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"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is out with its third season this month. It is the latest show in a nearly 60-year-old franchise. I thought it was a five-year mission. Anyway, NPR TV critic Eric Deggans spent time with some of the cast and producers.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: The first episode in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'" third season kicks off with an epic space battle as the crew of the Starship Enterprise faces off against brutal bad guys the Gorn. Captain Christopher Pike, unlike some other "Star Trek" captains, wants his crew to help him figure out what to do next.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS")
ANSON MOUNT: (As Captain Christopher Pike) All right, who's got ideas?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Diversionary tactics.
MOUNT: (As Captain Christopher Pike) We're too boxed in.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Jam their comms so they can't coordinate attacks.
MOUNT: (As Captain Christopher Pike) That's it. That's the one.
DEGGANS: Co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman says moments like that with Pike are no accident.
AKIVA GOLDSMAN: What's, you know, unique about Pike is he is the least selfish captain we've ever seen.
DEGGANS: "Strange New Worlds" depicts the adventures of the Starship Enterprise years before the time depicted in the original "Star Trek" series when William Shatner's James T. Kirk was captain. Goldsman says the new series has tried to reinvent some aspects of old-school Trek. The original 1960s era series featured the Gorn played by a guy in a rubber lizard suit. But they also bring new sensibilities to classic Trek themes.
GOLDSMAN: We try to still be a lens on issues that matter with the safe distance of genre, right? That lets people understand problems in a way that's less threatening.
DEGGANS: For the show, that means tackling storylines centered on identity, PTSD and institutionalized discrimination. Last season, they took big swings with an episode crossing over with the animated series "Star Trek: Lower Decks" and a musical episode with singing Klingons. Anson Mount, who plays Captain Christopher Pike, says those big swings add excitement as they focus on living up to the franchise's massive legacy. Mount knew what he was getting into when he took the role because he had befriended Patrick Stewart of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" years ago as a young acting student in college and watched how he handled fans.
MOUNT: I remember to this day going out to dinner and having our meal interrupted by a fan. And when that finished, he turned to us and said, well, everyone likes a pat on the back, don't we? And that's really stuck with me.
DEGGANS: Carol Kane, whose TV career stretches back to roles on classic series like "Taxi" and "Cheers," had a slightly different experience when producers called her for a role as the ship's top engineer.
CAROL KANE: I knew approximately zero about Trek. I really thought they had made some kind of mistake because it was just a foreign, you know, universe to me. And I said, well, I think that's good. That'll probably work for the character.
DEGGANS: Ethan Peck has what may be one of the more challenging jobs, playing a younger version of the popular character Mr. Spock. Peck remembers a conversation with another "Next Generation" cast member, Jonathan Frakes, who reminded him just how unique his situation was as an actor on "Star Trek."
ETHAN PECK: And he was like, yeah, well, you know, you're like, one of 50 now. For, like, a regular series bridge crew, "Star Trek" bridge crew, there's like 50 of us or 40 or something. And I was like, that's a really exclusive club.
DEGGANS: Before the current third season debuted, Paramount announced "Strange New Worlds" will end with a shortened fifth season. A new series with James Kirk as captain might make sense, but Goldsman gets cagey when asked if a new Paramount+ Trek show could pick up with that story.
GOLDSMAN: All I will say to you is, there's still a lot of stories that take place on that Enterprise.
DEGGANS: If that does happen, it'll likely be because "Strange New Worlds" offered a Trek series that reminded fans what they loved about a show which boldly goes where no one has gone before.
I'm Eric Deggans.
(SOUNDBITE OF JEFF RUSSO'S "STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS (MAIN TITLE THEME)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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