by the comparison to Kelvin Kirk but the thing is Kelvin Kirk is the only version across all TV and movies where we saw substantial amounts of his time between the Academy and becoming Captain. We never saw prime Kirk cheat at the Kobayashi Maru or serve aboard the Farragut or hang out with Gary Mitchell or Lieutenant Finney. These are all things that an already grown up seasoned Captain Kirk would mention in TOS, stuff he referred to in his past that we never saw on screen. SNW is just taking the opportunity to flesh out some of those throwaway lines from TOS.

A substantial amount of time between the academy and being captain? Kelvin Kirk went from the academy to captain of the flagship of Starfleet in about a day or two.

This is one of the most ridiculous things about the Kelvin movies. Kirk didn’t rise through the ranks or anything, he went from being a suspended academy cadet to CAPTAIN in a day. JJ Abrams sure likes to cut corners with his leads. In Star Wars, Rey goes from not knowing anything about the force to being able to use it proficiently in a day.

Wouldn’t it be wild if they had said the exact opposite?
“We have no original take on the character whatsoever. Our goal is to exactly repeat what has been done before, to diminished returns.”

OF COURSE they have a new take! They have to TRY to do something unique and memorable, or there’s no point in making a dang show.

We’ve never met Kirk at this age, and if they’re going to include him, they need to justify it with something original. I’m hoping that it’s a good story on its own terms, and that it fits with the canon references to his more uptight youth. We’ll see whether it works or not, but the pearl-clutching over this innocuous quote is real silly.

Unique and memorable would be creating a new character. And stay away from my pearls.

Well said.

As was said before, I have a bad feeling about this.

The new actor has to explore a new way at looking at the character to be able to make the role his own. Otherwise you are doing a Shatner impersonation. Its no different than an actor getting the role of Sherlock Holmes and having to recreate it and not copy what other actors have done. But they could really screw it up i mean its been done with Star Wars and Han Solo recasting. Pine as Kirk was sort of okay, he is a great actor outside of Star Trek. I always felt he was playing Kirk as Indiana Jones or Han Solo though.

He’s on record that he based his 2009 performance on Harrison Ford

Sometimes, a reboot is just a reboot.

If I want a reboot, I’ll go to a cobbler.

Or hit off on my computer, then hit on.

Sometimes I’ve wished for the ability to control-alt-delete a whole set of memories, sort of like what is shown in ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. That thought also makes me wonder if Spock’s ability to make Kirk ‘forget’ at the end of REQUIEM FOR METHUSELAH was a lasting gift (Marcy Lafferty’s fave episode as of the late 70s, though I’m thinking she may later have wanted to choose to ‘forget’ that whole marriage to Shat.)

But then I remember that one of the things I like so much about TFF is the ‘I need my pain’ stuff (even though I would have liked to have seen alternate takes of Kirk’s line readings, to see if he had a more exhausted/subdued one, as I find quiet Shatner (‘go to your quarters or I’ll pick you up and carry you there’) often more effective and commanding than bombastic Shatner. For every bit of ‘risk is our business’ boldness, I think Kirk has to be balanced by something like the calm Kirk talking with the defeated RomComm at the end of BoT.

I guess at this point I should just do a Sisko and delete this post/log entry, but I put seven minutes into it, so I’ll let it stand.

LOL, well said!

If only they had the guts to actually reboot Trek. Might end up with something interesting, instead of this weird gaslighty-denial-fever-dream stuff we’re getting.

JMS wanted to remake/reboot TOS. Instead he is remaking Babylon 5. I see his remake of Forbidden Planet never went anywhere.

There is big danger here of the writers/producers taking the Kirk character into parody area if they are not careful. I hope they don’t automatically assume the stereotypical depiction of Kirk as the womanizer leader. This is absolutely wrong, and a big misrepresentation of the real Kirk character. The real Kirk character was serious, charismatic, decisive and knew exactly what to do at all times. The “womanizer” trope I think came out of the mainstream to belittle the character itself without any true analysis of the character. I think at this point Kirk was a bit more “booksmart” as Gary Mitchell called him. Talking about it, maybe they can also include Gary Mitchell as a character in the show down the road as well.

A totally different Kirk is not a promise, it’s a threat!”

Obviously if they are brining Kirk back it is because they have a totally new story to tell about this legendary character who is now totally different and not because of any marketing pressure. As Kurtzman says, it’s all about “WHY.” WHY are we here and WHY are we doing this? Why.

To me Shatner will always be Kirk, but willing to give this version a chance if they do him well.

To me I worry that they will focus on the pop culture view of Kirk, the tropes of TOS rather than actually know TOS.

Into Darkness had him outright lie about the mission and expected Spock to go with it, this was not Kirk, yet Pine was more like Kirk in Beyond especially in his moments with Chekov.

Pop Culture always views him as a rule breaker and wanting to bed every woman. They forget that this is a man who suffers for his crew, who agonises over the decisions. Like when he laments about wishing he was a captain of a cruise ship in ‘Balance of Terror’ when making the next move that could be costly if he gambled wrong. Counsel from McCoy helped him.

These are the kind of moments the mainstream overlooks when they look at Kirk.

Agreed. Every word.

Why do they even need to bother with Kirk?

The series is about Pike and his time on The Enterprise.

You want to put Kirk in it? Have him be in the final minute of the series as Pike hands the keys over to Kirk.

Exactly. That would be ideal.

Agreed if their goal was to “tell a story of this Kirk” then they should produce a USS Republic or USS Farragut show.

I personally think this severely diminishes the era of Pike’s Enterprise by shoehorning in TOS characters. I thought the same when Uhura was added to the cast. It makes the Trek Universe seem so small whenever the writers try to make everything interconnected. Uhura only had (realistically) 2 postings in her entire career? Really?

It’s obviously too late, but if I could go back to when they were first developing the show, my first and only rule they would have to stick by would be:

  • “This is Pike’s Enterprise. No TOS main or recurring characters should appear in the show, no exceptions. This includes no ‘passing of the torch’ finale. If they end the show, it ends with the Enterprise flying off like TUC or in space dock like at the end of Nemesis.”

This is really one character I wish they would have left alone. Shatner’s Kirk was literally “the” male role model for me as an only child whose Dad left when I was young. I hold the character in extremely high-esteem.

I have very little faith in these showrunners to say the least, given what shows we’re had so far, so I have a lot of trepidation as to what they’re going to do with Kirk. I really wish they had the stones to create new characters and not mess with the classics. But not surprised.

Thank God Obi-Wan starts this month, from a studio in capable hands. It’ll be a nice break from the rollercoaster all this Trek news has me on lately. Cheers.

OK… But isn’t this show about Pike? If they wanted to do a Kirk show then do a Kirk show. Good grief…

Who the f@ck wants a “totally different Kirk”? If he’s TOTALLY different, he’d cease BEING Kirk, if you know what I mean. Peck’s doing a pretty dead on Spock, I think. A little different, but it still fits with the character-to-be.

At what point does the desire to make fresh and new cut away and replace so much that it loses what we loved about it in the first place?

I’ve been actively supportive of the Paramount Plus initiative. I’m loving it to bits, but that is a worrying statement.

Oh lord. This is a potential disaster. I really don’t want to give up on modern live action trek but with lacklustre seasons of DIS and PIC I’m honestly losing interest and I don’t have exactly high hopes for SNW. Love Lower Decks and Prodigy though.

And this “younger” Kirk is played by a 40 year old actor. 5 years older than Shatner was in season 1 of TOS.

It’s not Kirk unless there is one scene of him hanging onto the hood of a speeding car driven by a criminal.