By any measure, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds had a brilliant debut season, winning the hearts and sparking the imaginations of Trek fans, old and new.

Some of the intense anticipation for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 can be credited to its role as a prequel series, introducing the proto-TOS versions of canon characters, Spock, Uhura, and Kirk.

Additionally, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 did a stellar job of introducing new characters like Melissa Navia's Erica Ortegas, the Enterprise's pilot and resident shoot-from-the-hip quipster.

In preparation for the Season 2 premiere this Thursday, TV Fanatic recently sat in for online roundtable interviews with several of the show's delightful cast members - Ethan Peck (Spock), Paul Wesley (James T. Kirk), Melissa Navia (Erica Ortegas), and Celia Rose Gooding (Nyota Uhura).

As expected, Peck and Wesley fielded a plethora of questions about reuniting Spock and Kirk onscreen.

Peck begins by addressing his initial feelings about the Spock-Kirk dynamic but keeps it tantalizingly vague. "I think I was most excited to explore the sort of adversarial component of the relationship, which maybe we will, maybe we won’t."

Wesley is more introspective. "Thus far, it’s the genesis of this friendship that we all know so well. But I think what’s great is that they don’t know what their friendship is going to be yet.

"They really don’t know what it is about one another that is alluring or intriguing, and I wanted to sort of portray a little bit of that hint of intrigue, but it’s subconscious.

"You don’t really understand why Kirk is drawn to this guy and why he finds him compelling."

Wesley first appears as Kirk on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 10, where he portrays an alternate version of Kirk in a world where Pike has averted his disfiguring accident and remains in command of the Enterprise when they encounter the Romulans.

Season 2 will put Wesley in a similar position, playing an alternate version of Kirk. Did Wesley find a throughline in playing these different aspects of a character?

"The Season 1 finale is based on Balance of Terror," Wesley points out, "I watched that episode multiple times, and Kirk is fairly serious. Then, as you watch TOS, there are moments where he’s incredibly playful.

"I think every episode speaks to a different characteristic and quality that Kirk has, and Season 2 Episode 3 is very playful.

"The one throughline is that he’s very heroic, and he has a really good moral compass, and he always trusts his instincts. So I think that is the pillar that is not movable."

Knowing there's a 50+ year history of their characters, encompassing all of TOS, TAS, and the feature films, are the actors mindful of their characters' future selves?

"Oh gosh," Peck is taken aback a bit. "From a performance perspective, it’s so difficult to keep all that in mind because we are so far from the beginning of the original series.

"I would really task the writers with that job. I think that we will see Spock at least go through many different types of exploration of himself, and he may appear more human at times or more Vulcan at times, or who knows how else. We’ll see. I don’t think about it too much."

Wesley takes a different tack for Kirk, "Well, I certainly think about it. But I think it would be a mistake to automatically be that version of the Kirk that is part of the canon.

"I think now he’s still trying to figure himself out, and part of the fun of playing this character -- pre-the Kirk that we all know -- is to slowly evolve and develop the mannerisms or characteristics or the cadence.

"I think that we can sort of slowly get there, if we get there from Day One, it’s a little bit less interesting to watch. So I wanted to keep it a little bit unique and different. But of course, I think about it."

What can the actors share about how Kirk and Spock grow and change over Season 2?

Peck is enthusiastic about Spock's trajectory. "I love so much the earnestness that Spock brings to his journey, I suppose. There’s such a childlike vulnerability in the way that he explores himself and certain situations because he is so young as a human being, right?

"He’s half and half, and his human side, I think, is nascent, and that makes for a lot of really great comedic opportunities as well because he’s always the odd man out, sort of the strange one in the room. And that’s really fun to play."

Wesley acknowledges that Kirk has a lot of room to grow before he becomes the captain we know from The Original Series.

"In many ways, I think Kirk is still a boy," he admits, "At least in the version that I’ve been playing. I’m not sure he understands how to be a captain yet. I think he’s still a lieutenant, and he’s not ready to be a captain yet.

"I would like to slowly begin to portray him as someone with a deep confidence and an unwavering sort of sense of who he is, but I don’t think he’s quite there yet. And I think that’s sort of what makes it special to watch."

Both Peck and Wesley own that Season 2 is buoyed by the positive fan reaction to Season 1.

"It’s been so relieving," Peck declares, "We were mid-production on Season 2 when [Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 1] premiered. We were well on our way into the second season, and to not know how you’re doing was kind of insane.

"When I saw the first two episodes premiere in New York, I was really taken aback by the high level of quality that I was suddenly a part of. I don’t know what to expect because we do our job, we carry the baton for the time that we’re there on set, and you just never know how it’s gonna turn out.

"I'm just so thrilled and excited to be part of an amazing production and team of creatives."

Wesley, as a later addition to the cast, has a different perspective that is no less positive. "Look, I came in the season finale of Season 1. These guys had been shooting it [for a long time]. Ethan, of course, was part of the [Star Trek:] Discovery.

"I came in, shot a few scenes, and next thing you know, Season 1 premieres, and everyone’s in love with the show, and it has all these brilliant reviews.

"I think it’s very hard to create a version of a show that is so beloved. It’s a huge, huge undertaking, and these guys did it so brilliantly. I’m not going to take any credit for it because I wasn’t a part of it until the very, very end, and so I’m just grateful to be a part of this fantastic series with these really brilliant actors and brilliant writers and, frankly, more importantly, nice people."

Fans are excited about the Star Trek: Lower Decks live-action crossover on this upcoming season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Since Jack Quaid's Ensign Boimler is sure for fanboy over meeting Spock, Peck had a lot of scenes with Quaid and enjoyed it immensely.

"I met Jack a few years ago at a convention, and we had such a nice connection right off the bat. I remember thinking at that time I’d love to work with this guy. He’s also from LA. We just share a lot of similar contexts.

"It was so much fun working with him, and Jonathan Frakes, who directed the episode, coined us, ‘Spoimler’ which is a hybrid of our names – Spock and Boimler – and that just made me so happy to have this joke with Jonathan Frakes who I revere.

"I didn’t do much improvising because I pretty much stay on rails as Spock. It’s quite difficult to improvise when he’s speaking about some matters of science. Jack, I think, had a little more leeway with that, and he did improvise, which was really fun."

Reflecting on their time working together, the actors take a moment to comment on what they admire about the other's approach to their role.

"Paul was so careful and really took it very seriously and was very measured in his approach," Peck details, "Which I really love to see because I think all of us on the show really accept the burden of these iconic characters and are excited about it. He showed up to the party with much the same approach and strategy.

"And then in terms of his embodiment of Kirk, I think he just brings so much charm, magnetism, he’s devilish, and I love being on the other side of the camera from him when we’re doing these scenes."

"Ethan," jokes Wesley, "I’ll Venmo you. Thanks, man, that’s very kind of you. Look, I echo everything that Ethan just said. I think it’s extremely difficult to play Spock. I can’t even imagine.

"He does such a wonderful job of paying homage to those mannerisms, the cadence, the voice. I think the stoicism with little hints of humanity and vulnerability that he’s so desperately trying to find is so well-portrayed in Ethan’s version of Spock. I’m quite in awe of it, actually."

Next up, the press spoke with Celia Rose Gooding and Melissa Navia -- Uhura and Ortegas, respectively -- two of the most vital bridge crew members in charge of communications and piloting the ship.

While Gooding plays the canon character of Nyota Uhura, most iconically played by the late Nichelle Nichols, Navia had the challenge of introducing a wholly new character to viewers in Season 1. Ortegas's skill as a pilot and quick banter drew her fleets of fans.

Navia recognizes the immense power of the fan base.

"I’ll start by saying thank you to the fans because we hear them. Our writers, our producers, our showrunners hear them. That sneak peek that we introduced at Star Trek Day? I remember our showrunners, Henry in particular, came up to me, and he was like, ‘Y’know, the fans have been asking for more Ortegas, and so that’s what we’re gonna give them.

"So you got that clip from [Episode] 4. We hear the fans, and they’re really a part of the storytelling."

Navia also hints that Ortegas has lots to do in Season 2 and believes the fans will love it too.

"I am very satisfied with what we’ve seen in Season 2, what the fans are going to see. In Season 1, even though I feel Ortegas was an integral part of every episode, I get what fans were saying where we got so much more backstory and interplay between legacy characters, and we learned a lot about La’an.

"But they were like, 'For Ortegas, we wanted so much more.' That in and of itself was such a huge compliment because that says that what we did with so little, we made so much out of.

"That speaks to the writers. That speaks to a little bit of what I did. And it speaks to the nature of our ensemble cast that the camaraderie that we have made people feel like not only do we want to be a part of that crew, but we want to learn more about the person that we know the least about.

"We definitely took that into account. You’re going to see a lot more Ortegas in Season 2. We get to learn more about her as a pilot, as a soldier, and as a crew member and a friend that her crewmates trust, are loyal to, and that has a place in this Star Trek world."

One of the cornerstone elements of Trek television is the personal log. Oftentimes, it is the captain or commander, so when a different character opens the show with a personal log, fans sit up and pay attention.

In Season 2, both Uhura and Ortegas have episodes that open with their personal logs. As Trek fans as well as Trek actors, how did that feel?

Navia doesn't hold back on her enthusiasm. "I was so excited to get a personal log, y’know? Because that’s one of those Star Trek aspects that reaches beyond a particular show like so much of Star Trek does.

"And [then], as I was doing it, I suddenly could not remember one log I’d ever heard. I’m like, ‘How do they say the numbers? Do they say dot? Do they say point?’ It’s like I’ve never seen or heard it before, but I had. It was one of those moments.

"Anson [Mount] has spoken to this before; the times we’re kind of like, ‘We’re doing Star Trek. This is crazy.’

"So that was very exciting, and the fact that episode was Ortegas wanting to go to a planet, wanting to get off the ship. That whole episode, we get to really play with when you love what you do, and it kind of becomes monotonous, and you have to remember why it is why you love what you do and why you do it and why you’re the only person who can do it the way you do it.

"We get all of that in one episode, and we get to really play with Ortegas wanting to get off the ship, but also really her home is the ship, and she wouldn’t have it any other way."

Gooding concurs with the import and nearly overwhelming aspect of recording a personal log.

"I would say that the personal logs is such a Trek classic, it’s such a Trek staple. There’s, of course, that anticipation of like, ‘I get to have my own … amazing…’ but it’s exactly as Melissa says.

"I remember going to the writers and being like, ‘Do we say point or do we say dot? Do we say dash? Do we say slash? Give me the word perfect so I don’t have fans who have a lot more about this franchise than I do in my Twitter DMs telling me I messed up.’

"I think those little franchise-wide opportunities that we have as characters, those are the things we get so excited about because we really get to put our own stamp and specialness in something that we can say is particularly and specifically ours in a franchise that is so global and really shared with fans and audiences around the world."

As mentioned by Mount and Romijn in the previous roundtable, Season 2 makes ambitious moves in narrative and genre.

Do Gooding or Navia have a favorite aspect of how the series plays with genre? And bonus question: recognizing Gooding's immense musical talent and experience, will there be a musical?

Gooding is immediately coy, "I can’t answer your bonus question, but some of my favorite genre stuff we got to do was a lot more like classic comedy.

"I find that specifically for my character, we haven’t had an opportunity to do a lot of funny stuff for the sake of having a giggle.

"[For] a lot of Season 2, we get to see Uhura still in her place of inquisitiveness and curiosity and sort of racking her brain on the experiences that she went through in Season 1, but we also get to see her just be a bit more comfortable and let her very very short hair down a little bit. So, yeah, that’s something to look forward to."

Navia loves the genres the series works with. "I’ll say the genre-play makes it so that each episode really is like a movie, and it really feels for us like we’re shooting more than one show. 

"It also speaks to why fans are saying that they can watch episodes over and over again – I mean that’s always been Star Trek, right? You can watch episodes over and over again, and we find something new in them each time.

"But specifically with what we’re doing, we like to play with the humor and with the fear and with the adventure and with the things that are more cerebral and then also marrying the two.

"We had a question earlier about which do you think Season 2 is more of – Is it more mental obstacles or physical kind of discomfort? What Star Trek does so well is that it marries the two as we do in life.

"You can’t be having a bit of an emotional issue, and then suddenly the world around you can stop. You have to still go to work. You have to figure stuff out. And so I think we do a really good job of in Season 2 coming up of being able to see characters going through their own difficulties internally and then at the same time having to complete the mission that is laid out before them for this particular episode."

As mentioned above, Nichelle Nichols, the original actress to portray Nyota Uhura on The Original Series, passed in July 2022. Has that impacted Gooding as she carries the torch Nichols lit as Uhura?

"So much, I mean, everything about what I do is directly because of her, especially on this show," Gooding shares, "I didn’t get to meet Nichelle, unfortunately, before she passed, and that is something that sits with me in a different place every day.

"Her impact on not only this franchise but on entertainment, period: It does not go unnoticed, and it does not go unfelt.

"I’m such a spiritualist. I’m a person who feels energetically connected to this plane and others. And so her presence sits with me every day on set and, not to get too audacious, but I very much feel her with me in how we tell the story of this character.

"Although we did not get to meet in this physical plane, I know our meeting is coming whenever the universe decides, and I’m really looking forward to that.

"But until then, her presence is known, and I feel her in myself, but I also feel her in the stories that people share about her with me and in getting to meet some of her lovely family because Nichelle is so impactful and so lovely and generous with herself and her spirit.

"I have a wealth of information about her through firsthand accounts and also just what’s available on our lovely Internet! And so, while I did not get to meet her, I feel as though I know her as well as I could if I did."

With Paul Wesley joining the crew this season as Kirk, the moment when Spock, Kirk, and Uhura first meet has arrived. On Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6, the Big Three take a seat together.

Gooding acknowledges the momentousness of the scene while pointing out how the episode is a challenging one for Uhura as well.

"In Episode 206, there’s so much that Uhura goes through and processes, and it’s very intense. To have a moment at the end where we get to establish some pretty essential canon; it was such a light at the end of that tunnel, something to get excited about.

"And shooting that was fun because I love working with Ethan. I love working with Paul. Them two together have such a classic bromance-y dynamic between the two of them. It’s just fun watching them interact.

"Then, when the cameras come on, and we realize that we are now Kirk, Spock, and Uhura at our fancy little Enterprise space bar, having a talk about what we all just experienced, it’s incredible. It’s Trek history. It’s essential Trek history.

"To have even a part of that is so – I don’t know – it feels like a secret that I can’t share, but everyone knows it’s coming! It’s one of those things you get so excited about because you know how much it means to people.

"It was incredible to shoot, and working on a Trek show is always amazing, but being a part of a Trek show that has such a heavy foot in canon and what is established in the future of this franchise, it goes without question that you feel every day how important your impact is on this franchise not only for this specific series but for the entire timeline."

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 premieres Thursday, June 15 on Paramount+.

Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.