The “Hell on Wheels” star will come aboard for Season Two of the sci-fi drama.
After five seasons of working on the railroad for the instant-classic TV western Hell on Wheels, Anson Mount is ready to add his star power to Star Trek: Discovery for Season Two of the CBS All Access series.
Mount announced Monday on Twitter that he would be taking on the role of Capt. Christopher Pike — who, as all Stark Trek aficionados know, commanded the Starship Enterprise prior to Capt. James T. Kirk’s tour of duty.
And I couldn't be more honored to take the helm. Thank you to the network, producers, fellow cast and fans for entrusting me with such a historically important of this amazing universe and family. https://t.co/W277CNNeV7
— Anson Mount (@ansonmount) April 9, 2018
As writer Joe Otterson explained while breaking the news for the showbiz trade paper Variety: “In the closing moments of the first season finale of the CBS All Access series, the Discovery receives an emergency distress call from a nearby Federation starship. The ship turns out to be the USS Enterprise under Pike’s command.”
Mount actually will be the fourth actor to portray Pike throughout the decades-long history of the Star Trek franchise. Jeffrey Hunter played the role in “The Cage,” the original, unsold 1965 pilot for the first Star Trek series. Footage from that pilot was repurposed as flashbacks in “The Menagerie,” a two-part 1966 Star Trek episode that also featured Sean Kenney as an older (and horribly disfigured) Pike. More recently, Bruce Greenwood played the character in the 2009 Star Trek movie reboot and Star Trek Into Darkness, its 2013 sequel.