Captain Christopher Pike is a hallowed name in “Star Trek” lore and Anson Mount, who stars as Pike in the franchise’s newest hit “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” knows that better than anyone.
Pike was the original Captain of the USS Enterprise in the 1965 ‘Star Trek’ pilot. “He’s what’s supposed to represent the Starfleet captain in (creator) Gene Roddenberry’s mind,” Mount, 50, said in a Zoom interview.
“That’s a really high bar to meet. Yet at the same time, I’m freed from that because I feel like Jeffrey Hunter” – the star of “The Searchers” who was Jesus in “King of Kings” – “was playing a different Pike in a different part of his life. That was the first act Pike. I get to flesh out the second act Pike.
“Hopefully,” he added with a smile, “we’ll get to the correct Pike. I’d like to. But you have to have an equal sense of respect and the ability to put that aside and do your job every day.”
It’s nearly 60 years since “Star Trek” first boldly went into space, what is key to that continued appeal?
“When science fiction is at its best,” Mount answered, “and where TV is at its best is when they function as a metaphorical platform to talk about what’s going on right now. Gene Roddenberry was smart enough to use that platform to talk about our better selves. Hopefully, we’re continuing to make him proud.
“That’s one of the reasons, not just stylistically, that we wanted to harken back to the original series,” with standalone episodes. “We wanted to have that big idea of the week on the planet of the week.”
“Strange Worlds” began as a spin-off of “Star Trek Discovery.” Season 2 kicks off with Pike’s Number One Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) on trial because she’s revealed to be an Illyrian, a genetically altered race. Is this really about trans kids?
“It could be an allegory for all sorts of prejudice or persecution,” Romijn said. “It could be within the trans community. It could be racial, it could be religious. It could be an analogy for immigrant stories!
“It still just has to do with these human themes of prejudice and persecution still existing in this futuristic, utopian world. That is ‘Star Trek’ where we still can’t get away from certain things.”
Added Mount, “I certainly think that you can make that argument. It’s a very valid question. I don’t think it’s our place to nail some things down so tightly and to limit it. But I can confirm that those conversations have certainly happened in the background.”
Paramount + streams the first of 10 episodes of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S2” on Thursday
