Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Video: Paul Wesley Breaks Down Kirk's Bold Leadership Move, His 'Odd Connection' With Spock
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Thursday's Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
James T. Kirk isn't Captain Kirk yet on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds... but that changed in a hurry this week.
In Thursday's episode, Kirk was "so deeply bored" doing uneventful scans as first officer of the Farragut, but he was thrust into the captain's chair when a seismic shock wave struck the ship and incapacitated his captain. Kirk teamed up with the Enterprise crew to face a massive scavenger ship capable of swallowing Starfleet vessels whole, and at first, Kirk's brash decision-making almost led to disaster. But he regrouped, thanks to a pep talk from Spock, and they managed to destroy the enemy ship — and hint at a future together as one of the most dynamic duos in TV history.
Kirk "has a yearning, a desire for more" when the episode opens, Paul Wesley (who plays Kirk on Strange New Worlds) tells TVLine in the video above. "He doesn't want to sit still. He doesn't want to be on a ship and follow orders. He wants to explore." When he's suddenly made captain, though, "he gets more than he bargained for, and it just falls into his lap. There's this very traumatic, dramatic situation that unfolds... and frankly, he's not ready for it. He thinks he's ready for it, but he's not ready for it."
When Kirk's initial instincts lead to a costly mistake, "he breaks down with it," Wesley explains, "and then he has to build himself back up with the help of Spock and Uhura and Scotty." But through that breakdown, Trek fans get to "see the formation of this team that is going to work so well together and become so iconic in the minds of television viewers throughout the world."
As Wesley points out, Kirk and his future Enterprise pals "don't know each other as well" at this point, but he and Spock "have an odd connection off the bat. Like, immediately." In fact, Wesley theorizes that "if you were to take Spock's brain and Kirk's brain and put it together, it would probably be the greatest captain and the best possible decision maker." Kirk has this "unbelievable instinct," and Spock has this "unbelievable sense of logic," and "so you marry the two, and all of a sudden, it's like, 'Oh, wow, that would make a great captain.'"
The way Kirk and Spock complement each other this week is a harbinger of how well they'll fit together when they're on the bridge of the Enterprise together, Wesley adds. "Kirk is only great because Spock is there," he notes. "I really believe that the two of them, working hand in hand, is what makes [the original Star Trek series] so beautiful to watch."
Beam down to the comments to share your thoughts on this week's Strange New Worlds.