Set phasers to surprise casting news – there’s a new Captain James T. Kirk in town! Paramount+ announced yesterday that Paul Wesley, best known for his role as Stefan Salvatore in eight seasons of CW’s The Vampire Diaries, will take on the iconic role in the second season of their new Star Trek spinoff show, Strange New Worlds.
The first season of Strange New Worlds is set to arrive on Paramount’s streaming service in May (in the US, at least – we’re yet to find out for sure when Paramount+ will land in the UK), but got an early renewal back in January. The show follows the version of the Enterprise crew that was introduced in Star Trek: Discovery – including Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Spock – taking place before Kirk rose through the ranks. Wesley follows in the footsteps of William Shatner (from the original series) and Chris Pine (from the recent film franchise) in portraying Kirk on screen in live-action, and will play a younger version of the character.
In a joint statement about Wesley’s casting, the show’s executive producer Alex Kurtzmann and showrunners/executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers said: “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.” Wesley himself tweeted shortly after the news broke. “I am deeply humbled and still a little startled to have been given the honor of playing the inimitable James T. Kirk,” he wrote. “Ever since I was a kid, I have been awed by the imaginative world Gene Roddenberry created.” He’s about to boldly go into that world for real.