Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a show all about Christopher Pike and his courageous crew. We're watching a show that's supposed to fill in the gaps from the original pilot (The Menagerie) to the start of the original series (The Cage). We're getting to know the first on-screen captain of Star Trek lore in Pike, while also flushing out all the characters we would've known had the original pilot gotten picked up.
Namely Una Chin-Riley. It's been a wonderful ride. While not every character from the pilot is here, we are seeing so much in the way of character growth and exploration from everyone in the cast. Not just holdovers from the original pilot, but also new characters that were added to the show after the fact.
Yet, this isn't just a story about who Pike was before the accident or what his crew was like when he served, it's also the story of how James T. Kirk became captain of the USS Enterprise. Since the end of season one, we've been introduced to Paul Wesley as James Kirk. A younger Kirk than we know from the Original Series, we're watching this young command officer grow into the hero we'd see for years at the helm of the USS Enterprise in all of her incarnations.
So it wasn't as surprise when Wesley was bumped up to more episodes in season two. He became a major player, albeit still just a semi-regular character. Yet, a new article from TrekMovie.com seems to indicate that Wesley is going to be taking a larger role in season four.
Wesley spoke about needing to take time away from his whiskey business to be more available for Star Trek. If he was only doing the odd episode still, as we saw in seasons one and two, then he likely wouldn't be giving up so much of his duties to people he works with. At least, that's the working theory.
With season three already underway and the fourth season expected to start filming now in February of 2025, it's very likely that Strange New Worlds is getting near the end of its ride. We may get a fifth season, if we're lucky, and that may be where we see Pike's faith finally fullfilled.
If that's the case, then it's also very likely that they start to lean more toward Wesley and Kirk as the show comes to an end. Though, that's just speculation and nothing more.