Paul Wesley recently had a long-overdue conversation with William Shatner about playing James T. Kirk, and it couldn't have happened at a better time. The actor talked to the sci-fi legend about what it was like playing the character on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and I can't stop laughing at how Shatner responded.
As Strange New Worlds approaches the end of its run on the 2026 TV schedule and prepares for its final season, Wesley spoke with Shatner in a piece for Interview about playing one of Star Trek's best characters. Paul Wesley talked about his struggles after The Vampire Diaries ended and wanting to find a role completely outside of that. Things changed when he heard that EPs Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Meyers wanted to talk to him, and they wanted him as Kirk for SNW:
Here I am searching for this ambiguous, amorphous thing that I think I’m going to suddenly create myself, which is so silly of me. It’s so naive and egotistical. Then suddenly, you get a call and something’s just put in your lap in this bow. And you’re like, ‘Kirk?’ I get on the Zoom with them and we’re chatting, and I’m just like, 'Hold on a minute.' I was like, ‘Guys, nobody has played Kirk on television other than William Shatner. This is a very big deal.’
It was a big deal. Because even when Chris Pine played Captain Kirk on the big screen, he was playing the character from an alternate reality. Paul Wesley's James T. Kirk is the Prime Timeline version, meaning he and William Shatner played the same character.
Not only that, but Wesley was also offered the opportunity to play Kirk on Strange New Worlds, where the character had yet to become a Captain, let alone on the Enterprise. His performance would set the stage for the events of TOS, so he'd be tasked with showing a character who ultimately falls in line with William Shatner's performance. Wesley continued his story and talked about the gravitas of it all:
It didn’t dawn on me until I said those words. Saying it made me feel this immense whoa, butterflies in my stomach kind of thing. In any case, it was a Zoom and I didn’t audition for it. They wanted to talk to me and they wanted to just understand who I was, and they wanted to talk about the character and my connection to the character. That’s how the whole thing went down.
Some background for Star Trek fans who don't know: Paul Wesley had a chance encounter with William Shatner soon after that Zoom call. The actor was under an agreement not to leak the news and, as such, couldn't talk to him about how he was going to be the next James T. Kirk on television.
Now he finally got to open up about playing Kirk with the legend, which is where it gets hilarious. After this long story about how he got the gig, Shatner follows up with this question:
Wow. Have you started to film?
I laughed out loud when I read that response, because, of course, William Shatner has no clue about anything concerning Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. He doesn't watch Trek in general, and apparently doesn't follow it in the news either. Paul Wesley's been appearing as Kirk since Season 1 premiered back in 2022. The series wrapped filming on its final season last year, so Shatner is a little late to the news.
Fortunately, Wesley has earned the praise of fans and didn't need Shatner to see it for himself to sign off on the portrayal. There's even people who would love to see Wesley lead a spinoff to Strange New Worlds, that would essentially give us the original series with a newer cast.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays. Tune in to see Paul Wesley, and maybe encourage William Shatner to give the series a try!
