Paul Wesley Admits He Still Wonders If He’s ‘Doing Enough’ to Honor William Shatner’s Captain Kirk

Scott HuverMon, September 14, 2026 at 5:31 PM UTC

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Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk in ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ in 2026; William Shatner as KirkCredit: Jan Thijs/Paramount+; Courtesy Everett Collection -

Paul Wesley says playing Captain Kirk on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is daunting but allows him to add new layers to the iconic character

He avoids discussing Star Trek with William Shatner, focusing instead on casual conversations during their interactions

Wesley’s off-screen friendship with Ethan Peck enhances their portrayal of Kirk and Spock’s evolving bond on the show

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds actor Paul Wesley has earned widespread praise for his recurring performance as a young James T. Kirk from both critics and the franchise’s devoted fan base, but he admits he’s still mentally debating if he’s measuring up to the standard set 60 years ago by the original Captain Kirk, William Shatner.

“It was definitely a work in progress, and it is incredibly daunting,” Wesley, 44, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “And by the way, that never leaves. In the back of my head, I’m constantly questioning, ‘Am I doing enough to pay homage to what William Shatner did so beautifully?’

“But at the same time, I need to let go and understand that I’m creating my own version of Kirk,” he continues. “And hopefully, adding layers that weren’t seen because of whatever. He was at an older age, so I’m presenting some new parts of Kirk that are maybe different than the [Star Trek: The Original Series] Kirk that are needed so that we can understand why he becomes the man that he is.”

Joe Mortin as Admiral Reeger and Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk in ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’Credit: Jan Thijs/Paramount+

Wesley actually enjoys a fond, casual friendship with Shatner himself – the two recently interviewed each other for Interview Magazine to celebrate Star Trek’s 60th anniversary – but in their previous encounters Wesley has made a point not to pick the 95-year-old acting legend’s brain about the iconic sci-fi character.

“The man has played Kirk, and he’s been known as Kirk for so many years, and so when I’m around him, I don’t talk Trek,” Wesley says. “I just try to talk to him about things that two guys would talk about, and I think he appreciates that. I’m not sitting there asking him for pointers, because frankly, I think he’s probably sick of talking about Kirk. And so, I just ask him how he’s doing. And I think we get along quite well.”

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Another friendship that has actually served him well is his bond with SNW co-star Ethan Peck, who plays the Mr. Spock role made famous by Leonard Nimoy. On the show, their rapport has helped form the budding friendship between Kirk and Spock that will become part of the core of Star Trek.

“Ethan and I are very good friends off camera, which is very not always the case, and I also find that we have a bit of a Spock-Kirk relationship in real life, which is so funny,” he explains. “Sometimes you got to really fight to find that chemistry, and I found that it came quite naturally, and there’s this kind of push-pull in that. They need to have some tension in their ways of thinking: Kirk is very kind of instinct-driven and Spock is very logic-driven and so I think that that can rub them both the wrong way initially. It takes time for them to eventually realize that those differences are what will make them great friends. And I think that has to be earned. You can’t just have that. The audience needs to eventually fall in love with these two people as the beloved Spock and Kirk that we all know.”

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William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in ‘Star Trek’ in 1968Credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty

Ultimately, despite working to meet the standard set by Shatner, as well as Chris Pine, who took on the role for three Star Trek films, Wesley says he’s having a blast playing Kirk. “I still pinch myself. I mean, 60 years, so many actors – but Kirk is Kirk.” He hopes to sit in the captain’s chair at some point in the franchise’s future – possibly a sequel series set during the original five-year mission.

“I’ve never had more fun filming anything than Strange New Worlds, and I really mean that,” he says. “Just being able to explore this legacy character in my own way, and being able to add to this generational character is such an honor that I will never say no to playing this character in any capacity. So they know my phone number, or maybe they don’t, but they know someone’s phone number. They know my agent’s phone number.”

Meanwhile, Wesley’s looking forward to a reunion with another friend, his former Vampire Diaries co-star Nina Dobrev in the upcoming Hulu drama You Deserve to Know.

“Nina and I were talking about doing a show for a while, because her and I were really good buddies, and we were like, “Wow, this would be so fun,” he reveals. “But then it’s like, do you reunite for the sake of reuniting? There was a couple of projects that were sent to us. And it was like, ‘Well, this doesn’t quite feel right. It feels kind of like it just doesn’t make sense.’

“And then we got sent this book [written by author Aggie Blum Thompson], and it just felt very much the opposite of what we had done on The Vampire Diaries,” he says. “It felt quite adult. It was a murder mystery – an interesting story about relationships and friendships, and what really goes on beneath of all the niceties between friends and neighbors.”

He adds, “We just thought it was interesting. And we read the book and we said, ‘Wow, this is something that we think our audience from The Vampire Diaries who have now grown up will enjoy and love.”

New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds release on Paramount+ every Thursday, following the Season 4 premiere on July 23, 2026.

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