Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Zacarius Attack Scene Had Anson Mount Worried
"Strange New Worlds" might be less than two seasons old, but the almost universally well-received "Trek" series has already made a name for itself by consistently taking bold swings — in multiple directions. As much as the recent musical episode or the crossover special with "Lower Decks" reaffirmed that the writers on this show thrive when they allow themselves to get a little silly, there have been several episodes that tackled much darker themes with an impressive amount of nuance and hard-hitting emotions. There's the entire matter of Christopher Pike's (Anson Mount) tragic backstory and his foreknowledge of what's to come, of course, but "Strange New Worlds" has also shown a willingness to go to some seriously, well, serious places when the character and story call for it.
One such instance came early on this season with episode 4, titled "Among the Lotus Eaters." The plot brings Pike and the Enterprise crew to a very familiar location to fans of "The Original Series" — planet Rigel VII, which has the side effect of causing severe memory loss to those exposed to the elements. As the away team succumbs to this terrifying condition, Pike struggles to remember how he ended up here in the first place and forces a confrontation with Zacarias Nguyen (David Huynh), a Federation officer presumed dead and inadvertently left behind by Pike five years earlier on their previous mission. Now having ascended to the throne on Rigel, the vengeful ruler finally has his old captain right where he wants him.
When the two come to blows, we see Pike as unhinged and violent as we've ever seen him before. In an interview published at the time of release, episode director Eduardo Sanchez admitted that the two had very careful discussions over how to depict this fight.
'He was really worried about that moment'
Any actor who plays a certain character for a long time will naturally develop strong feelings and a sense of protectiveness around them. Having portrayed Captain Pike since the season 2 premiere of "Star Trek: Discovery" in 2019, Anson Mount intuitively understands the delicate balance of how far would be too far in terms of pushing the character. So when "Among the Lotus Eaters" puts Pike on a crash-course with Zacarius late in the episode, when the amnesiac Pike has reached levels of desperation that we've never seen before, it makes sense that the normally buttoned-up Starfleet officer would find himself on the cusp of losing it altogether.
In an interview with TrekMovie, episode director Eduardo Sanchez opened up about the process of discussing this choice with Mount and making sure they were all on the same page about this potentially controversial moment:
"The first time I met with Anson, that was the first thing he brought up. It was definitely a complex episode and you have to figure out the different personalities and what you remember, what you don't remember, and how you react. It's heavy lifting for all the actors, and especially for Anson. We talked about the brutality of it because Pike at that moment is going to kill him and then that bit of humanity enters him. He was really worried about that moment. I told him to just do it as he did in rehearsal, and I'll do a little [camera] move into your face, and it'll be very clear that the old Pike is back."
The relationship between actors and directors relies entirely on trust, which is why it's so important for both parties to clear the air about these sorts of thorny issues beforehand.
'It was a big place to go, especially for Anson'
The greatest aspect of Christopher Pike is also his most challenging one: his consistency. Never allowing himself to get too high or too low based on external circumstances, he's the embodiment of exactly what a crew needs out of the captain of the USS Enterprise ... until he's placed in the most extreme situations, that is. When episode 4 strips him of his very identity and forces Pike, La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), and Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) to revert to their basest instincts in order to survive, we get to see a whole other side of the Captain that we could've never anticipated. For director Eduardo Sanchez, that was precisely the point:
"It was a big place to go, especially for Anson, who has been playing this character for a while. I don't think you have seen Pike this out of control and violent and barbaric. It was a big deal for him and we worked on it a lot ... And he has a long monologue there and we didn't want to burn him out. But he is a professional and he knows his lines and in the end, it went very smoothly."
Crisis averted! Both in the episode itself and for the production team before and during shooting, things ultimately circled back to a happy ending for all involved. The darkness of the episode and especially of Pike himself doesn't just get swept under the rug, serving as a lingering reminder of what even the most fan-favorite characters are capable of when pushed to their limits. But in the end, it's reassuring to know that "Strange New Worlds" is ultimately an idealistic journey celebrating the best of what we can be.
New episodes stream every Thursday on Paramount+.