New Character Posters Revealed For ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 2

It’s First Contact Day, and Paramount+ has begun the celebration with the release of new character posters for the upcoming second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Things are looking up for season 2 and the SNW crew

Last week, Paramount+ announced the 10-episode second season of Strange New Worlds will debut on June 15. Today’s release includes 8 new posters for the returning cast, with the only noteworthy change being Uhura, who is no longer wearing a cadet badge, indicating she has been promoted to ensign. Season 2 will also feature the return of guest star Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk and Carol Kane in a recurring role as Pelia, although neither got their own poster.

Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike

Rebecca Romijn as Una “Number One” Chin-Riley

Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock

Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel

Christina Chong as La’an Noonien-Singh

Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura

Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga

Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas

Season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will debut on Thursday, June 15 in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria (and in South Korea at a later date to be announced). The rest of the 10-episode season will roll out each following Thursday. Strange New Worlds airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada. It is also available on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Strange New Worlds has also been officially renewed for a 10-episode third season.

UPDATE: Dancing on the set

Celia Rose Gooding posted a fun video with a bit of behind-the-scenes dancing on the season 2 set.

No trailer… yet

Fans may have been hoping for a season 2 trailer, but it looks like we will still have to wait for the first teaser. On Star Trek Day last September Paramount+ did release a clip from season 2.

And even though she didn’t get a poster, Paramount+ previously released an image of Carol Kane as Pela.

Carol Kane joins as new engineer for season 2

Stay tuned to TrekMovie on First Contact Day for any more possible updates or announcements.


Keep up with news for the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.

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Number One seems to be sticking around, and congratulations to Cadet Uhura on her graduation from the Academy…

Glad to see Rebecca Romjin’s picture there! I hope that means that we WILL be getting Una Chin-Riley back.

She would have to be back at some point, as she does appear in The Cage, even if only briefly.

The Cage (2254) happened about 5 years before SNW S1 (2259).

I am SO looking forward to seeing Carol Kane join the cast!

THIS! I was so giddy when that was announced and I absolutely cannot wait to see her in Trek.

Much like Amanda Plummer in Picard. I really like these casting choices for trek of seasoned actors in not necessarily staring roles, but roles that being focus on secondary characters that can take risks.

They will probably find some dumb way to kill her off at the end of the season.

Love Plummer, but hate how one-dimensional her character has turned out to be (yes, even with the revealed backstory). This week looks to be even worse. If Vadic is watchable at all, it’s only due to the charisma of the performer, and not the writing. Hopefully, Kane will have better luck.

This! I wanted to love her especially after seeing so many fans love her but it’s so one dimensional. Almost cartoonish with how over the top she is. You have a mad/erratic character but it’s how she’s written and displayed and this just wasn’t it for me.

I was so excited at Plummer joining the cast. I just wish her character weren’t so one-dimensional. She’s a mustache-twirling stereotype. I love this season of Picard, but I am very surprised to say that Vadic has turned out to be the weakest link. It’s not Plummer’s fault, but rather the writers’.

I get what you’re saying but that’s an intentional thing, she’s that way because it’s all a bluff to hide her fear from who’s manipulating her. I actually like how they’re playing with this element cause there are flickers of who Vadic truly is.

At least they didn’t pull the rug out from under the viewer by presenting her as a deep and multifaceted character then revealing “Nope!”. We knew what she was from day one.

Same! 🤩

Still grieving Hemmer.

But intrigued to see Carol Kane as a chief engineer.

“Season 2 will also feature the return of guest Star Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk.”

Ugh, worst part of the season finale.

Is it too late to recast him?

We’re stuck with him for at least season two, and likely season three.

There seem to have been some less than great casting decisions during COVID. (Speleers as Jack vs as Kirk for example.)

Lack of chemistry and screen tests it seems.

Hard to unwind now.

Sigh.

Idk, seems to me it worked out fine! I really liked his chemistry with Spock, even if it was just a scene and a half. I think what’s throwing people off is that he’s not Shatner. And that’s understandable, but try to let go, and just enjoy the new version.

It’s not that he’s not Shatner. Chris Pine isn’t Shatner, either, and people liked him.

Wesley is just way too OLD to be playing a Kirk who’s in his mid-20’s.

They are probably going to time jump the show with Kirk as Enterprise captain when Mount leaves. Then he won’t be too old.

Wasn’t wild about Wesley’s casting, but his version of Kirk at least didn’t offend me, which Pine’s (esp. in Trek 2009) very much did.

Fair enough. I appreciate that. Because I am really scratching my head over the seeming consensus that Welsey is a dud. I can understand some difference of opinion, that’s normal, but he was hardly what i’d bad, such that everyone should dislike him so violently.

Personally i liked him, we’ve only seen him as alternate timeline Kirk so far, not as pre enterprise prime timeline Kirk yet.
He made deliberate differences in performance choices from shatner in his first appearance cause he knew that appearance was playing a Kirk who never was captain of the enterprise.

So many people seem to overlook that and are to quick to judge him as if he should have been more like a young shatner.

I can’t wait to see what he does as Kirk next. It’s quite possible though his next appearance is again a alternate timeline episode

Actors can, of course play younger than they are, but in The Deadly Years (TOS season two), Kirk says he’s 35. If Mount leaves after SNW season three, Wesley will be around 42-43 years old when/if they get around to shooting a season four. By that time, Ethan Peck will be about 40 himself. While it might make sense to do a TOS reboot, maybe it should set it after TMP or at the very least, after TOS but still during the five year mission.

Yes, Pine wasn’t Shatner either, and I accepted him as Kirk from the start, but I had trouble warming to Wesley’s portrayal. But that’s me. When a role is played by multiple actors, it’s perfectly reasonable for an audience member to prefer Darrin Stephens #1 over Darrin Stephens #2, or vice-versa. It’s just an individual opinion; I think it’s allowed.

Yes, absolutely. Totally agree. It’s fine to have a preference. But the fact that everyone seems to call him bad or uncharismatic is wild. C’mon, people. He might not be Shatner’s Kirk (which is fine with me, but might not be for others), but give the guy a chance.

I thought it was that he wasn’t charismatic? Wasn’t a good actor? Oh, I guess now it’s that he’s too old! Silly me!

Kirk wasn’t mid 20s in the finale, that episode was set in a alternate timeline in the future (during the tos era) as it was a alternate take on balance of terror from the tos Season 1.

He just doesn’t work. Pine pulled it off. This guy doesn’t. Kirk needs presence.

Yup, simply put and agree with you.

Totally agree that’s what he needs, and he has it, and pulled it off nicely. It’ll be hilarious if he comes back this season and everyone changes their minds, and sees how small minded they were being by writing him off after one episode.

Yep also agree. Just doesn’t feel like Kirk in any way. Say what you will about Pine, at least his Kirk has a personality.

Your basing that off one episode where it intentionally was a story where it was set in a alternate future where he wouldn’t be like tos Kirk since he never served on the enterprise.

I don’t really understand this argument. Most people are just saying the guy didn’t have much of a personality, what does that have to do with the fact we saw him a little earlier? Pine’s Kirk was Kirk out of the gate when he was still just a country hick who was having sex with farm animals. He was very much the same character from the start to finish.

And yeah first impressions matter. That said hopefully he’ll have a little more zest when he shows up again.

I’d forgotten what a stupid, prejudiced, meanspirited comment that was, especially coming from Uhura of all people. Thanks for reminding me. I can’t imagine Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura being so base and gross and having so little dignity as to say such a thing.

As for Pine’s take on Kirk, I’ve already said my piece.

farm animals are fine and admirable creatures, but would you want your sister to marry one?
or
Guess what we’re having for dinner?

Nothing undignified, base or gross about it – a joke to a creep in a bar.

Yeah, right, whatever. I’m no expert on such things, but if you’re approached by a creep in a bar and aren’t interested, you have the option of politely asking him to buzz off, as opposed to gratuitously insulting an entire class of people who don’t happen to live in big cities. Nichols’ Uhura was a sensual, dignified, Swahili-speaking African; Saldana’s acted like a dropout from Glendale High.

Pine pulled it off in BEYOND — most actors don’t get three whole movies to settle into the groove of a character (well, maybe not – it certainly took till Roger Moore’s 3rd Bond before he settled into just playing himself, which worked for everybody except me.) For every glimmer Pine delivered (like when he said ‘Bones’ at the end of 09), there was a wincemaking turn, like when he is facing Harrison Khan in the brig in ID, where he is so seriously outclassed that I actually felt bad for the guy (feeling bad for somebody making a zillion bucks, boy that’s a weird one!)

I think Lin had a very dedicated take on representing TOS in a way that dovetailed with oldtimer expectations (the fact that he remembered the Kirk to crew speech from CORBOMITE and had that included as they make their way through that stupid asteroid belt is proof of that), but there was just too much fat on the script, especially in act 3.

Regarding the new Kirk guy on SNW … there’s another aspect at work here. It isn’t just Shatner we’re remembering, we’re remembering Shatner with Jerry Finnerman lighting and with tremendously exciting musical underscore that works WITH his performance, or at a level that complements it anyway. If you scratch the score and watch Shatner,, it is a much less comfortable experience (whcih is probably why I hate when he does the Klingon bastard speech in TSFS, it is his voice alone, and the histrionics just seem like histrionics. (I’m yin-yang on Shat anyway … to me his finest moments are when he is very under, like conversing with Lenard at the end of BoT and especially when he tells Charlie Evans to go to his quarters in CHARLIE X. But I also unabashedly love the ‘risk is our business’ speech, even though it made me cringe as a kid/teen.

But I still can’t believe there weren’t thousands of living rooms where people were peeing uncontrollably during the ‘I’m losing command’ breakdown of AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD. That’s … ogod just thinking about it makes me want to vomit. Probbably haven’t seen that show since the 80s.

Back on point, the new guy is probably not going to have that kind of underscore to put a point on his portrayal, so that is going to impinge on his Kirkness too. (but yeah, no charm and no presence are still the main deals for me with finding him so utterly lacking.)

I guess Kirk’s existential doubts about the utility of space travel at the start of BEYOND make a certain kind of sense, since in the Kelvinverse the character only joined Starfleet on a dare anyway. At the very least it made him appear more thoughtful and introspective than in the first two films. But soon enough he was demonstrating his leadership chops by jumping motorcycles, etc. And while I don’t think that Pine is anything like a great actor, he certainly has the charm and charisma to play Kirk. Aside from the writing, I just don’t think he ever really got the character, describing him in an early interview as “Indiana Jones in space.” Nope.

Bill Shatner is another bird entirely. Even Harlan Ellison, not exactly a fan, while trashing Shatner’s performance in TMP called his work in THE ANDERSONVILLE TRIAL “absolutely brilliant.” His performances in TOS’ first season are (mostly) beautifully understated, especially in BALANCE OF TERROR, which might have been his high water mark in playing a brilliant (albeit reluctant) tactician his crew would follow into hell. “Risk is our business!” may have been over-the-top, but it works due to the sincerity of the performance, the sheer trekkie-ness of the speech itself, and the re-use of a wonderful musical cue from “Metamorphosis.”

What happened to the Shat after that, I don’t know.

As to Wesley, we’ll have to see. In general I liked the SNW season finale well enough, but have to note that in every instance where it remade anything from BALANCE OF TERROR I found it totally wanting compared with the original. Given the amount of time that’s gone by, not to mention the difference in budgets, I find that pretty remarkable.

I actually rewatched the SNW season finale after writing the above, just to see if my opinions had changed. Not one whit (and no that is not a misspelling of the last word.) The writing doesn’t help the guy playing Kirk at all, but unless we can pin his performance deficiencies on whoever directed it, I’d restate that the relationship between me and nuKirk is akin to the end of ANNIE HALL — a dead shark.

Pretty much the way I’m feeling towards STP at this point, though the shark occasionally shows signs of life — I actually liked last night’s ep better than the previous three — and I’m committed to hanging on, ramora-like, until the bitter end.

Exactly this. The previous two JTKs had plenty of charisma.

Pine only got it right in his 3rd outing. In the first 2 movies, he was not Kirk-like at all. But in BEYOND, he came into his own and I was finally able to see him as Kirk.

Can’t they just bring on Chris Pine.

That would’ve been cool, but not sure he’d have done it.

No Pine is too old too to play Kirk this young. In fact he’s older than Wesley and easily looks it.

You do know that the Kirk we saw was a different reality Kirk. It was already stated that Kirk in the new season will be more like the Kirk we know. Don’t forget, the Kirk from the alternate reality did not have the same experiences as the Kirk we know.
So how about giving it a chance before prejudging something. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the casting.

DO NOT like that actor that plays Kirk. Agreed. The whole series is good but
for that one introduction. Hopefully he does better in season 2 and that there’s
better character development. He doesn’t make a good Kirk.

They said the same about Pine. They were wrong.

Nobody said that about Pine. People loved his performance out the gate.

LOL good one 👍🏽

the cast was about the only positive thing to come out of the Kelvin universe. Shame they wasted them.

Many people did. Do a google search for posts from 2009-2011, you’ll find entire articles about how much people hated him as Kirk.

I know people like to rewrite history, which is why it will be funny in 5 years when people will say “nobody ever disliked Wesley’s Kirk!” when a new actor plays him in a movie-era spin-off and everyone says he’s not as good as Paul Wesley.

That has a lot do with how he changed his portrayal of Kirk in Beyond, when they finally jettisoned the ridiculous “bad boy of Starfleet” persona he adopted (wholly inconsistently with TOS) in the first two Kelvin movies.

If you look at this site or trekbbs, you’ll see tons of anti-Pine stuff. Mine may have been tempered by noting that it was hard to tell how much was him vs. the stinkfest cesspool screenplay, but it was definitely not in any way favorable, and as I indicated above, I don’t think Pine really ‘got it’ till BEYOND. The ‘learn as you earn’ school of film stardom, what a gig.

Some people definitely don’t like him but most seem to. I think people who do hates his portrayal of Kirk but that’s mostly the writing and directing. I still hate how he became captain for example, totally ridiculous, but that has nothing to do with Pine obviously.

If I recall, the only person who was genuinely loved right out of the gate was Karl Urban. Every other actor had passionate, vocal detractors (even Greenwood). Those abated over time, and now history has been rewritten and people talk about how good the entire cast always was, and everybody loved them.

Yeah I loved Urban out of the gate too. But for me personally I didn’t have a issue with any of the casting, especially once it was revealed these were characters in a different universe, so they can play them however they wanted. People like Sulu and Uhura didn’t feel like the original characters at all, but I had no issues with that either. and liked them.

But yeah, that’s how it happens. Nostalgia starts to set in more and people slowly forget the sheer acrimony fans had for something lol.

This is a different topic but I was arguing with someone yesterday who was saying he didn’t remember how much people hated George Lucas after the Prequels were made and that many people were excited about Disney taking over the franchise. Sure, not everyone, but it was a pretty big consensus people wanted Lucas gone and was excited about the Sequel Trilogy. Now it’s the complete opposite but that’s all he seems to remember and this wasn’t even that long ago.

Not to get too sidetracked, but while I didn’t love TPM (I actualy didn’t like it very much, but I thought it was just more boring than anything else), it was absolutely REVILED by just about everyone I knew.

And the funny thing is, it still is reviled by the masses today. I went and checked but It has rock bottom scores on both RT audience score and IMDB. It’s the second worst rated film on both of them.It has a 42% score on RT and is a 6.4 on IMDB (it’s tied with Nemesis there). The only film worse than that one was, you probably guessed it, TFF lol That has an astronomically low 27% score on RT and a 5.5 on IMDB.

It has it’s fans like places like here, but they are obviously in the minority in terms of the consensus of that movie. And I think the reason it doesn’t get the same flack TFF or even Nemesis gets because it does feel like a real film. The quality is there. It feels big and looks beautiful. The soundtrack has become iconic in itself. The story is as Trek-y as you can get. Everyone has spoken about the FX to the point of exhaustion. But yeah, it’s still boring as shit to many people at the end of the day, myself included. It lacks any energy or excitement to the point it felt like it was made by Vulcans lol.

What’s funny is the last time I tried to watch it was one year ago exactly today when they released it in the 4K special edition on Paramount+. I got though 20 minutes before I turned it off and put on First Contact instead lol. I’ve seen it 3 times total in my life and I don’t know if I’ll ever watch it again.

And not to side track this TOO much more (but who are we kidding, the entire thread has been side tracked. There are over 100 posts and I think only five or ten of them actually mentioned the posters lol) but one thing I realized for awhile now is that while the shows have aged well and has all became more popular in the last decade or so, for whatever reason that’s never really translated to the movies.

What I mean is shows that fans generally thought were more flawed like Enterprise and Voyager at the time has risen in popularity much more today. I will include DS9 in that as well. But I remember looking at the RT score for Enterprise circa 2014 and it was a 70% score, which is not awful, just average. But now it’s at 79%. Same for VOY, I think it also used to be around 70% too, but I can’t remember the exact score, but it was around there. Now it’s currently 77%. DS9 used to be around 75% eight or nine years ago, now it’s 81%. None of them had low scores but they’ve all only gotten higher over the years, ENT actually improving the fastest out of the three. That says a lot.

But the movies has never gotten any of the same bounce. Nemesis was at 48% back in 2013, it’s now at 49% a decade later. I don’t remember what TFF was back then but it’s always been the lowest period. Generations used to be around 60% about five years ago, but it’s now fallen to 57%.

But the movies that are considered popular has stayed that way. In fact, regardless how people feel about the Kelvin movies, they are not just popular with the masses but has not fallen in any real way. The first Kelvin movie has 91% rating a decade ago and it still has that rating today.

But it is fascinating how the classic shows have all risen as time has gone on but the movies have basically stayed in amber for whatever reason. And yes I suspect the lower performing Kurtzman shows will naturally rise too over the years unless people just think they truly suck.

You can count me out of the “everybody”; I’ve never bought the portrayal of Scotty (too buffoonish) and, especially, Uhura.

I never said everybody, but thanks for telling me how much you hated him, it really helps the conversation.

I agree about Scotty too. I like Simon Pegg but his portrayal was too comedic. There was literally one scene in all three movies he came off a bit more serious and I bet I don’t even have to tell people the scene. That’s how rare he wasn’t being a comedian lol.

But one of the problems I always had with those movies is that I always felt all of the characters felt too immature and lightweight to believe they are in charge of Starfleet’s flagship, In charge of a California class ship like the Cerritos, I can buy it. But they all felt like they were still in college or in training or something; Kirk being the biggest issue. But he was better in Beyond for sure.

I thought Urban was pushing a little hard in the first two Kelvin movies, which surprised me because I’ve liked him in just about everything going back two decades. A lot of that was probably Abrams’ direction, because he was better in BEYOND.

I wasn’t wowed by his first appearance, but I’ll give the guy a chance. That was a alternate timeline version.

Pike seemed to take an interest in Kirk. Maybe it’s possible he tries to mold him (from afar) into the Kirk we see in TOS, or maybe he tells him something profound when they finally meet that changes Kirk.

I also think he probably didn’t get quite as much rehearsal time on the set, coming in late, and Covid protocols, as someone else noted. I’m looking forward to seeing more of him. While his performance wasn’t a highlight, I can definitely see the kernel of a great Kirk in there.

But that comes a lot from the fact that I have no particular affinity for TOS Kirk.

Agreed. Not buying the “It’s okay that the actor playing the part had zero charisma for the role and didn’t remind you of Captain Kirk in any way shape or form because it’s an alternate reality version” because the entire conceit of that episode was “What if ‘Balance of Terror’ but with Pike?” which fully implies that once Kirk enters the story it’s TOS Kirk. He got Farragut instead of Enterprise because Enterprise wasn’t available. No reason why the character would be vastly different.

That is not entirely true. In a reality where Pike remained Captain on Enterprise there could be countless other changes that occurred that impacted where people ended up and who they became.

The Enterprise crew, for the most part, were the traditional crew of SNW. We didn’t see McCoy or Sulu so who knows where they are. Ortegas has taken on the racist of the missing navigator from Balance of Terror when she seems the most laid back of all in the proper series. Even Kirk is described as a youngster as a stack of books with legs in the prime timeline by Gary Mitchell, he later becomes the Kirk we all know.

Who knows what changes exist that made him who he is as opposed to what in this reality.

Sure, but the idea that Kirk would have a different personality doesn’t work. He had to be TOS Kirk to get a command so young. The command in that timeline winds up being the Farragut instead of Enterprise. It doesn’t really fit with the writers’ intentions if you just handwave it as “the actor falls far short of reminding you of the genuine article because the timeline is different.” They were trying to pitch what if Pike went up against Kirk from the time of “Balance of Terror.” Even Chris Pine was able to channel the Kirk vibe even when he wasn’t yet Captain Kirk, so, there’s already a data point to show that the timeline can be different and Kirk would still have a certain je ne sais quoi

Pine ‘channeled’ only the aspects of Kirk that are cliched and even misunderstood (mostly by non-fans): ladykiller, hotshot, rulebreaker, etc. The thoughtfulness, compassion, and curiosity of Shatner’s Kirk were almost entirely absent. For which I primarily blame the writers, not the actor.

Yeah, that’s why I said Kirk vibe. You’re right that Pine has had to deal with a pretty uninteresting version of Kirk. Wesley’s part was written a little better (though they still lean into the hotshot/rulebreaker stereotype — there’s literally a scene where Sam gives Pike a scouting report on his own brother), but he just didn’t have that spark — it’s also a huge role to inherit! A big ask! Tough act for anyone to follow! But even the thoughtful, compassionate, curious Kirk has a swagger and we don’t get that with Wesley.

Not sure this comment will land, but Kirk in the SNW remake is seen from what seems to be the point of view of Pike.

Are we are judging an actor’s performance based on a character’s experience?

That last sentence — and I fully agree with it — is the rub, though. I do think Pine channeled some of Shatner’s charisma, and with better writing might have been more iconic in the role, George Lazenby to Sean Connery. We got a taste of what might have been in STB.

That’s a very apt analogy, though I’m thinking that with three shots at doing Bond, Laze might have been able to go even further, and not necessarily in the dreaded Roger Moore direction. His inexperience shows a lot in OHMSS, but there are moments. If the director had just kept him from smiling so much … ! That shot of him standing at his office window remembering Tracy’s capture ages him about 10 years and looks perfect (and that’s coming from a Connery / Dalton diehard who can offer up reams of criticism on all of the other fellas (Laze swinging punches like a girl used to be my go-to, but that phrase has not aged well, so looking for another.)

In this alternate reality version, he did not have Bones and Spock to balance him out. THAT is a huge difference in character building. He would have still had the skills to be given the captaincy, but his personality and how he was with others was due to his closeness to Bones and Spock. He did not have that in this reality. THAT is what make the difference.

I don’t know about Kirk, but if they ever decide to remake Bewitched, I think they’ve got their Darrin.

He might have been an improvement on Will Ferrell (swear to god, he is AWESOME in STRANGER THAN FICTION but outside of SNL and that, he has done nothing for me.)

I never saw the BEWITCHED feature, but after seeing the trailer, thought they should have gone with a different Darrin in every scene, kind of seven-upping what ROSEANNE did with the older sister and the rotating casting – kind of like the Dukat’s kid thing on DS9, come to think of it, where Behr recast twice and would have liked to recast with every ep, which is going bridges too far for me with respect to Trek.

Critiques of the actor remind me of how fans reacted to Peck’s first few episodes. Even if you didn’t like it, go back and watch the performances in TNG Season 1, or DS9 season 1. Half those casts were terrible.

I imagine by Season 2, Wesley will have had a lot more practice and be even better. Stop being knee-jerk disgruntled trolls.

Nobody forced them to introduce Kirk. It’s okay to say that the people making the show didn’t get something right.

There’s a lot that’s not perfect. I don’t know if Wesley will be great or not. But the knee-jerk reactions to him after one episode are hilarious. Not sure what “nobody forced them” has to do with it.

Perfect =/= right. No need to conflate them.

The producers chose to bring Kirk into this Kirk prequel show when they didn’t have to, so it’s an unforced error on their part. I know, I know, plenty of people don’t think bringing in Kirk / the casting of Wesley as Kirk is an error, but for those of us who do, that’s why “nobody forced them” is in there. They invited the comparisons and criticisms, and by introducing him in a flippin’ remix of “Balance of Terror” was only going to turn up the heat in terms of scrutiny. It’s not a neutral context for his introduction. I don’t see how “knee-jerk” applies in this situation.

Sure, there were plenty of people who hated Pine before during and after 09, but I don’t think I’m alone in being someone who was skeptical and then won over by his performance (though not the characterization) while watching the movie. Here, my skepticism about them bringing Kirk into SNW didn’t melt away while watching the episode. And I don’t think I’m alone there, either.

I said this elsewhere, so i apologize if it just seems like I’m repeating myself (I have to assume that maybe you didn’t see this comment) but I also think it was too soon to bring him in.

But, he’s here, so I don’t see any point in getting worked up about it. Wesley was fine, I have no immediate dislike — but neither a real affinity — and i’m trusting he’ll do a good job, because I don’t see any reason to believe he won’t. Even if I didn’t like him in that episode (but I did), it’s ONE episode.

Shatner *is* KIRK in ONE episode. In *minute* one. It’s just a tough act to follow.

I mean, that’s by virtue of the fact that he established the character…

That’s almost exactly what I said yesterday, though I’m not sure in which thread. I said that Shatner had Kirk nailed in the teaser to WNMHGB in a way that really marked that territory.

You’re not a troll if you don’t enjoy a performance of an iconic character. Chris Pine pulled it off.

No, you’re a troll if you keep a closed mind after one episode.

Please notify Merriam-Webster so that they can add that definition into their next edition of the dictionary.

As if …

Totally agree with the comparison to Season 1 of TNG/DS9. And back then they had 26 episodes to get the characters under their belt!

Introducing Kirk was maybe not the “best” thing to do, but I think Wesley is doing the best he can with a complicated legacy and character.

Personally, I wouldn’t have introduced him either. Feels too soon. But he’s here, and I have to accept that. There’s no point in getting angry or frustrated about it, since it’s definitely not an impediment to me enjoying it.

Yeah, no sense in people getting worked up over it. I hope the show doesn’t “feature” him too much, but a couple of episodes isn’t too bad. I’ve loved SNW and Kirk showing up / his portrayal wasn’t even close to the top of my criticisms of the show.

My hope is that he’s a recurring guest star in a subplot with La’An, and never really interacts with the rest of the crew. Considering in the alt future timeline La’An is Kirk’s security chief on the Farragut, it might make sense that she serves aboard that ship for a while.

Maybe the Farragut helps her find the girl’s family. Maybe she becomes friends with Kirk.

Spocks hair is bothering me.

I really like Ethan Pecks Spock, but this picture is…

He looks ODDLY perturbed. 😂 As if Pike just ruffled his feathers/tousled his hair a bit…

Ha! I want to see that!

I’m enjoying Spock’s more human younger self. Especially since in cannon and on this show it’s been established that he get’s more logical and Vulcan as time goes on. Also who didn’t make questionable hair choices when they where younger. It’s not like he’s sporting a topknot… yet.

Folks, I don’t know about this season… the height of Anson Mount’s hair looks fairly normal. Hopefully, it’s just a haircut for 201 and it’ll get higher and higher as the season goes on…

If his hair get any higher it’s going to need it’s own NCC registration number.

LOL. I can only hope… tracking its growth in s1 was just too much fun.

It needs more height, but at least the curls still look very defined.
I honestly want a tutorial on how they styled his hair last season, it just had so much volume.

In the Original Series, it was the women that had tall hair, example Janice Rand.
In Strange New Worlds, it is the men.

It’s the only rationalization I can come up with to justify the insanely tall hallways in this version of the Enterprise. It’s not like Saru is walking around there.

Suddenly got a hankering for Skittles.

Me too

How does one acquire one of these posters?

I was looking forward to a trailer. Oh well.

I’m still holding out hope for something! I’d be surprised if we got only character posters on FCD.

Foolishly wading in to the Paul Wesley as Captain Kirk discussion…

I’m not bothered by it. I thought he was acceptable, and had at least some of the physical mannerisms that Shatner brought. Kirk had a particular lean to him when he was in the captain’s chair that I don’t think Chris Pine managed. I think he also looks closer to Shatner than Pine does. (Not knocking Pine! I think he does a fine and entertaining job.)

New actors are almost never going to be “as good” as the original ones for a role. Think of all the discourse around who is the best James Bond. There’s room for lots of opinions, there’s room for preferences.

My biggest complaint about both Pine and Wesley is that they don’t sound enough like Shatner in their delivery. Not talking about his… unique… caricatured… speech pattern (which is always overplayed unless you listen to his early “music”). Shatner had a kind of heightened speech pattern to him. Pine I think was just too casual in his line reads. Wesley a bit too stiff. I want a little bit of that classic Shatner delivery.

Well as long as you are playing the character and not reinterpreting it to the point you aren’t even playing that character. Like Craig as Bond, he was never Bond. Fantastic actor, producers didn’t want him to be Bond. Reminds me of the Young Han Solo movie, actor was fantastic in Hail Caesar, but he isn’t Han in Solo. Not even close.

Interesting! I felt Alden Ehrenreich was spot on for a young Han Solo. At least, I bought that he could have aged into the one that we knew. But then again, I’m in the minority of folks who kinda liked that movie (flawed as it was), so take my opinion there with a grain of salt

I don’t think he felt at all like a young Harrison Ford. What he did feel like, however, was a young Han Solo. That’s how I feel about Wesley. He may not be a young William Shatner, but he feels like he is a decent young Kirk.

I know people struggle to separate the two, but you should.

(Han Solo, such an underrated movie, btw)

Oh, this is an interesting thought. Star Trek: The Original Series – Season One James T. Kirk is Young Kirk?

I’m not sure what you mean. All I mean is that Wesley plays a version of Kirk earlier in time. His age or youth isn’t really what i’m referring to. He works as Kirk, is my point, even if he doesn’t seem a lot like Shatner.

I’m not trying to claim he’s giving an Emmy winning performance, but he’s got enough that I have no doubt he’ll grow into the role. I just don’t see the point in being so down on him when we’ve seen just one episode, and he was fine in it.

You’re exactly right.

Solo is SO underrated. It’s unironically my fave new SW movie. Flawed, sure. But I like the relatively low-stakes heist feeling.

I absolutely Wesley could be a young Kirk. My personal wish is like 10% more Shatner in his Kirk, though. The young Picard in TNG “Rascals” was so very clearly JLP, even though it was a kid. Something along those lines. Just like Quinto and Peck have so clearly incorporated some of Leonard Nimoy into their respective Spocks (both of which I enjoy) and I’d like to see just a liiiiiiittle bit more of the origination of the role. Not enough to be a Shatner impersonation, but more of a performance outwardly informed by his performance.

I don’t know how i’d feel about Wesley leaning into a “Shatnerian” Kirk. I feel like it’s tough to do a copycat performance, and the smarter thing is not to try, like with Han Solo. Just have the essence of the character, which in AQoM he does: he’s smart, savvy, sure of himself, and I can chalk up any minor differences to the fact that he didn’t live the last decade as captain of the federation flagship. That swagger that Kirk had isn’t present because he’s only been captain of a B-list ship.

Next season though, he’ll be playing a very different character.

I’m not bothered by it, either. I’m okay with a recast TOS/TNG character capturing some of the essence of the original, but there needs to be some latitude for the current actor to grow with a character as well. Here’s another example – there have been a few comments on it being too bad that Odo wasn’t a part of PS-3. With all respect to the late Rene Auberjonois, he was buried under a ton of makeup. Surely someone could have been cast that could have filled the role, if Odo was central to the plot.

Ha ha Awesome posters, I love the characters and the colors!!
Looking forward to Carol Kane, this is something that I never thought I’d see but is so awesome to be happening!!!
Also one thing – look at that picture with Carol Kane with all the graphics lit up and the COLORS ARE BACK. Looks sooo captivating!! CANNOT WAIT.

Anyone else feeling a bit blue that we haven’t seen anything more from Paramount on First Contact Day?

Titles are nice, with the premiere less than 6 week away, an SNW trailer would be welcome.

They seem to be dribbling out one new announcement a week. So, was hoping they’d held something back for today.

Recognize that they want to keep attention on Picard as it finishes its season, but it’s been holding steady in the middle of Parrot Analytics digital originals top ten. That means it’s got staying power media and social conversations. It doesn’t seem they have anything to worry about.

LOL yeah me for sure. Not just that but announcements of any kind. It’s pretty funny now but a week ago everyone was saying to wait for today to hear all the big announcements Kurtzman was teasing. Of course we got a very big one with the Academy show but I was hoping they go a little more detail about it today.

And I think we have to stop assuming we’re going to get any big announcements on this day or Star Trek day since we have never gotten any major announcements anyway. They could’ve waited a few more days to announce the Academy show today but didn’t bother. In fact, none of the new shows were ever announced an any special day. The only one that had a special announcement of any kind was Patrick Stewart personally announcing the Picard show at a Sta Trek convention.

I was hoping for some First Contact Day festivities like we had in the past, but it looks like that era has ended. I suspect there wasn’t enough engagement for the cost.

I don’t think it’s over or anything, some years will simply have less going on for other reasons. But this seem like the most obvious time to drop at least a teaser trailer for season 2 of SNW seeing its up next and relatively soon, but enjoy these posters everyone will forget about in a day instead. ;)

What’s been reported the last couple of weeks may be all there is to announce at this time. Today wouldn’t be the day to announce that what’s in the pipe now is all we’re getting for a while.

My running theory is Lt. Kirk and the Farragut will help La’an find the girl’s family. That is why he picks her for his second in command in the alternate future. I’m probably totally wrong. Lol.

Yes, that’s precisely my thought as well! That also preserves continuity that he hasn’t met Pike. We’ll see him on the Farragut with La’An, in a recurring, ongoing subplot.

Happy First Contact Day everyone! :)

Kind of feels like a bust in terms of any announcements, trailers, anything, especially when compared to the last few years but that’s life. I was hoping for at least SNW and LDS teaser trailers at the minimum. Very very quiet day but oh well.

Character posters are looking good.

With regard to Pike’s teaser poster… Could the shadows on the right side of his face be a subtle reminder of his eventual tragic accident?

Being First Contact Day, I was hoping for more news or a trailer. Posters look great!

Yes, not just you. :) I’m a little disappointed, especially as it isn’t any FC Day, but the 40 year countdown…:-)

The posters look great, but I think Ortegas should be wearing the hat… The hat is supreme :-)

I don’t know why anyone considers First Contact Day a holiday deserving of big announcements. It’s not a real event day.

But it should be… Not only this day… A whole WEEK… From First Contact Day to Frontier Day on April 12… I’m going to celebrate that week this year and every year…

LOL this is my first time hearing about it.

Establishing First Contact Day as a second major event in the spring seems like smart franchise management to me.

Paramount (and CBS) never seem to have grasped the need for consistent engagement to maintain the value of their IP.

The utter failure to take advantage of the 50th anniversary of the franchise is just one of a series of misses.

Paramount Globals current strategy is to focus on ‘franchises, familiar faces, and fandoms.’

‘Hello?!!’ as they’d say. First Contact Day has all 3 elements.

If there was a day to be nostalgic about Trek legacy, and to promote optimism after grimness, First Contact could fit.

It’s also in spring when people are looking for a holiday.

The first week of September, by contrast, is the week that families with kids, teens or university students are preoccupied with the start of the academic year. Media-wise September remains a launch window for new linear programming.

Star Trek day just doesn’t have the uniqueness that the SW equivalent does, largely due to the timing in the year.

Lack of consistency in managing scheduling of new information, licenced product launches etc. is all part of the same franchise brand management problem that’s been ongoing since the sixties.

Paramount may have the IP for the oldest franchise, but it still seems to lack commitment to actually managing the franchise in a consistent ongoing way. Not having a plan to consistently engage fandom on a natural anniversary, is just bad marketing.

If you want to argue it’s a missed marketing opportunity, that’s perfectly fair. But I don’t think it was ever hyped up to be a big “news” event day. People expecting there to be all kinds of announcements and major news were only setting themselves up for disappointment.

I don’t think it was ever intended to be a second Star Trek day. The made a big deal about the 25th anniversary of the film that one time, and have scaled it back ever since. Once they announced the new series a few days ago, I figured there wouldn’t be much to report today. Kinda hard to top that news.

True! You’re right! I’ve never paid attention to trek holidays. For some reason I got myself hyped up. An unusual expectation on my part. The SFA series was a great announcement.

Yeah and they have never announced a new show on any of the Trek ‘holidays’, this one or the anniversary. But so many people got in their heads they expected some big future show announcements but that has never happened at all. Every current show just like the Starfleet Academy show was just announced on a random day. Picard is the only show that was announced at a special event but that was at a convention.

As for celebrating First Contact day, that’s always been done through fandom for 20 years now. But it’s never been a ‘corporate’ thing until very recently when they realized how much fans celebrated it. And yes, especially since they now have all the new shows to promote. Same for Star Wars and May 4th. That was really a fan thing for a long time, but it’s become more corporate over the years, especially once Disney took it over. All their theme parks have special SW events and merchandise that day and this year it will now be all month lol; at least in Disneyland.

They are even recognizing ‘Life Day’ more in the parks these days. No joke.

If you are trying to get Paramount to turn Trek into Star Wars, be careful what you wish for.

LOL they already have. I don’t think we would have 5 shows on at the same time back when TNG was running. Today, they are stretching the franchise as much as they can. No they haven’t quite gotten to the level Disney has with Star Wars but that’s probably simply due to the fact it doesn’t make anywhere near the same money SW does either.

I still think how crazy it is they have both committed to making as many shows as possible but making another movie seems almost impossible even though they keep announcing them.

the real Star Wars day is May the 25th. Which by the way is meaningless as long as the original theatrical trilogy continues to be withheld. I’ve basically given up on it ever happening in my lifetime i have moved on. The Special Edition is the film Lucas won.

But that’s what I mean though, thanks to fandom May fourth has taken over as the bigger day because it has become more symbolic even though absolutely nothing about it is tied to the franchise other than a play on words. But now its more important than the actual anniversary. It is crazy though the SE has become the pure representation of those movies. I remember when Disney+ was announced and people thought Disney would have a 4K version of the original films or something…nope!

With Star Trek, the original anniversary is still very important for both fans and the studio. It’s always been celebrated in some way and now the studio has made a bigger deal out of it the last few years to honor it with a big media event. I understood why they did it for the 55th anniversary but I was actually surprised to see them do it again last year. We’ll see if it continues this year. But they know how important First Contact Day has become considering they had a big hoopla for the movie’s 25th anniversary in 2021 with cast panels, special show announcements, etc. But it was held on April 5th and not November 22nd, the actual date the movie was released which I think most fans even forget lol. That told you everything.

Not only are you correct, it’s probably far smarter to save trailers and such for days when they know the broader world will be paying attention.

“First Contact Day” means nothing to anyone but Trekkies.

I celebrated with the TNG 4K movie set good enough for me. Would like a 14th feature film to go into Production soon. Kelvin, Prime just give me a good Trek experience on the silver screen.

Excited to see Carol Kane. Was a bit disappointed by comments on previous stories here saying Star Trek didn’t need “an elderly white woman.” Why doesn’t it?

That’s the kind of agism we don’t need in Trek fandom. I mean, the casting has been one of the strengths of SNW and PIC of late. There was a time when getting a 56 year old woman like Jeri Ryan to be a major cast member would have garnered similar responses.

“We don’t need an elderly white woman”?? Gates McFadden is FOUR YEARS OLDER THAN HER.

TOR PEEDOS AWAY

What is the concept here? The actors just sprinted into frame? The Flash homage? Simulating the effects of mescaline for the viewer?

What’s the concept of your comment? Seriously, I’m struggling to see your problem here. It’s a series of cool-looking images. Maybe the blur is a warp effect, maybe it’s just a fun, stylized visual. The lengths people will go to just to have something to complain about is utterly mind boggling.

I think the new poster art looks terrible some kind of Psychedelic approach or there trying to get that star trek the motion picture feel to it going through the wormhole look. If so they didnt do a good job.

I thought about these 70s superheroes best friends show… ;-)

I just hope they change the actor who plays Kirk, because he doesn’t look like the original at all.