Shortly before the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds cast hit the San Diego Comic-Con stage, Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Ethan Peck (Spock), Christina Chong (La'an Noonien-Singh), Celia Rose Gooding (Nyota Uhura), and Paul Wesley (Captain James T. Kirk) stopped by the Collider studio to talk about making the fantastic Paramount+ series.

During the fun interview, they talked about what it’s really like behind-the-scenes when they’re filming the series, what people would be surprised to earn about how the show is made, the status of Season 2 and how it’s like Season 1 on steroids, how Pike deals with knowing his future, what it was like for Wesley to play Kirk, and what it’s really like filming a scene where you have to eat food.

If you have yet to watch the series, Strange New Worlds takes us back in time before Star Trek, The Original Series, and follows some of the same characters you love. But unlike the recent Star Trek series like Discovery, Strange New Worlds is episodic, so almost every episode brings in new characters and locations. It’s a great series that’s definitely worth your time.

Strange New Worlds also stars Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley (Number One), Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas, and Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga. Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers serve as co-showrunners, with Goldsman, Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet serve as executive producers in addition to Alonso Myers, Heather Kadin, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, and Aaron Baiers. The series is produced by CBS Studios, Secret Hideout, and Roddenberry Entertainment.

Watch what they had to say, or you can read our conversation below.

COLLIDER: I am thrilled to be with the cast of Strange New Worlds, one of my favorite shows on television. I want to thank you so much for coming to the Collider Media Studio, whatever we're calling this. What has it actually been like for you guys here at Comic-Con? Have you done your panel yet?

ANSON MOUNT: Not yet.

CELIA ROSE GOODING: Next.

CHRISTINA CHONG: Right after this.

Oh really?

MOUNT: Yeah.

Are you guys ready for the experience you're about to have? Because it's going to play like a rock concert when you guys come out on the stage.

CHONG: Yeah, I have not. Obviously, Anson and Ethan, and Paul are all [have] But me and Celia, it's our first proper [convention] with Star Trek, so it's like I have no real idea of what it's going to be like. It's our first real in-person interaction with the fans.

GOODING: On this massive of a scale, this is our first, I don't know, gathering after the season's come out, and I'm not prepared for what's about to happen. I'm excited, but excited, terrified, a little nauseous, but really, really excited.

So many people I know love your show, myself included. Have you been paying attention? Do you read that stuff, or not at all?

MOUNT: A little bit. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I come from the theater, and, typically, you learn not to read your own reviews, and never believe the ones that are really, really great, or never believe the ones that are really, really bad. I guess I've gotten to the point where I can separate myself from all that, and I just want to get a temperature gauge for fan reaction, especially with a show like this that has such a built-in fan base and, really, culture. I just wanted to get a sense of what nails we're hitting, so, yeah, a little bit.

For fans of the show, and for myself, I love learning about the behind-the-scenes of the making of a series or a movie. What do you think fans of the series would be surprised to learn about the actual making of the show?

PECK: Celia and I dance a lot at each other from our chairs on the bridge.

GOODING: So, I hope [they kept it].

PECK: We throw lots of shapes at each other.

GOODING: Throwing shapes, a lot of dancing, a lot of movement, trying to stay up and animated during those 14-hour bridge days. There's a lot of goofiness and shenaniganry that goes on when we're not shooting.

PECK: Oh, and they've taught me some choreography.

GOODING: Oh, yeah, we taught him the Chorus Line dance, which Ethan will be doing at the panel.

CHONG: Yes.

PECK: Absolutely not.

GOODING: (Humming music from Chorus Line ).

PECK: Are you crazy?

CHONG: Yeah.

Please tell me you have video of this and are putting it online.

GOODING: Someone [does].

PECK: They tried, they tried.

GOODING: I think so.

PECK: I would not participate. You tried to film it secretly.

GOODING: We'll get it. We'll get it. If we don't have it now, we'll get it to you by next time. By this time next year, you'll have it.

Is there any other surprising things people might be... for behind-the-scenes stuff?

PAUL WESLEY: You and I have a hard time getting through a scene.

CHONG: Oh, true.

WESLEY: We literally will hold up for hours. People are not happy.

CHONG: We're the worst.

PECK: You have scenes together?

CHONG: Whoaaaaa!

WESLEY: Whoaaaa!

CHONG: Whoaaaa! Yeah, Paul and I-

WESLEY: She's very funny.

CHONG: Yeah, he's an idiot. In the best way, but yeah, it's a lot of fun. A lot of people get annoyed.

MOUNT: You're going to get to see more of the ship. As the show progresses, we get to build more of the Enterprise. And so, we're getting to see some of that. Some of it's been released online already, but, yeah.

CHONG: Oh, and Runa, my dog, she is actually Anson’s girlfriend. She comes to set. She's the set mascot. Everybody loves her. Spock will play raccoon with her, and everybody... You love her, don't you?

WESLEY: I do love her.

CHONG: You do love her, as does Celia.

GOODING: I do love her very much. That's my niece.

CHONG: So, yeah. She's always around, running around.

One of the things that's so interesting about Strange New Worlds is that while everything is pushing to being serialized, the show is episodic, and I love it. Can you talk about that aspect of the series, because a lot of people might see this interview, and actually have not seen the show yet.

MOUNT: Yeah, our showrunner Akiva talks a lot about the freedom that that brings, which you wouldn't expect. It seems it would be a more structured thing, or less freedom, but, actually, when you have a new story every week, or a new planet every week, you can also change the mode, and the tone. And so, we've been really pushing the boundaries with that in the second season, and seeing how many different kinds of genres and things we can get away with, and being able to invite many different kinds of directors with many different kinds of styles. It's been a joy.

Where are you, actually, in the filming process of Season 2?

MOUNT: We’re done.

GOODING: We wrapped.

MOUNT: Yeah, we wrapped at the end of June.

I'm looking at my clock in my head, and I'm realizing... Got it.

MOUNT: About three weeks ago. It's crazy.

CHONG: Wow, it feels like forever ago.

What are you allowed to say about Season 2?

GOODING: That it is coming at some point. That's what we can tell you.

It's obviously going to be next year because of the VFX involved in making a series like this, but if you can, how is it different from the first season? What did you guys learn making the first season that may be carried over into the second season?

PECK: Henry describes Season 2 as Season 1 on steroids. I think that's probably the most accurate way to put it.

CHONG: Yeah, I agree. It takes everything to another level. For example, the fantasy episode, episode eight, which came out of nowhere, that will be topped in Season 2.

I am curious how Kirk plays in Season 2, as he was a late edition in the first season.

WESLEY: I said in a previous interview that the success of Season 1 is solely on my 14 minutes of screen time in the finale. No, I'm excited because the finale of Season 1 was obviously based on "Balance of Terror," which was the original series episode, which was quite an intense episode. And so, I'm looking forward to Season 2 because Kirk gets to let loose a little bit, have a little more fun, and be a little... And not be alt future timeline Kirk. He gets to be young Kirk in the Original Series canon, so I'm excited to explore that.

If you don't mind, I want to do a follow-up. Kirk is one of the iconic characters in sci-fi. What was it like for you the night before the first day of filming? Did you sleep at all? How were you thinking about approaching it?

WESLEY: When I had my meeting with Henry and Akiva, the big thing was just, "Don't try to do a Shatner impression. Don't take what's been already done and try to do your own spin. Do your own thing." Basically, "Do whatever you want," is really kind of... They really entrusted me. And so, I didn't have that pressure of having to fit. Obviously, you are working within parameters, but it's an alt timeline, it's an alt future, and, really, they were like, "Just do your own thing." It'll take time, but eventually, that will be that version of Kirk. And so, it's really about respecting it, but not trying to mimic it.

One of the other things I really love is the way that Pike is dealing with the future. He knows what's coming, tried to even possibly alter it. Can you talk about that aspect, because I think it's just something everyone would think about, "If I know my horizon is this, what would I do?"

MOUNT: Yeah, I mean, it's one thing to say that you've accepted something, and it's another thing to actually accept it. And so, that's the journey for Pike in Season 1, and I think, ultimately, it's a successful one. I've had the honor of meeting a couple of people in my life with terminal diagnoses who will say, "I've never been more alive, because I know the endpoint, and I know how many days I have left, and I'm going to live them to my fullest." I think that we're going to get to see more fully realized, more accepting Pike who's making the most out of what he has left.

But one of the things I really love about the show is the fact that there's great writing between all the characters, and it's unusual sometimes in the first season of a show to have it where the writers feel like they know these characters, and the actors feel like they have these characters. Can you talk about what it was like reading these scripts? Did it end up being rainbow color scripts by the time you're filming?

MOUNT: I got to say, you do shows where you get the rainbow of colors, because there's so many rewrites, but on this show, we didn't go through too many colors. I mean, they were very confident scripts that came to us pretty well realized.

PECK: Yeah, so much so, in fact, that they won't release to us. Everyone else on set will be like, "Have you seen the next episode?" and we're like, "No," and everybody else gets it before us for that reason because they want them to be super polished, so we can prepare, I guess, more precisely and more accurately. But yeah, they don't really do big revisions for the scripts.

MOUNT: But they're really good, this writing team, they're really good about getting us the scripts at least a week early.

PECK: For the most part, yeah.

MOUNT: Yeah. You'll be on shows where you'll get the script the night before. Sometimes there'll be a rewrite the day of, but they've really protected our preparation time.

For each of you, talk a little bit about what you really love about the character you play, what you relate to, because I really love your performances on the series.

GOODING: I would say the thing that I love about Uhura, where we meet her, and not who she ends up being, is we see her second-guess herself, which is a very human thing. I think so much about Starfleet is perfect. When you think of Starfleet, you think of people who are at the best of what they do, and then at the top of their game, and we know who Uhura is going to be, and who she's going to grow into, and the fact that we see her second-guess herself like any human would, it's her humanity, and her humility that I really, really love.

CHONG: With La'an, I love covering her vulnerability. She's a fighter. She's got all this stuff going on, but she's fighting to win over it, and even though she has this PTSD and whatever, at the core of it, she wants to grow. She wants to learn. She wants to move beyond her past. To play the conflict of that, of the barrier that she has, the bravado, and also the soft inner world of her is really interesting, for me.

WESLEY: You want to go?

PECK: Sure, I guess.

WESLEY: I mean, I can go. I think you should go.

PECK: I'll go first.

WESLEY: I feel good about you going.

PECK: For all of Spock's precision and certainty, and his knowledge in a given situation, and just the breadth of knowledge he has about physics and science. He's an answers guy in a lot of situations. He's so deeply uncertain, and I really love that contrast and discovering those moments of uncertainty and letting that inform who he is.

WESLEY: Yeah, I think, for Kirk, one of the pillars of that character is that he really does have a unique internal instinct that is his guiding light, and that instinct is something that, if he taps into, he really does listen to that, and it really does guide him in the correct direction. That's something that I relate to, is that I do think a lot of us know what to do deep down inside, but we second-guess ourselves a bazillion times. I think Kirk is someone who just relies on his instinct and he makes those decisions, and they work out. That's probably my favorite thing about the character, that I can relate to.

MOUNT: I just love our writer's instinct to make Pike, really, the first captain we've seen who has the ability to turn to his crew and go, "I have no idea what's going on. Does anybody have any idea? Best idea wins, go!" If Pike had a superpower, it would be turning that bridge crew into a big brain. I think it makes for much more exciting bridge scenes that way.

I know that a lot of people are going to love the action scenes, or when two characters are on a planet doing something, but some of my favorite stuff was...and I forget what episode number it was, but it's when everyone is going to the Captain's quarters to have a meal. It's all the characters together getting to talk. But I also know a lot of actors, and they tell me those dinner scenes or eating scenes suck. They are the worst, because you have to decide what you're going to actually eat. Do you show up hungry? Do you show up full? Are you spitting in a bucket? Can you talk a little bit about filming eating scenes, and also filming that scene?

CHONG: I think was flying the ship in that scene.

GOODING: Yeah, was that episode two?

CHONG: I don't remember, no.

GOODING: Before Ortegas pranks Uhura when she's wearing her dress uniform, is that the scene?

Yeah.

GOODING: That's episode two. That scene, they went very easy on me. I only had a little thing of tea, because I was so very anxious, and I think if Uhura ate anything, she'd immediately get sick. Not because Pike's cooking would make her sick, but because she was so nervous about what's happening. I love dinner scenes. I love scenes where we're all together and interacting, because the way we shoot, sometimes you'll only see one person for the whole day, depending on the scenes that are going on. Those big scenes, obviously, they take a lot of time-

PECK: But they're fun.

GOODING: Yeah, but they're fun. It's like a summer camp. That's what it feels like, to me. I don't know.

PECK: There was a scene where Babs had to be wolf... Babs, who plays Dr. M'Benga, had to be wolfing down waffles-

CHONG: Waffles and bacon.

PECK: Yeah, and I felt really bad for him.

CHONG: 'Cause he went for it from the first take.

GOODING: Yeah.

Well, I know some people, Joel Kinnaman was telling me on "For All Mankind," when there's food scenes, he just eats. He's like, "I have five meals. I don't care." Other people I know are like, "I don't take a bite. It goes right out." I know you must have all have filmed a food scene at one point. What's your secret to the food scene?

GOODING: I just go for it.

You eat?

GOODING: Oh yeah, no. There's one scene when you're about to hound me about those data chips.

CHONG: Episode six.

GOODING: Episode six, and I'm just wolfing down these noodles and dumpings, and I just went for it, because it's yummy. It was. But I think I go for it just because it's... I don't know. I'm a huge fan of headfirst. Go for it. See what sticks.

CHONG: Yeah, I take small bites, if it's food, and if it's drink, then it's some version of water. I'm sensible, like La'an.

MOUNT: I just remember, though, when I learned about being careful how much you're eating in a scene was when I did Crossroads, and we had a scene in a Waffle House, and I love Waffle House, and I knew exactly what I wanted to order, right? We must have shot that scene 32 times. I ended up eating 13 Trucker Specials. There are some cutaways in that scene where I'm sitting next to Britney Spears, and I'm just like...

CHONG: Still.

MOUNT: And then after we finish, I had to go into the men's room and... purge.

GOODING: Wooow!

MOUNT: And then had a night on the town in New Orleans.

You guys want to add?

WESLEY: Oh...

PECK: It's always Brother's Bond whiskey, right?

WESLEY: That's right. It's my own whiskey. It's a secret to Kirk. No, that'd be nice though. Yeah, actually, I did a big food scene in Season 2.

CHONG: Yes, you did.

WESLEY: And-

Huge spoiler, by the way.

WESLEY: Yeah, yeah, massive spoiler.

CHONG: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

WESLEY: I'm going to get a call from Paramount. A lot of air chewing. Air chewing, and then spit bucket. But sometimes you're just hungry. Sometimes you're just hungry, man, and I was hungry. What?

CHONG: But I remember you had the vegetables instead. You vegetables. Do you not remember when you had the radishes?

PECK: Spoiler alert.

WESLEY: Oh, yeah.

CHONG: Radishes and carrots.

WESLEY: That was it. Okay-

CHONG: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

WESLEY: In a wide shot, they give you all this heavy food, and I was like, "Give me something that's like... If I do it 20 takes." I had radishes and cucumbers that I pretended were my main meal, and it worked in the wide, and I was really eating that with a lot of...

GOODING: Gusto.

CHONG: Gusto.

WESLEY: Gusto.

PECK: My secrets? I have a scene in Season 2 where I have to eat a lot of something disgusting. I had a spit bucket, and it was a crime scene. I mean-

GOODING: Doing a lot of drinking, a lot of eating. Remember when we're all the table?

CHONG: Oh, yeah.

PECK: Yeah.

WESLEY: Oh yeah.

GOODING: Yeah.

A lot of shows, and I'm curious what it is for your show, some shows are a 7-day shoot, 8-day shoot, 10-day shoot. What is it, actually, for Strange New Worlds, and does it depend on the episode?

MOUNT: Average is about 12, maybe a bit more than that, because we do have a couple episodes that go closer to 15, not including second unit.

Sure, but is that a result because of COVID and the precautions, or is that just because it takes that long?

MOUNT: No, that's the trick of making an action-adventure show set in a series of little rooms and hallways. It just takes longer.

I'm very curious about the T-shirt. What was the motivation for Star Trek V? 'Cause I love it, and I also love that it's the Japanese version.

PECK: I feel like I'm on the coolest team in the world, and I love... I haven't been on this team in a long time. And so, to be able to wear gear for my team authentically, I just enjoy that so much. This, I actually got... We did our first appearance as a cast, were with Celia, at Mission Chicago, which is a CBS-sponsored convention. It's from there, and I think it's cool.

GOODING: Ethan has a series of really awesome Star Trek shirts that he has a closet of.

PECK: I'm building a collection.

GOODING: Yeah, yeah. They're pretty sick.

PECK: Yeah, it's going to be massive.

I'm going to give you a pointer, and I don't know if you've done it already, but some places online still sell iron-on T-shirts, if you can find them, because the iron-ons, over time, they wear out. But if you might be able to find some vintage Trek iron-on shirts, which is something to think about.

MOUNT: Dry clean them.

WESLEY: Get on it, dude.

MOUNT: Yeah.

WESLEY: He's on a mission.

GOODING: Establish the collection.

WESLEY: Okay.

No, I'm being completely serious. There used to be a place in Vancouver that... I forget the name of it, but it was right in the main part of town. I would always go in there and was amazed at what they had. You guys shoot in Ontario, right?

GOODING: Yeah.

On that note, thank you so much for coming in. I wish you guys nothing but the best. I know your panel is going to play like a rock concert. Really, really enjoy it.

For more on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

• 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' and 'Lower Decks' Announce Crossover Episode
• How 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' And 'The Orville' Show the Emotional Cost of Time Travel
• 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 1 Ending Explained: Pike Faces the Future and an Impossible Decision
• 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Retro Posters Take You To Season 1's Most Memorable Locations