TrekMovie had a chance to speak to some of the cast and crew of Star Trek: Discovery at a press event on Friday, including actor Anson Mount, who’s taking on the legendary role of Captain Christopher Pike in season 2.

Captain Pike is a major character throughout the season

As soon as you got the role, you started dropping a lot of sick Star Trek memes. What’s your familiarity with Star Trek and how much did the original performance of Captain Pike influence your performance?

It’s funny, I’m the first to admit I steal from other actors all the time. I think more actors should do that. For some reason with this role, it didn’t feel right. And I needed to come at it in my own way with a sense of respect and history, but also, we’re going to find out more about Pike than any other iteration of the character. And we’re all kind of figuring it out as we go, and the cast is doing a really good job of supporting me trying to figure it out. But trying not to feel pressure, because you can’t really play under pressure. You know, it doesn’t work. All I know right now is that he’s got a good heart.

They’re still shooting, so was it an arc or are you a season 2 character?

Oh yeah. I’m contracted.

For the whole season, I meant. Main cast, whole season?

Yep.

13 episodes.

Yep.

There will be connections to “The Cage”

So were you a Trekkie before this?

Hell, yeah. I grew up on the original in syndication. I saw every episode as a kid multiple times.

There’s something a little jaded about Pike when we meet him early on in “The Cage.” Would you say that maybe some of what he experiences in this is part of his arc that takes him to that point?

Editor’s note: The question was intended to touch on how “The Cage” informed Mount’s performance, and how it affects where Pike is now. The fast pace of the red carpet means sometimes questions aren’t phrased perfectly. To clarify, the events of “The Cage” took place in 2254, three years prior to DSC season two (2257).

You’re going to see some easter eggs that you’ll recognize about Pike, I can tell you that.

Watch the interview

More from SDCC

There will be more exclusive interviews coming up from the Discovery press event, along with a press conference report. You may also want to check out our full panel report and the 8 things we learned from the press conference.

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