'Star Trek: Discovery': 7 Actors Who Could Play Captain Pike in Season 2
The Star Trek: Discovery Season One finale episode 'Will You Take My Hand?' ended on a huge [...]
Kyle Chandler
You may recognize Kyle Chandler from the late 1990s CBS television series Early Edition or from his Emmy Award-winning performance as Coach Eric Taylor on NBC's Friday Night Lights.
Since then, he's appeared in several films, including King Kong, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Super 8, Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, The Wolf of Wall Street, Carol, and Manchester by the Sea.
In 2015, he began starring in the Netflix Original Series Bloodline.
Anyone who has seen Chandler in Friday Night Lights knows that he has what it takes to play a commanding officer and a leader. Going from Coach Taylor to Captain Pike isn't a huge leap.
prevnextBrett Dalton
Brett Dalton is best known for playing Grant Ward on ABC's Marvel Cinematic Universe television tie-in series Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.
When Agents of SHIELD began, Dalton played Grant Ward as a straight-laced, by the book field operative for SHIELD. He was clean-cut and clearly on a path to the top of the agency.
It was eventually revealed that Ward was a Hydra agent. Once Ward got out from under his Hydra masters, Dalton began playing him with an intense unpredictability that brought a strong energy to his scenes.
If Dalton can combine straight-laced agent Ward with the sullen intensity of Ward gone rogue, he could make a fine Captain Pike.
prevnextLuke Evans
Luke Evans' has a varied acting history. He began as a performer in London's West End production including Rent, Miss Saigon, and Piaf. He broke into Hollywood in 2010 playing Apollo in Clash of the Titans and followed that up with performances in Immortals, The Raven, and The Three Muskateers.
Since then, Evans has become involved in bigger roles in bigger franchises. He played Bard the Bowman in The Hobbit trilogy, Dracula, played Dracula in Dracula Untold, played Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, and portrayed the creator of Wonder Woman in Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.
Most recently, he's turned to prestige television to star in TNT's The Alienist. If he'd like to continue his career in television, he's got the versatility and talent to take on Star Trek's Captain Pike.
prevnextJon Hamm
After his performance as Don Draper in AMC's Mad Men, Jon Hamm should be allowed to do pretty much whatever he wants. The performance earned him two Golden Globe awards and an Emmy.
Perhaps more importantly for the role of Captain Pike, it showed that Hamm can carry a certain past sensibility that informed Captain Pike's character, having been created in the 1960s. Pike is that era's definition of a model man and as Don Draper Hamm showed the kind of smoothness and confidence needed to bring that to life.
He also showed the kind of internalized identity struggle that plagued Captain Pike in "The Cage" as well as the passionate temper that Pike showed as written by David Mack in the Star Trek: Discovery novel Desperate Hours.
prevnextJames Marsden
James Marsden is another actor with a varied history. From Versace model to genre film star to indie film actor to fixture of HBO's Westworld, Marsden career has an impressive span.
Perhaps no role would prepare him for being Captain Christopher Pike better than playing Cyclops in the X-Men movies. Scott Summers is practically a mutant Starfleet, combining idealism with a military discipline to lead a team into unparalleled danger.
It is true that Marsden is still attached to Westworld, but HBO's hit science fiction series has such an irregular schedule that he'd likely have plenty of time to film as Captain Pike on the side.
prevnextAnson Mount
Anson Mount is primarily known for his roles in Hell on Wheels and playing the Inhuman king Black Bolt in Marvel's Inhumans.
Granted, Marvel's Inhumans ended up being quite disappointing and is probably something fans would rather forget. However, the problems with Marvel's Inhumans can't fairly be laid at Mount's feet.
Sure, Mount didn't have any lines - Black Bolt is a silent king, after all - but he still had great presence. Imagine taking Mount's forceful physical acting and actually allowing him to not just speak, but to speak dialogue that's better written than anything in Marvel's Inhumans.
Playing Captain Pike could be the redemptive next act Mount needs.
prevnextSebastian Stan
These days, Sebastian Stan is best known for playing James "Bucky" Barnes, the Winter Soldier, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, the star got his start in television playing roles like Carter Baizen in Gossip Girl, Prince Jack Benjamin in Kings, Jefferson in Once Upon a Time and TJ Hammond in Political Animals. That last role got him nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award.
Stan may have movie career now, but it isn't uncommon for actors to take up prestige television jobs between major films. Stan's performance as Barnes in Captain America: The First Avenger shows that he's capable of playing an upstanding military officer. His time as The Winter Soldier shows that he's capable of showing that same soldier's dark side.
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