Paramount+ has announced that former “Vampire Diaries” alum Paul Wesley has been cast as future U.S.S. Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk in the second season of the upcoming “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” series.
The first season premieres on May 5th, but the second run is already in production in Toronto and marks the character’s first appearance (outside of reused clips) on television since the end of the original series back in the late 1960s.
Wesley is only the third actor to take on the role following William Shatner in both the original series and across seven movies, along with Chris Pine in the more recent ‘Kelvin Timeline’ three-film run that began in 2009.
The first season will follow Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike in his time commanding the Enterprise before Kirk eventually takes command. How Kirk fits into events isn’t clear – the first season is expected to be set around 2259, five years before Kirk takes command in 2264.
In a statement, executive producers Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, and Henry Alonso Myers say: “Paul is an accomplished actor, an astonishing presence and a welcome key addition to the show. Like all of us, he is a life-long Star Trek fan and we are excited by his interpretation of this iconic role.”
I am deeply humbled and still a little startled to have been given the honor of playing the inimitable James T Kirk. Ever since I was a kid, I have been awed by the imaginative world Gene Roddenberry created.
Recently, I boarded a flight to LA to discover that the man in the pic.twitter.com/U8GVD4ZemP— Paul Wesley (@paulwesley) March 15, 2022
Source: Paramount+