Anson Mount Talks Joining the ‘Star Trek’ Family

Anson Mount will officially join the Star Trek universe as Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access.

Beside a tweet here and there, Mount has been understandably silent about his role since the announcement was made, but recently he opened up a bit about it on an episode of The Well, a podcast about the creative life that he co-hosts with Branan Edgens.

“It’s crazy man,” Mount says. “Getting cast in Star Trek is not like getting any other job. It’s also kind of like a rite of passage that very few actors get to enjoy. It’s nuts because you’re not just joining a cast, you’re joining cultural touchstone, a big family. Jonathan Frakes, who played ‘Number One’ in Star Trek: The Next Generation, he’s our current director for episode two. Of course, I worked with Colm Meaney and they’re constantly asking me about Colm and Marvin Rush, who was the DP on Hell on Wheels, shot a lot of Star Trek.”

Despite being a part of Marvel’s Inhumans, Mount is still taken aback by the scale of Star Trek: Discovery production.

“It’s also the biggest production I’ve ever been a part of, and I don’t just mean TV production, I mean anything,” Mount says. “There’s six soundstages that we fill. It’s enormous. The sets, the whole machine of it all, sometimes running two units at once.”

Of course, a big production means lots of work for the actors. Luckily Mount has his dog Mac along with him.

“You know, the hours are killer, really long hours, and I’m up here with Mac, and Mac has been very patient with the process,” Mount says. “He gets a lot of attention on set and snores at inopportune times.”

Mount will be the latest actor to play Christopher Pike, who was captain of the USS Enterprise before Jame T. Kirk took command of the ship for the famous five-year mission of Star Trek: The Original Series. Pike was previously played by Jeffrey Hunter in the original Star Trek pilot episode “The Cage” and by Bruce Greenwood in the Kelvin timeline Star Trek movies.

Are you excited for Mount’s debut as Captain Pike on Star Trek: Discovery? Let us know what you think in the comments!

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the United States, through CraveTV in Canada, and through Netflix in other international markets. Star Trek: Discovery Season Two is now filming in Toronto.