Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Director Reveals Why Pike Was Barely in the Season 2 Premiere Episode

Star Trek fans may have been surprised by how little Captain Christopher Pike factored into Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2's premiere. Many likely expected Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to immediately address the cliffhanger from its first season finale, where Number One was arrested for her genetic enhancements. Instead, that storyline won't pick up until this week's episode, "Ad Astra per Aspera," which sees Una placed on trial with Pike at her side. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' premiere episode, "The Broken Circle," acknowledges that situation briefly via an opening scene that sees Pike conversing with Una before Pike leaves the ship, placing Spock in command as acting captain while it undergoes routine maintenance. That's pretty much it for Pike's role in "The Broken Circle."

It turns out that Pike's unusual absence in the episodes is because the actor who plays the Enterprise's commanding officer, Anson Mount, had a baby not long before filming. Director Chris Fisher explained the situation on an episode of The 7th Rule podcast.

Ahead of filming, Fisher was told, "Anson just had a baby. He's not really going to be available for this episode." Fisher explained, "It was definitely a challenge too because Anson is such an incredible actor, and Pike is such a great character."

He continued, saying that the episode splitting its focus among the Enterprise's crew "came from the necessity of Anson just had a baby, and he needed to spend time with his kid. So we knew that, of course, and we had nine months to prepare for that, so our showrunners wrote an episode that kicked the door down in terms of fun and action, and really leans heavily on what makes these other characters so awesome."

Pike and Una are "old friends" in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Mount will return as Pike in this week's Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode, supporting Una through her court-martial proceedings. During the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 press junket, Rebecca Romihn, who plays Number One, told ComicBook.com about Pike and Una's relationship.

"I can only speak to us in our relationship, but I think Anson and I have agreed that our friendship goes back to Starfleet Academy days," Romijn said. "We are just friends that can see straight through each other and can call it out. And sometimes when Anson and I have these two-handers together, which always feel very grounded to me, I have very vivid memories of Jonathan Frakes, again, being on set, saying, 'Old friends, old friends,' and he says that at the beginning of every take and it's just such a nice way to approach every scene."

How to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 debuts new episodes on Thursdays on Paramount+ in the United States, the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. The second season will stream on Paramount+ in South Korea, with a premiere date still to be announced. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds airs on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Central and Eastern Europe

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 is also streaming on Paramount+. The season is also available as home media on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4k UHD.