Casual Trekkies think that Star Trek began with Captain Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy in the original series. However, the most passionate fans know that it all started with Captain Pike, his first officer, Number One, and a noticeably younger Spock in the unaired pilot, “The Cage.” Nearly six decades later, the original crew of the Enterprise is finally getting its own show in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. And to set the stage for next week’s series premiere, Paramount+ has released two new videos to allow both new and classic fans to boldly go into the future.
In the first featurette, Anson Mount reveals that his character, Christopher Pike, has been haunted by the vision of his death from a pivotal episode in Star Trek: Discovery. This is Pike’s fate in the original series, and now he knows he can’t escape it. While Strange New Worlds features almost entirely stand-alone episodes, the emotional arc for Pike is about him coming to terms with that future.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of that video is the reveal that Christina Chong’s La’an Noonien-Singh is Pike’s security chief on the Enterprise. Her distant relative, Khan Noonien Singh, was a genetically enhanced superhuman who became one of Kirk’s deadliest foes. But at this point in the timeline, no one knows that Khan is still out there waiting to be found.
In the second video, former Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Wil Wheaton hosts an extended preview for Strange New World that kicks off with an interview with Mount and series co-creator Akiva Goldsman.
Rebecca Romijn also stars in the series First Officer Una Chin-Riley/Number One, alongside Ethan Peck as Spock, Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga, Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura, Jess Bush as Christine Chapel, Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas, and Bruce Horak as Hemmer.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will premiere on Friday, May 5.
