As Star Trek: Strange New Worlds prepares for the release of its penultimate season, series star Paul Wesley, who portrays James T. Kirk, has expressed a desire to continue with the character in a spin-off.
Strange New Worlds is a direct prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, set aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Chrispher Pike. Although it's set several years before Kirk becomes captain in The Original Series, it does feature younger versions of several classic characters, including Spock, Nyota Uhura, Christine Chapel, and, of course, James T. Kirk.
Despite Pike serving as Captain, there have been several episodes focused on fleshing out the backstories of many of these classic characters, including Kirk, which has led to a desire to further flesh out these characters in the time between what we've seen in Strange New Worlds and where The Original Series picks up.
Strange New Worlds showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, along with executive producer Alex Kurtzman, have previously discussed the possibility of a spin-off series that would follow Paul Wesley's James Kirk during his first year as Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Myers revealed back in March that they even pitched the series, which would be titled Year One, to Paramount Skydance. But so far, nothing has seemed to come of it.
Still though, there's hope for it — at least among the cast of Strange New Worlds. As reported by Collider, Paul Wesley was recently at FanX Comic Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was asked about the addition of Kai Murakami as Sulu and Thomas Jane as Bones to Strange New Worlds, which will complete the cast of The Original Series and possibly set up a spin-off.
Wesley, unfortunately, admitted that he hasn't received a call regarding Year One, but that he and Ethan Peck, who stars as Spock, would love to do a spin-off.
"We always talk about how we'd love to do a spin-off, and if they, if we get the phone call, we'll do it," he said. "But we haven't got the phone call yet."
As it currently stands, Paramount is navigating a series of mergers which has resulted in a sort of limbo state for the Star Trek franchise. While there are still two more seasons of Strange New Worlds and one season of Starfleet Academy — all of which have already been filmed — there are currently no new Star Trek series in development.
In the meantime, fans can look forward to the premiere of Strange New Worlds on July 23, exclusively Paramount+.