Star Trek: Discovery casts Captain Pike with Hell on Wheels star

Star Trek: Discovery has found its Captain Christopher Pike.

The CBS All Access drama has cast former Hell on Wheels star Anson Mount in the pivotal role.

“I have officially joined Starfleet, a dream I’ve had since around the age of 8 when I first discovered [Star Trek: The Original Series] syndicated on my local access channel in middle Tennessee,” Mount wrote on Twitter after the news broke. “And I couldn’t be more excited about playing PIKE!”

Pike is a character first introduced in the original Star Trek series who commanded the U.S.S. Enterprise prior to Captain James T. Kirk. The first season finale of Discovery teased a distress call from the Enterprise, with the two ships coming together in deep space right before the credits rolled. Which members of The Original Series crew might show up in season 2 of Discovery has been a source of considerable speculation.

Pike was played by Jeffrey Hunter in the famously discarded 1966 pilot of TOS. Sean Kenney stepped into the role later in TOS. The role received a far more distinguished portrayal in J.J. Abrams’ reboot, which had Bruce Greenwood playing Pike as a mentor to a rebellious young Kirk.

Mount is best known for Hell on Wheels but more recently starred in ABC’s Marvel series Inhumans. If he’s anything like his previous roles, we can expect a rather steely version of Pike on Discovery.

Season 2 begins filming in Toronto this month; there’s no premiere date yet.