About a year ago, it was announced that Paul Wesley would appear as James T. Kirk on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2. Only for his actual first appearance to happen during the season one finale, “A Quality of Mercy,” an alternate timeline take on “Balance of Terror” from Star Trek: The Original Series. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Vampire Diaries star talks about what it was like playing the role.
For instance, the casting process for the show was so secretive, and it happened so quickly that Wesley initially thought it was a prank. He got a call from his agent one weekend asking if he wanted to do a quick Zoom with showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers alongside casting directors. Wesley said yes and asked what it was for. His agent said “it’s a character who is very iconic in Star Trek,” and to talk to them to see what happens.
For Wesley, the most important aspect of his performance is not to imitate something sacred, as it would be an insult to the character who is so iconic. William Shatner’s take on Captain Kirk has obviously touched people. Plus, it’s also a reminder that he’s not Shatner. So he’s playing a version of Kirk that has never been seen before and where every episode is different.
Sitting In The Captain’s Chair
Paramount+
So what was it like putting on that costume for the first time? Overwhelming? Empowering? Mind-blowing? According to Wesley, all of the above. Even just sitting in the captain’s chair, he had understood where to put his hands and what his posture should be. To help with that, he rewatched every TOS episode to help him feel at home in the chair.
A recurring character on Strange New Worlds is George Samuel “Sam” Kirk (Dan Jeannotte), who’s the brother of James T. Kirk. During TOS, we only saw Sam as a corpse, played by Shatner wearing a fake mustache. In the new show, we get to see more of their relationship together.
Wesley also talked about what it was like to have gotten the blessing of Shatner and said that it was very classy of him. It meant an indescribable amount to him to have Shatner go out of his way to have a lovely conversation with him and tweet ‘best of luck and congrats.’ Wesley said that to have his blessing to enjoy the character meant everything to him.
