Paul Wesley Brings Captain Kirk Down to Earth

Captain Kirk is wearing a black hoodie and jeans. In the third episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season Two, James T. Kirk trades his gold Starfleet uniform for some 21st-century threads (thanks to some time travel shenanigans), and, in doing so, becomes an everyman. As played by Paul Wesley, this version of Kirk isn’t a larger-than-life hero; instead, he feels like someone you know. Or, better yet, someone you might aspire to be like. “He’s a classic,” Wesley tells Esquire. “I feel like Kirk would like classic clothing. He’s like jeans, leather jackets, boots, hoodies, white t-shirts, black t-shirts, boom, done. I never want to wear things that will go out of style.”

Although the idea of James Kirk might conjure up images of William Shatner fighting a rubber lizard in slow-motion, or, perhaps the wise-cracking Chris Pine, the character of Kirk is far more relatable and real than his reputation suggests. “If you actually watch The Original Series, yes, there’s some exaggerated stuff there, but for the most part, Kirk is pretty down-to-earth,” Wesley explains. “He’s not like the caricature people think of, or as big as people have made him out to be in their heads over the years.”

Perhaps most well-known for his role as immortal Stefan on The Vampire Diaries, Wesley is the opposite of a caricature. He’s a thoughtful, relatable guy, more apt to ask a question about you than talk about himself. He’s charming and he’s got swagger, but he’s also subtle and kind. In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season Two, Wesley appears as James T. Kirk in a few surprising episodes, beginning with the third story, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.” It’s a cracking time travel romp, which sends a version of Kirk and series regular La’an (Christina Chong) back to 21st-century Toronto. In the vein of classic Trek time travel, Paul Wesley gets to play Kirk as a fish out of water, and in doing so, makes him more realistic and more interesting than any version of Kirk we’ve seen before.

For most viewers, Strange New Worlds is a back-to-basics version of Star Trek; each episode is mostly self-contained, and even the complicated sci-fi plotting feels secondary to characters and emotions. And in this way, Wesley’s version of Jim Kirk is a microcosm of the entire series. He is Kirk, sometimes from a different timeline, sometimes found just a few years before taking over the Enterprise, but don’t worry about it too much. He’s the guy you trust, because he believes in people when no one else will, and he’ll always do the right thing, even if nobody notices or remembers. In Strange New Worlds, Wesley doesn’t reinvent the character of Captain Kirk, but instead, does something that feels radical: his performance reminds us that all of us could be Kirk if we wanted to be. Kirk isn’t a legend—he’s just a guy. A very competent and cool guy, but someone you’d want to hang out with all the same. In real life, Wesley is very much the same. His enthusiasm for life and his interest in art and music is infectious. He’s a man of action, and a Renaissance man, too. But, ultimately, Wesley feels like the guy who would loan you his hoodie and never ask for it back.

Esquire caught up with Paul Wesley to discuss playing Captain Kirk in Strange New Worlds, making whiskey, and how to know when you’ve really grown up. Spoilers ahead for Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 3.

ESQUIRE: In the new Strange New Worlds episode, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” thanks to time travel, Kirk gets to drive a red Dodge Challenger Hellcat. FAST. Did you really drive it?

PAUL WESLEY: Absolutely. I'm all about it. I'm a speed fanatic. I race motorcycles. I love cars. I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I was on a downhill racing ski team when I was five, and then I transitioned to snowboarding. I love speed. You know, that's something Captain Kirk and I have in common. I kick it into fifth gear, immediately.

You were Stefan in The Vampire Diaries, and that must have been some aspect of yourself at that time. How close is Kirk to you?

I think very. I think he’s very close to me. If you were to give me Kirk without any preconceived notion of Kirk, and there was no William Shatner and there was no Chris Pine, I would feel like, “This role is made for me.” But because of the stigma and the zeitgeist of Captain Kirk, every day, I’m like, “Wait, am I doing this correctly? Should I be doing it this way?” I normally wouldn't question that. But because it's such an iconic role, I can't help but think about my choices, because I'm doing something so different from the norm.

Why was this role made for you? Where does Kirk intersect with Paul Wesley?

When I was in my teen years, I developed this tough guy persona as a way of protecting myself. Growing up on the East Coast, I got kicked out of three high schools. I was in a ton of fist-fights. I was lifting weights and playing sports and all that crap. That was a bit of a façade that I maintained for a long time as a sort of protective layer for whatever reason, until I grew older.

And now I'm more of the sort of guy that would much prefer to hang out by myself and read a book, or watch a great movie, than go out with the bros. I don’t do that as much anymore. I hate to use the word intellectual, because it sounds so pretentious, but that’s the sort of energy for me now.

People tend to think of Kirk like he’s a frat bro, but as written, he’s a chess nerd, right? In the second pilot episode in 1965, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” he’s described as a “stack of books with legs.”

Not to interrupt you, but that’s it exactly. I totally took that “stack of books with legs” line and I actually based my Kirk on that line. I didn’t want him to be a complete stack of books with legs, because that would have been like watching paint dry. But I wanted to incorporate that brainier aspect of Kirk into my version of the character. When we think of Captain Kirk, there's an immediate sort of reaction: we know who he is. Kirk has obviously been established very clearly by not only pop culture history, and, but also, obviously, what William Shatner did in the 1960s. But the key thing is he’s recognizable. There’s a recognizable feeling, and I wanted to do something a little different with that. I thought this was a really good opportunity to start from a different place and watch Kirk build into the character that he’s known for in pop culture history. A lot of that has to do with maybe creating a bit less brawn and a little more brains, for lack of a better phrase. Having him still finding his footing. A little less self-assured. At this point, he’s trying to understand who he is and who he wants to be, and what kind of leader he wants to be. Because, ultimately, he’s not a captain yet.

You've had a triple challenge because in Season One, you played an alternate version of Kirk. When we see you in this time travel episode with La’an (Christina Chong), you’re again an alternate Kirk. We get “regular” Kirk later in the season, but that’s a lot of Kirks! How did you keep all that straight?

In the Season One finale, I wanted to play a different Kirk. Even though it was modeled on “Balance of Terror” from 1966, I was a little more subdued and stoic. Then, in Season Two, when we first meet Kirk, it's a dark time. It’s like Mad Max. The galaxy is in disarray. Things are not harmonious. And then slowly, he finds the joy of being back in time. He’s like a kid in a candy shop in Episode Three. By the end of it, he doesn't even want to leave. He loves Earth and he almost wants to stay.

But, at the end of the day, he’s someone who will always do the right thing. He essentially sacrifices himself for the future of mankind. I wanted there to be a bit of an arc. But ultimately, I did want the Kirk we know: that fun, jovial, having-a-good-time guy. But also, the man who does the right thing and is the hero. It’s a lot like “City on the Edge of Forever,” my favorite episode of Trek. When I read the script, that’s the first thing I thought of, and I rewatched that episode.

Okay, so you’re technically older than Shatner was in 1966. You’re 40, but you look 30. Are you a vampire in real life? What’s your secret there?

My father looked like he was 20 years old until he was like 50! [laughs] I think I inherited those genes. I also think that if you look at all the older films, you know, some of the films in the sixties, the TV shows of the seventies, everyone looked older. Actors in their twenties looked like they were 50 years old. It’s bizarre. But, you know, now people are living longer, and they have healthier habits. But I drink a lot of bourbons, so what do I know?

To be honest, I keep waiting for myself to grow up. I keep going, “When am I going to be an adult?” I think that’s why I don’t have kids. Because I’m like, “How am I going to do this?” I do want kids at some point, but I guess I’m just waiting to be an adult.

You have a whiskey company with your Vampire Diaries co-star Ian Somerhalder. How long do you plan to keep making Brother’s Bond? Forever?

It's a brand that I want to give to my kids if I ever have them. I've never built a brand before in this capacity. Certainly not one where I've been one of the co-founders from the ground up. And, you know, it's become a part of my life now, and I want to build it into a legacy brand that exists that I can give to future generations. So the answer is yes, forever.

Okay, Brother’s Bond Whiskey forever. How long can you play Kirk? Can Strange New Worlds take us into the era of The Original Series?

As long as great people like Ethan Peck and Akiva Goldsman are involved, I would do that in a heartbeat. How cool would it be to watch Kirk turn into the Kirk that we know? And then watch what happens next? That would be fucking awesome.

Chris Pine’s Kirk listened to the Beastie Boys. Shatner’s Kirk listened to… probably spoken word jazz? What about your Kirk? What does he listen to?

It would be way too meta to say my Kirk listens to William Shatner’s band. [laughs] My music taste is all over the map, and I think in a good way. I mean, I’ll listen to anything from Gary Clark Jr. to Tame Impala or Muse. But I grew up on hip-hop, like Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. and Dr. Dre. But you know what. I’ll say this: I saw The Rolling Stones fairly recently. I was talking about my style—how I want to wear something that never goes out of style. That’s how I feel about The Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger's up there doing his thing and he's just killing it. I feel like that’s Captain Kirk right there.

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