Following a first season that elated many fans and displeased many others, the final scene of the “Star Trek: Discovery” season finale introduced fans to a slightly updated version of the original U.S.S. Enterprise – and the confirmation that the iconic vessel was indeed under the command of Captain Christopher Pike. Now, as ‘Discovery’ ramps up for production on its second season, the show’s creative team has announced that they have found their Pike in actor Anson Mount.
Mount, seen most recently in ABC’s all-but-cancelled Marvel’s “Inhumans” series, is no stranger to working in the genre and TV mediums. His breakout role came on AMC’s critically acclaimed “Hell on Wheels,” and his being cast in the Pike role likely brings the death knell for “Inhumans,” which has finished its first season to extremely poor critical and fan reception.
The confirmation of Pike’s inclusion in the next season of “Discovery” begs the very important question: what other characters from the pre-Kirk Enterprise Era will the audience also see? The ship and its crew at this point in the Trek timeline were seen via flashback in the original Star Trek series episode “The Cage” – the footage itself was taken from the failed original pilot for “Star Trek” in the mid-1960s. In addition to Pike, other characters prominently featured included the ship’s first officer (unnamed at the time but later given the designation “Commander Una”) played by Majel Barrett, and one Mister Spock, whom Trek fans are obviously well aware of.
The “Discovery” creative team was coy about the inclusion of these characters, particularly Spock, who is “related” to Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), the main character of “Discovery.”
“We certainly aren’t confirming that we’re even going to introduce Spock and we certainly are not casting that role, either. We live a lot in memory and flashback. The center of our show is always Michael Burnham [series star Sonequa Martin-Green].
“[W]e realize how incredible Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto’s performances were and what [Star Trekmovie director] J.J. Abrams and the original series were able to pull off with that character,” Harberts says. “Finding another actor that could even come close to what Leonard Nimoy did with the original portrayal, we’d never want to go down that road.”
More casting info should come from “Discovery” as they shoot their second season in the coming months, so stay tuned to ScienceFiction.com for more news as it breaks!
Source: THR
