Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Adds Another Enterprise Captain to Cast

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will tell the story of Capt. Christopher Pike, who commanded the ship before Capt. James T Kirk. Kirk will join the show in its second season, played by The Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley. It turns out that Strange New Worlds will complete the Enterprise captain trifecta. Paramount+ debuted the Strange New Worlds debut episode at a special screening on Saturday night. IGN reports that the premiere includes Canadian actor Adrian Holmes, who Bel-Air fans may recognize as Uncle Phil. He plays Admiral Robert April, the previous captain of the USS Enterprise before Pike.

Despite being one of Starfleet's most highly-decorated captains, April has previously only appeared in canon in a single episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series. April oversaw the USS Enterprise's construction and became its first captain. Star Trek: Discovery confirmed that Pike was April's first officer aboard the Enterprise before April turned command over to his executive officer. According to IGN's report, April is the admiral who recruits Pike back into action to search for Number One.

April may have been the Enterprise's first captain, but Pike is in command now. ComicBook.com spoke to star Anson Mount, who plays Pike, ahead of the show's premiere.

"Pike's very clear vision of his future is something that we wanted to face head-on and make a part of the development of the show rather than just kind of, 'Oh, that's a difficult plot point, let's just steer around that,'" Mount said regarding Pike's knowledge of his future fate. "Really, what does it do to a person, particularly a leader who's in charge of hundreds of lives that serve under him? Can you be an effective leader? Is this going to affect your judgment in any way? So, it's a big part of season one."

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds follows Captain Christopher Pike at the helm of the USS Enterprise in the years before Star Trek: The Original Series. The series brings back fan-favorite stars Star Trek: Discovery Season 2: Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One, and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series follows Pike, Spock, and Number One before Captain Kirk's command of the USS. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds across the galaxy. The series also stars Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Christina Chong as La'an Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding as Cadet Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas, and Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M'Benga.

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