Anson Mount talks Strange New Worlds , fan love for Pike, and having the best hair quiff on TV
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Executive producer Akiva Goldsman, the man who seems to have his hand in everything Star Trek these days, shares a few words before screening the first two episodes of Strange New Worlds, the latest spin-off series, at the New York City premiere April 30.
He says he believes the universe of Trek has two owners. One is creator Gene Roddenberry, and the other is the collective fans — some of which were in attendance at the AMC Lincoln Square theater, as they mingled in with the cast in their own Starfleet uniforms.
The existence of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which premiered today on Paramount+, is owed entirely to fans like them. Goldsman and his fellow producers relayed to the gathered crowd that the overwhelming love Trekkies had for actor Anson Mount's performance as Captain Pike when he first debuted on Star Trek: Discovery in season 2 made the new spin-off possible.
Mount is still floored by all of this days after the premiere. Calling in from Los Angeles on a lunch break during filming of the second season of Strange New Worlds, he says, "I've never had a reaction like that to anything that I've done, and the results of that response have literally changed my life."
Mount speaks more with EW about the fan response to Pike, how Strange New Worlds dives deeper into a major character revelation from Discovery, how The Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley was cast as a young Captain Kirk, and, of course, how he just might have the best hair quiff on TV at the moment.
Marni Grossman/Paramount+ Anson Mount returns as Capt. Pike in 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I was talking about you to a friend the other day and we came to the conclusion that you might just have the best hair quiff on television. What do you think about that?
ANSON MOUNT: I've been hearing a lot of comments to that effect. That's thanks in large part to our resident hair guru, Daniel Losco.
So what's the secret to the Pike hair?
You'll have to ask Daniel.
You haven't tried to replicate it yourself at home?
I don't think I could. Honestly, my wife makes fun of me because I hate grooming myself, and so my hair is often in a tangled mess. And my daughter seems to be starting to take after me.
I had seen you briefly from afar at the Strange New World's New York premiere and after party. Did you get a chance to enjoy yourself?
Yeah, we did. We had a really great time there. Most of us had already seen [the show], but to see it projected [in a theater] and to really get to take in the amount of work that they did in postproduction, on CG. And also we had a lot of fans there and to get to see them enjoy it was super special.
Somebody mentioned during the premiere that the fan response to you and to Pike on Star Trek: Discovery season 2 was so tremendous that the producers had to explore a standalone series. What did it feel like to know that?
It was all kind of mind-boggling to me, to be quite honest. I've never had a reaction like that to anything that I've done, and the results of that response have literally changed my life. It not only gave me a job during a very difficult time for actors, but it gave me the brevity and the opportunity to have a family, and the courage to have to go forward with having a family. Not every actor is in that position. When you choose to go this path, that is a luxury, not a given.
How far into your work on Discovery did the offer come through to headline your own Pike show?
Oh, we were well done with filming. This was as we were in pre-production for the Trek shorts, and it wasn't even an offer. It was just a conversation between me and [executive producer] Alex Kurtzman. He had a soft green light to write a pilot. And then it was a blur of a couple of years after that, between development and COVID. I can't really tell you what happened next, but it is over three years since that conversation happened.
James Dimmock/Paramount+ Ethan Peck's Spock, Anson Mount's Captain Pike, and Rebecca Romijn's No. 1 assemble for 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.'
Did it feel like a major shocker to you just being asked to return to this character that I don't know, maybe you thought was done after Discovery?
Was it a shock? Not necessarily, because there had been talk amongst us that it would be a great basis for a show. But that was all in the abstract. So, I guess the reality of it was a shock. For a long time and they didn't really have me or Ethan Peck or Rebecca Romijn under option. So, I started to think maybe they were going to let this go. Then, finally around spring of, I guess it was 2020, they called us and wanted to work out a deal.
I've talked to a lot of critics since the New York premiere and, especially, the ones who love Star Trek in general are really into this show. Many have said that Strange New Worlds feels like it's channeling the original Trek in many ways. Was that the goal for you guys on this show?
I'm not sure. I'm not really in a position to make things my goal. But I did know that I wanted to do an episodic Star Trek show. That was very important to me. It was also important that we do something that is based on exploration and fun. I think that everybody was on board with that as well. There was just something in the zeitgeist that people were craving.
I watched the premiere as I'm simultaneously watching Picard with Patrick Stewart. Picard has a line in season 2 where he says, "I refuse to accept an outcome that hasn't already happened." And Pike in Stranger New Worlds is very consumed with and haunted by the vision of his own death that he's had in Discovery. How deep are you guys going to dig into that lingering question of, will this fate actually come to pass?
I didn't think we could really do the show without delving into that. The easy thing to do, would've been to just sidestep it or ignore it because it's not the easiest character arc to try to figure out. But to the writer's credit, they decided to tackle it head on and we deal with it throughout the season.
The show feels like a "new world of the week" where each episode explores a completely different planet or species. Do you think there are bigger, more overlying themes that define the journey of season 1?
It's sort of a baked in the cake that it is optimistic, first of all. But also that there's something inherently curious in our species. There's something about us that wants, that needs to explore. When NASA says, "We need billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars to put a man on the moon or on Mars," there's a reason that we all kind of go, "Yeah, that makes sense. Let's do that." If you look at it on paper, it doesn't make any sense at all. But there is something in us that needs to reach out to the unknown, to the other. I think that that's the meat and potatoes of Star Trek.
Before Star Trek, you were notably on this other genre show Inhumans. I was curious what your big takeaway from that experience was.
I'm not going to talk about Marvel right now. No, sorry to say. I need to support Star Trek in this moment. And obviously there, I can't speak out of school right now about certain things.
It must feel good, though, that you are on a show now, like Star Trek, that has so much fan power behind it. What did it feel like standing in that theater in New York for the first two episodes with fans mingled in costume, ready to experience this?
It was a culmination of a lot of things. It's hard to believe that it had been three years of planning and working and finessing. But also, it just felt good to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor together as a cast. I think actors are the kinds of people that really like to give gifts. There's something in us that really wants to peek out from behind the curtain before the show to see the audience. When you have a show that you know they're going to enjoy, it feels like when you get that perfect present for the right person and you can't wait to watch them unwrap it. It feels a little bit like that. And not to be overly confident, but I feel like we've got the right present.
Marni Grossman Photography Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk on 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'
We got the announcement semi-recently that Paul Wesley is going to be playing a younger version of Kirk on this show. Have you had a chance to work with him yet?
Yeah. Paul's great. We've had a lot of fun. We welcomed him right into the family immediately. Good guy, and I thought he was well cast.
Is there anything that you can tease maybe about what fans can sort of expect from him?
Literally nothing. I can't. It's in my contract to get a finger cut off if I tell you, brother.
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