Captain Kirk Spinoff Will Happen If Star Trek Actors “Get The Phone Call”

Paul Wesley offers an update on the potential Captain Kirk spinoff of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Wesley portrays Lt. Commander James T. Kirk, the future Captain of the Starship Enterprise, in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, which premieres July 23 on Paramount+. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will end with its fifth and final season next year, but hopes remain that a proposed spinoff led by Wesley as Captain Kirk, dubbed Star Trek: Year One, will still happen.

Collider moderated a panel for The Vampire Diaries with Paul Wesley at FanX Comic Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. Wesley was asked about Thomas Jane and Kai Murakami joining Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' series finale as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy and Hikaru Sulu. Regarding whether Bones and Sulu coming aboard the Starship Enterprise sets up a spinoff, here's how Paul responded:

Paul Wesley: "We always talk about how we'd love to do a spin-off, and if they... if we get the phone call, we'll do it. But we haven't got the phone call yet."

Wesley also joked that Paramount may have "lost my phone number." The subject of a Captain Kirk-led spinoff of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been widely discussed by Wesley and Ethan Peck, who would co-lead Star Trek Year One as Mr. Spock.

Executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers revealed their spinoff hopes during the press for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3. Star Trek: Year One would pick up where Strange New Worlds left off and tell new stories about Kirk's first year as Captain of the Enterprise.

Star Trek: Year One would also include Strange New Worlds' Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Martin Quinn as Scotty, and Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura, along with Thomas Jane's Bones and Kai Murakami's Sulu. Uhura, Chapel, Scotty, and Spock's future serving with Kirk was teased in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 6, "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail."

Sadly, the odds are against Star Trek: Year One happening, following Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Toronto sets being demolished and auctioned off. Star Trek's overall franchise is in a state of flux, which has fans worried about its future. For the first time in a decade, there is no new Star Trek in production, nor has a new TV series been greenlit.

Paramount Skydance is reportedly prioritizing developing new Star Trek movies, while Paramount+'s TV franchise concludes in 2027 with the final seasons of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. If Star Trek: Year One does happen, Paul Wesley is ready for the call to return to the USS Enterprise as Captain Kirk.