Paul Wesley hints at the future of James T. Kirk when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ends in season 5. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3’s finale premieres on Paramount+ on Thursday, September 11. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 wrapped before season 3’s premiere, and production on the fifth and final season is underway.
TrekMovie reported from Los Angeles Times’ special Star Trek Day screening of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3’s finale, which was followed by a Q&A with executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, and stars Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, and Paul Wesley.
Wesley praised working with Peck, who plays Lieutenant Spock, calling Ethan “a great guy,” before Paul mused about his joy in playing James T. Kirk, and Kirk’s evolution towards his “final destination” as Captain of the Starship Enterprise when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ends. Read Wesley and Peck’s quotes below:
Paul Wesley: “I’m very aware that Kirk has this—he’s the great American hero of television. It’s a big, heavy sort of thing to carry. I try not to think about that when I’m playing the role. But what I love about Strange New Worlds is that every episode is different. And so, every episode, I’m able to show a different side of Kirk. So if he’s subdued in one episode, and then he plays a 1960s version of the over-the-top actor named Maxwell Saint, who has maybe some similarities to some other people. [laughs] We can sort of play and that’s what’s so fun about this character.
I am excited for people to see what happens in season 4, and I’m excited for what I’m going to do in season 5, because we are ultimately going to a final destination, which is the Kirk that is the fully-formed Kirk that we know from TOS. And we’re not there yet, but I’m really excited to go there and play that… I’m excited for that evolution, yeah.”
Ethan Peck: “There are moments in [season 4] where I see the formation [of Kirk], and it’s really exciting.”
Paul Wesley:“In watching TOS, you do learn a lot about the history of Kirk, but it’s very quick… I enjoy taking these kernels, these little things that [are] just pieces of information from TOS and exploring them in an emotional way. My relationship with Sam Kirk… I don’t want to give away too much, but there’s Kirk’s emotional ties to other humans, and I think it’s humanizing a very important character in American television history. So, we’re exploring the human side of a lot of things that are well known in canon, but not necessarily from an emotional perspective.”
Paul Wesley’s Kirk Will Continue To Evolve In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Since introducing the young Lieutenant James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1’s finale, the prequel has carefully woven Kirk’s continuing evolution into the legendary Captain played by William Shatner in Star Trek: The Original Series.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 6, “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail,” was the most pivotal Kirk episode yet, depicting James overcoming his self-doubt in his canonical first time as Captain of a starship when he led a heroic rescue of the USS Enterprise.
As Paul Wesley points out, Kirk continues to show different facets of himself, from a cocksure First Officer, to a flirty possible suitor to Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), to a compassionate friend to Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and Scotty (Martin Quinn).
Meanwhile, Kirk’s friendship with Spock continues to bloom. Ethan Peck and Paul Wesley enjoy delving into the slow-burn beginnings of what will become the central brotherhood and partnership in all of Star Trek.
Our Take On Paul Welsey Fully Becoming Captain Kirk In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Watching Paul Wesley drop into Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and gradually take on the characteristics that will define Captain Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series has become one of the best parts of watching Strange New Worlds.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers hope to spin off a Paul Wesley-led series about Captain Kirk’s first year in command of the USS Enterprise, dubbed Star Trek: Year One.
Wesley began playing alternate versions of James T. Kirk, and experimented with those different personas. Since then, Wesley has visibly grown comfortable as Star Trek‘s Prime universe Kirk, and he gleefully throws himself into building James brick-by-brick into the Captain Kirk he’s destined to become.
Going by what Paul Wesley and Ethan Peck are teasing, it’ll be exciting to see how James T. Kirk further evolves in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 before he fully becomes Captain Kirk when the saga ends in season 5.
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