Star Trek: Kirk as Pike’s Number One – is this scenario possible for Season 2?

Warning, spoilers follow for the season one finale of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”! If you want to see the episode in advance, we have a trick to see “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” in Germany right now.

• Captain Kirk will play a bigger role in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2.
• So far it has not been revealed what exactly James T. Kirk’s part in the story will be. Could he become Pike’s number one?
• We take a look at the official Star Trek canon and tell you if James Kirk can become Chris Pike’s first officer.

In the season 1 finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) travels back in time to an alternate future. There he realizes that Captain Kirk (Paul Wesley) is the right successor as Captain of the Enterprise. How fitting that at the end of the episode the position of first officer on board the Enterprise suddenly becomes vacant. Can Kirk step in?

Since the series serves as a prequel to “Starship Enterprise”, which takes place about seven years later in the “Star Trek” chronology, “Strange New Worlds” must of course not break the canon. But for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, there’s still a chance Kirk will serve as Pike’s number one.

Before we get into how it makes logical sense to have Kirk as Pike’s number one, let’s briefly explain how the post became vacant. Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) is Pike’s number one. However, as an Illyrian, she is not allowed to be part of Starfleet and is therefore taken away at the end of the season.

It’s hard to imagine Una not returning aboard the Enterprise, but at times another crew member has to step in as first officer. Under Kirk, Spock (Ethan Peck) served as first officer, but in “Strange New Worlds” Spock is a little younger and, more importantly, not exactly climbing the corporate ladder.

Pike appreciates Spock very much, but doesn’t see him as a first officer (yet). In two episodes of the first season, La’An Noonien Singh (Christina Chong) filled in for Una as executive first officer. In episode 9, however, La’An says goodbye to Pike for the time being, so that she too is unable to step in.

Star Trek: That’s why Captain Pike’s choice for First Officer will be Kirk!

During his time travel to the alternate future, Pike meets Kirk and reveals to him that he felt he was destined to meet Kirk. After time travel, Pike looks at Kirk’s Starfleet file before learning that Una is being taken away.

So Kirk is fresh in Pike’s memory, and Pike himself served as first officer aboard the USS Enterprise under Captain Robert April (Adrian Holmes) prior to his command of the Enterprise. So it’s kind of a tradition for the captain of the Enterprise to train his successor.

Star Trek: Does Pike Breaking In Kirk?

It’s a tough question whether having Kirk as first officer under Pike breaks canon. In the end you can say: In the German dubbed version it breaks into the canon, not necessarily in the English-language original. How so? Very simple, we explain it to you!

In the “Starship Enterprise” double episode “Talos IV – Taboo” Kirk, Spock and Bones visit the severely injured Captain Pike. While Spock clearly states that he served under Pike for a long time, Kirk only says that he met Pike when he was promoted to captain.

In the German version, he slips out a “nur”, which means that his relationship with Pike only refers to this event, his promotion. This is not the case in the original version. There Kirk only explains that he met him there and finally took over the command from him.

Lots of leeway for the series creators of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”… the only important thing is that Kirk has to be promoted to captain before he can serve under Pike. Is Kirk too young for this? Probably, but set pictures clearly show Kirk in a captain’s uniform.

So there’s a good chance that Kirk will be promoted to Captain as early as the beginning of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2. A start date for the new episodes has not yet been set. In December 2022, the first season will start in Germany on the Paramount+ streaming service. We list you all “Star Trek” new releases!