Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Anson Mount on Pike's Season 3 Finale Journey

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 finale, "New Life and New Civilizations." 

After a frequently lighthearted third season that allowed its cast a lot of room to romp, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' finale episode "New Life and New Civilizations" was a decidedly more sobering conclusion, and one that offered Anson Mount — who'd already played a cracked-mirror holographic riff on Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and a highly logical, highest-haired-ever version of Chris Pike in Vulcan form — the chance to deliver his most emotional and nuanced performance of the season.

The earlier portion of the episode appeared to offer a tensely paced, action-packed confrontation with the seemingly no-shades-of-gray evil Lovecraftian entity Vezda, still cloaked in the body of the dead Enterprise medic Gamble, as Pike's romantic partner Capt. Marie Batel (Melanie Scrafano) finds the purpose of the mysterious cosmic abilities she'd developed in the wake of her abduction by the Gorn. But the momentum suddenly slows to a more deliberate pace and Batel and Pike are suddenly past the battle, enjoying a long, happy, and peaceful family life together — one that includes Pike somehow dodging the tragic fate he's long known looms in his future.

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The couple's bucolic years together are, after many decades, once again interrupted by the reappearance of Vezda, revealing the interlude as something of a bittersweet gift bestowed to Pike by Batel, allowing them to experience a semblance of a life they'd be denied, both because of Pike's destiny and, now, Batel's duty to stand eternal guard to protect the universe from the evils of Vezda's Cthulhu-esque brethren. And for Mount, it not only meant the technical challenge of portraying Pike through the age of 70, it was an opportunity to see the captain living both his best life and then faced with the quiet devastation of losing the woman he loved for reasons he knew were necessary. 

Mount joined TV Guide for a chat about Pike's newest meditation on mortality, saying a fond goodbye to one of his favorite scene partners, and why he says Pike is not the main character of Strange New Worlds.

So that was quite the moving finale for Season 3, and you really get an opportunity to do some amazing things as an actor in it. When the story and the script came your way, what got you especially excited to dive in and figure out exactly how you were going to pull this very challenging bit of acting off?

Mount: I often say I like "Oh sh--!" episodes. Episodes when you read them and you go, "Oh sh--! How am I going to do that?" This was definitely one of those I'd never, I don't think I'd ever had to play… I mean, I played an older version of Pike at the end of the first season, but not aged to this degree. The special effects department, they took pictures of me and had artificial intelligence show them what I would look like at that age, which was bizarre to see. And they used that as their template to create the latex. And it was a process, but by the time you're in it and you see it and you're feeling it and you're in the costume, it does so much of the work for you.

This is such an interesting journey for Pike to take. In many ways it's Marie's journey, but Pike's always had these interesting mortality issues hanging over his head, and this adds a whole new layer and dimension to what he grapples with when he thinks about his future. So I'm curious, for you, what excites you about where this has left him?

Mount: I think it's beautiful, in the sense that if you think about the experience at the heart of the episode, as a gift that Marie gives to him, she's actually giving him back what he was cheated out of with this destiny. She's giving him a full life, and being there to experience it with him. I think it's beautiful in that sense, and that's what really got me, emotionally, when I read it.

You're also saying farewell to Melanie Scrofano, who's been such an integral part of the show and particularly Pike's journey up until now. Tell me about those emotions personally for you in saying goodbye to her.

Mount: That was tough. I really genuinely loved working with Melanie. She's such, such a professional, such an adult. She's the mother of two, I'm a father of two. We've bonded and commiserated over parenthood many times. Just love spending time with her. She has such a great sense of humor, and obviously talented as hell. And yeah, when those moments, those things happen in a show, it's always bittersweet. I would kill to work with her again on anything.

Well, the beauty of sci-fi is you never know — the doors are always open! You've said many times this is a dream job. Three seasons in, and I know you've just wrapped Season 4, tell me how the dream job is sitting on you these days, having been able to do this series and be part of the Star Trek legacy, and play this role you've thought about for so long.

Mount: Again, it's bittersweet. I've enjoyed immensely the ability to become a part of this franchise and to sit in the captain's chair. Part of me wants to go on forever, but then the other part of me also starts to realize when it's time to maybe do something else. I've been shooting this thing since 2018, my friend, and that's a chapter. That's certainly a chapter, but it's also, it's the chapter that gave me the courage, in terms of my overall livelihood, to be able to have a family. So I owe this community and this franchise so much, in that sense.

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And I'm sure, too, that being in a science fiction show has broadened the scope of the things you've gotten to do as an actor. Can you tell me the way that this part has challenged you? You came in with a pretty good reputation as a dramatic actor, but you never know what a show like Star Trek is going to throw at you.

Mount: It's funny: So much of my training in terms of my background is comedy. One of the cornerstones of my training was clowning. And I was pigeonholed for my entire career for whatever reason. I was always seen as the ultimate dramatic guy. The guy playing the dark stuff, you know, Hell on Wheels. But really, it's been a lot of fun to be able to use these other muscles and I want to do more of it.

And the show gives you a lot of room for comedy, which must be nice for you. It's often lighthearted, and you get to play scenes with a little bit of a wink and a nod. I'm sure that Vulcan episode was a delight for you.

Mount: Yeah, yeah, it was. I have to admit there's a bit of Dan Aykroyd in there!

That makes so much sense hearing you say tha. That computes! Well, this season, some of the fans were like, "Where's Pike?" Pike wasn't as centered as he has been in seasons past. Was that sort of a deliberate plan to let everybody step forward and shine a little bit more? Or did you need to not be as intensely involved in the production this season?

Mount: No, I think we've been doing that for a while, actually. To me, I'm not the lead of the show; the Enterprise is the lead of the show. And as [showrunner] Akiva [Goldsman] says, people keep saying we don't have a true lead. And the truth is we have a lead. We just have a different lead every episode. And I personally love that. I think it's a much more exciting show to not just start with the captain's log, but start with you don't know whose log you're starting with and to get multiple points of view. I think Pike himself would agree with that, because Pike has a superpower to engage the entire Bridge and build a bigger brain, and best idea wins.

And that is his distinguishing characteristic, I think, amongst the Starfleet captains that we've seen so far.

Mount: I think so too.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is streaming on Paramount+.