Following his surprise appearance in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 finale, Paul Wesley’s James T. Kirk stopped by for three Season 2 episodes, with the latter two, “Lost in Translation” and “Subspace Rhapsody,” taking place in the main Star Trek continuity. In other words, unlike Chris Pine’s Kirk, who lives in the alternate Kelvin timeline, Wesley is playing the exact same Kirk whom William Shatner brought to life in Star Trek: The Original Series, just several years younger. While this didn’t end up translating to Wesley doing a Shatner impression while working on the Paramount+ show, he does have high praise for his predecessor’s performance.
Wesley spent some time talking about Strange New Worlds while appearing on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast. When the title host asked the Vampire Diaries vet if he ever wondered about imitating the way Shatner would deliver his lines in The Original Series and his following seven film appearances, he responded:
I had a conversation with the showrunners. They very specifically said, ‘Do not do an imitation of the original.’ We kind of laughed about it, but I wouldn’t do that anyway… And by the way, I watched the series, and I do think that there’s this stigma that is slightly exaggerated... Yeah, he’s cool, he’s smooth, he’s very charming, it’s pretty effortless if you watch The Original Series.
There’s no lack of William Shatner impersonations out there, but it was wise of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds show runners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers to steer Paul Wesley away from doing that. That would be better suited for the humor-driven Lower Decks, but on Strange New Worlds, Wesley doing his best to replicate Shatner’s speech pattern would have come off as too distracting and likely be construed as mockery. So instead, as Chris Pine did in his three Star Trek movies (it’s still unclear if Star Trek 4 will ever happen), Wesley simply spoke in his normal voice and channeled the spirit of the character to better effect.
Besides, Wesley finds the “stigma” surrounding the way Shatner said his lines on Star Trek: The Original Series to be overblown, so it’s likely he would have pushed back on an imitation if it was brought up as a possibility. During his podcast appearance, Wesley also retold the story of the time he met Shatner on a plane before he was allowed to tell anyone he’d been cast as Strange New Worlds’ Kirk. Fortunately, the two reunited after Wesley’s Star Trek debut was announced when he was asked to give an opening talk at Shatner’s handprint ceremony at San Diego Comic-Con, which led to the two chatting for a while.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds concluded its second season on August 10, and Paramount+ subscribers can look forward to Season 3 at a yet-to-be-announced date. While fans don’t need to worry about Paul Wesley’s James Kirk taking over as captain of the Enterprise from Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike anytime soon, if at all, the actor has made it clear he’s game to keep playing Kirk for as long as possible, unlike his Vampire Diaries character, Stefan. While we wait for news on Season 3, catch up to speed on programing available to watch now with our 2023 TV schedule.
