Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is ending with Season 5, and as filming officially wrapped on the Paramount+ series back in December, it seems the stars are now looking ahead to other projects. In fact, Paul Wesley just landed a solid role on a popular series on Apple TV+. However, this news has me wondering about his future with Star Trek.
With Strange New Worlds premiering Season 4 later this year on the 2026 TV schedule, we still have some time before the end of the beloved series. While we wait for Wesley's upcoming appearances as James T. Kirk, it looks like he's going to be on another acclaimed show soon.
Paul Wesley Will Join The Buccaneers In Season 3
The Buccaneers will welcome Paul Wesley in Season 3 in the role of Frank. The show follows a group of American girls as they travel to England to find husbands. Read more about his character below, after seeing the announcement video about the actor's casting:
Frank is described as a "mysterious but charming" stranger who will show up and have a significant impact on the lives of Nan and Mrs. St. George. For Trekkies who want to know more about the period romance and check it out, we did a write-up about Season 1 that's worth checking out.
Will Wesley Be Available For A Potential Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Follow-Up Series?
While it's exciting to see Paul Wesley finding new work, I do wonder what this means about the possibility of him starring as James T. Kirk in a Star Trek follow-up to Strange New Worlds. Showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers have continued to pitch a follow-up that would highlight Kirk's first years as captain on the Enterprise, as somewhat of a soft reboot of the original series.
Does Paul Wesley joining The Buccaneers jeopardize this in any way? We can only speculate, but it is worth noting that we won't even see the final season of Strange New Worlds until 2027 at the earliest. With no other live-action Star Trek shows on the way and Starfleet Academy just wrapping up work on filming Season 2, the stage is set for a new series to go into production.
That said, there's always a reality in which, if this hypothetical Star Trek series happened, Paul Wesley could complete his work on Season 3 of The Buccaneers long before production ever officially started. Right now, we have no idea what the long-term plan for the franchise is when it comes to television, with Starfleet Academy being the only series right now that has a chance of continuing.
So, if a follow-up to Strange New Worlds was announced, it wouldn't happen without Paul Wesley playing Captain Kirk. For that reason, people are tracking to see what moves the actor is making, and seeing if he's hanging around waiting to hear news on his next job in Trek. Wesley said he'd be down to continue playing Kirk, so I hope Paramount+ is considering that pitch.
The Buccaneers Season 3 is set to begin production soon, but we'll see Paul Wesley for sure when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns for Season 4 later this year. Hopefully, we'll see a lot more of him as Kirk in the future, but we'll just have to wait and see.
