‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’: Joe Morton Reveals What He Loved About Playing an Admiral

In the eighth episode of the penultimate season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Joe Morton got to do something he’d wanted to do for years because he played an admiral in the long-running franchise.

Morton played Admiral Reeger, who had history with Kirk’s (Paul Wesley) father that wasn’t quite what the history books said. It was all revealed when Kirk pushed back against the admiral’s orders, mutinying, before the Enterprise could be part of something they’d all come to regret.

“I loved that show when I was in college. Star Trek was one of my favorite shows. Never been in an episode in all the years I’ve been an actor, suddenly I got a call to do an Admiral,” Morton told TV Insider on the Cupertino premiere red carpet on Wednesday, September 30. “All I could think of was I get to sit in a big chair. That’s all I could think of. So I said yes.”

Jan Thijs/Paramount+

When we spoke with Wesley about the Kirk-centric episode, he raved about working with Morton.

“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,” he shared.

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“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,” he added.’ “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.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Fifth and Final Season Premiere, TBA, Paramount+