Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will introduce James T. Kirk in season two.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is barely into its first season, and fans are already asking about what’s going to happen in the second season, especially when James T. Kirk is introduced. The character played by Paul Wesley won’t be ready to take over the Enterprise when he arrives on-scene. That still doesn’t stop us from wondering just exactly who this guy is going to be.
Co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers offered some insight when he spoke with IGN. He wanted fans to know that it isn’t their intention to upset the balance of the show when Kirk does arrive. It’s because Kirk is so important in canon that he is coming in. He belongs in this Star Trek world as much as he did in Star Trek: The Original Series.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds isn’t rewriting Kirk’s past.
It was a big worry of fans that Strange New Worlds might change everything we know about Kir or upset the canon in some way. But Myers says that while the younger Kirk has been explored in the Kelvin universe movies, this Kirk won’t be the one fans know. They’ll be exploring him in different ways without rewriting his past.
"“The show is always about our core characters. We have guest stars and interesting people who come in. Those people will be memorable and curious, and sometimes they have big arcs, sometimes they have small arcs. But they inevitably reflect on our characters in interesting ways. And Kirk is no different except Kirk is a little bit more important [in the canon,] so he belongs in our world. But we’re also trying to do the same thing with him that we do with the other people. This is not the Kirk that you know. This younger Kirk, I guess he’s been explored some in the Kelvin universe movies, but in a very different way. We aren’t rewriting the past of these people. We are trying to imagine it in a new way. Paul Wesley’s not doing a William Shatner imitation.”"
Since Strange New Worlds was announced, fans have asked questions about what legacy characters would be brought into the series. With Kirk eventually taking over as captain of the Enterprise, it would have been strange to not include him at some point.
The fact that he’ll be a different Kirk is concerning as changing such a character could cause irreparable fan disdain. But we’ll just have to wait and see if the direction Strange New Worlds takes Kirk in is one that is organic without seeming forced. We don’t want a Shatner imitation, but we do want some glimpses of the Kirk that will eventually helm the Enterprise.