Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Star Anson Mount Addresses Rumors He’s Exiting the Show After Season 1

The new Star Trek: Strange New Worlds TV series will let fans see the adventures of the USS Enterprise in the early days before Captain James T. Kirk took over the helm. Kirk’s mentor, Captain Christopher Pike, will be the protagonist of Strange New Worlds – at least in Season 1. Knowing how Star Trek lore plays out, there’s been a lot of question of just how long Pike will remain in the captain’s chair of Strange New Worlds‘ Enterprise – especially since the show has already gone ahead and cast a younger version of James Kirk (played by Vampire Diaries’ Paul Wesley). 

In a new interview, Anson Mount addresses rumors that he’ll only be starring as Captain Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1: 

“We wanted to do a true prequel — PREQUEL — to the original series, and that is couched in the Pike years. But, as you know, in the world of TV scripting, one season does not necessarily correspond to one year,” Anson Mount told Cinemablend. “As we get into the show, there’s really… I’m not sure we’ve really demarcated how far time is progressing between seasons. So, I don’t know. We’ll see where it ends up. But, yeah, no, that would be a very different show.”

Anson Mount first made his Star Trek debut in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, where his Enterprise crew (including Ethan Peck’s Young Spock) helped Michael Burnham and the USS Discovery crew solve a mystery that spanned time and space. Discovery served as something of a prequel to the prequel, acting as a launchpad to this Strange New Worlds spinoff. Mount’s take on Captain Pike (one of the oldest and most iconic Star Trek characters) overwhelmingly won over fans, which is a big reason why Paramount felt like he could carry an entire spinoff series. Only bringing Mount on for one season before transitioning back into the format of Star Trek TOS would be bafflingly redundant. 

Indeed, a lot of early intrigue for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has to do with the show’s mix of classic retro Star Trek TV fun, and the new-age vision of the franchise that’s become a staple of Paramount’s Star Trek TV Universe. It’s a balance that can be maintained for multiple seasons of storytelling, while still providing a controlled enough framework that Strange New Worlds wouldn’t have to outlast its welcome before switching out Pike for Kirk, and synching up with the original canon again. 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will premiere on Paramount+ on May 5th.