‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’: Paul Wesley Breaks Down Kirk’s Major Revelation About His Father

If there’s one thing that we know watching Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, it’s that we’re building to James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) becoming captain of the Enterprise at some point in this crew’s future. For now, it’s Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) at the helm. But in the latest episode, with Pike off-ship on an away mission, it falls to Kirk to make a tough decision, one that’s also wrapped up in what he thought he knew about his father. Warning: Spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 8 ahead!

Kirk is the highest ranking officer with experience on the Enterprise when Admiral Reeger (Joe Morton) boards and takes control to go after a ship for its unproved attack on a federation colony. He pushes the pursuit, even as Kirk questions the call, especially when their actions — destroying a planet with a population of over 5,000, since Reeger refuses to believe they’re not harboring the enemy. It turns out his family was killed by that ship, making it about revenge. And when Kirk digs into Reeger’s history with his father, he finds that the admiral had actually not been the one in command during a key battle against the Klingons — his father was — but he took the credit and made George Kirk suffer as a result, including assigning him to missions when he wanted family leave.

Kirk leads the mutiny, calling out Reeger in front of all and even claiming he’d rigged their weapons and if used, the Enterprise would be destroyed (he was bluffing). The crew follows Kirk. Then, M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) says he drugged the admiral’s coffee so he could declare him unfit and will face consequences for doing so …  but it had been Kirk.

Below, Paul Wesley breaks down the major Kirk episode.

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Love the casting of Joe Morton. Talk about working with him, especially during those very, very intense scenes.

Paul Wesley: He’s a veteran. I’m a big fan. He’s a theater actor and I knew that I had to bring my A game. There was no BS. He’s a guy who’s going to stay present. He’s going to go with it. There’s no interruption. There’s no stopping mid-take. And so I knew that I had to bring my A game, which is what I love. And sure enough, yeah, he met my expectations. He was just so focused. And at the same time, what I loved about his character was his incredible ability to play both a villain in a way, but also this kind of deeply empathetic man who was trying to, I don’t know, get some sort of peace in closing for the loss of his family. And you just suddenly were empathizing with him. And I mean, I think his performance was so layered and colored and yeah, it was beautiful.

We do have Kirk going against Reeger. Talk about Kirk making that choice to stand up to the admiral. It was a big gamble.

Yeah, he had to do it. Something didn’t feel right, and I think it was more just like he was doing it for his father. I think his whole life he’s looked at his father as this kind of failure, this guy who never mounted to what he should have in a way. And I think to suddenly have this incredible redemption is so important to him, not only just for closure, but also to give him, Kirk, the confidence to then be a captain, give Kirk the confidence to become who he is destined to become because he has that in his blood. And I think for him, this was such an important chapter.

Speaking of that, how has his view of his father changed as a result of what he learned?

Exactly that. He just suddenly realizes that his father was very special and he was a hero and a quiet hero. He was a humble hero. I think that’s an amazing lesson and it’s an amazing lesson to really understand that. Also, we find out that his father wanted to be a better father, but he wasn’t allowed to. I mean, it’s really important. It’s such an important thing for him and Sam [Dan Jeannotte] to learn.

Jan Thijs/Paramount+

How does Kirk feel about what M’Benga did for him, taking that blame like he did?

I think it just shows the whole kind of Star Trek, I don’t know, premise or in general, there’s an optimism about Star Trek. I think it extends to character and we all see the best in each other. The crew always looks out for each other, and I think that’s just emblematic of that.

We know the captain Kirk is going to be one day, and it seems like this episode really shows us that. So with everything that Kirk is seeing from captains and those in command, how is that shaping the kind of captain he wants to be one day? At this point in his career, what kind of captain does he want to be, do you think?

I don’t think he knows. I don’t think he knows. That’s the whole point. What I loved about the fact that we got to explore a young Kirk is that there’s a vulnerability and he doesn’t quite understand himself yet. And I think all of these episodes, learning about his father, falling in love, his relationship with his son, all of these things are filling in the colors so that he can understand what kind of man that he is and what kind of captain he’s capable of being. But until he goes through all of these stages, I don’t think he knows who he is yet, and I don’t think he knows what kind of captain he wants to be.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Thursdays, Paramount+