by Thinus Ferreira

Paul Wesley from The Vampire Diaries will be playing Captain James T Kirk in the second season of the upcoming new Star Trek: Strange New Worlds spinoff series.

The new series will debut on 5 May on Paramount’s Paramount+ video streaming service in America, with Paramount that released a character photo of Paul Wesley in a yellow Starfleet uniform, and a statement announcing the character casting.

“Paul is an accomplished actor, an astonishing presence and a welcome key addition to the show,” says executive producer Alex Kurtzman and showrunners and co-executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers in a joint statement.

“Like all of us, he is a life-long Star Trek fan, and we are excited by his interpretation of this iconic role.”

The role of Captain James T. Kirk has been synonymous with William Shatner for decades since the original Star Trek series in 1966, with Chris Pine that has played the character in the reboot Star Trek movie series from J.J. Abrams.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds revolves around Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) as he leads the USS Enterprise, together with Number One Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), science officer Spock (Ethan Peck), Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), La’am Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong),cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose), Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and Dr M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun).