Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Discovery Season 2 and the first episode of Strange New Worlds.Star Trek: Strange New Worlds finally beamed down to streaming devices with its self-titled premiere, "Strange New Worlds." This highly awaited series is conceptualized on a more episodic approach than prior series Discovery and Picard and follows the Enterprise before Jim Kirk's days. The exciting prequel installment includes Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Spock (Ethan Peck), and First Officer Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), among other characters featured in the original series. Much of the premiere focuses on Pike, grappling with a haunting premonition of the future, yet still leading his ship to rescue his Number One. Mount's portrayal of Pike isn't the first, in fact, his arc in Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery uniquely pays homage to his appearance in Star Trek: The Original Series and propels his motivations through Strange New Worlds.
Christopher Pike was played by two actors in The Original Series, Jeffrey Hunter in "The Cage" and Sean Kinney in "The Menagerie," which also featured footage from the former. Pike's only other appearance prior to Mount's portrayal was in the Star Trek reboot films, Star Trek and Star Trek: Into Darkness, played by Bruce Greenwood. However good this performance is, it doesn't connect much to Mount's, however, due to the alternate universe of it all. "The Cage" was filmed as the original pilot for Star Trek, but ultimately was declined by NBC, leading to the order of a new pilot, which we have come to know as "Where No Man Has Gone Before." So while chronologically this episode was the first iteration of Pike, Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Number One (Majel Barrett), this episode wasn't seen by general audiences until 1986.
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But before Pike was revived in the reboot films and even before Hunter's original appearance was released on VHS, he first appeared to audiences as a man disabled in an accident aboard a Starfleet training vessel, in which he saved the lives of several cadets. The incident leaves him with little motor skills, both physically and verbally, no doubt a scarred man, both on the outside and in. The two-part "The Menagerie," explores Pike's past while also showing Spock's loyalty, and albeit, his more emotional human side. Through flashbacks (the footage from "The Cage"), we find that Pike once visited a planet, now quarantined by Starfleet, with inhabitants who can project lifelike illusions among other advanced and psychic abilities. Even though Pike and Spock's first visit is the reason behind the strict sanctions., over the course of the episode, Spock faces a court marshal getting Pike back to this planet. Spock's ultimate goal is to relocate his former captain so the latter may accept an offer to live a less painful existence with the Talosians and a woman he once loved, Vina (Susan Oliver), who found herself in similar conditions as Pike now faces.
"The Menagerie" is not only an iconic episode of original Trek, but also provides plenty of lore-filled material to explore for Pike at a different stage in his life. When he appears on Star Trek: Discovery he's still clearly young but has already visited Talos IV for the first time. With Strange New Worlds taking place only a few months after Season 2 of Discovery, we can place most of these related milestones in his life.
2250: Pike takes command of the USS Enterprise.
2254: He visits Talos IV for the first time.
2257: Pike takes command of the USS Discovery, during which he travels to Boreth.
2258: Pike reassumes command of the USS Enterprise.
2266: As a fleet captain, he rescues 5 cadets in an accident on a Starfleet training vessel.
2267: Pike relocates to Talos IV.
Star Trek: Discovery splits the two major events that shape Pike's life and builds on them, setting the stage to explore an unseen stage of Pike's life, even with the reboot movies in consideration. Pike takes command of the starship after the Enterprise takes heavy damage while investigating 7 mysterious red signals. As the Enterprise undergoes repairs, Pike takes command of the Discovery to continue this mission and the signals become personal for Michal Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) over the course of the season.
In Discovery Season 2 Episode 8, "If Memory Serves," Pike reunites with Vina, albeit by projection. Spock returns to Talos IV (with Michael) so that the Talosians can heal his mind with their psychic powers. While the Talosians were successful in healing his mind, he still was a wanted fugitive. While Vina is projected to Pike on Discovery to alert him to Spock and Michael's location, it also gives them a sense of closure as they both confess what their time meant to each other and how it helped heal Vina and begin a new life (with her own Pike via Talosian projection). Despite this unexpected closure, they would reunite only a decade later.
The most essential Pike viewing comes in the penultimate episode of Discovery Season 2, "Through the Valley of the Shadows." By this point in the season, to recap in one sentence, the team is working on creating a suit that can travel into the future. If Discovery is able to do this, they can prevent an apocalyptic fate for the galaxy. One of the mysterious signals appears above the planet of Boreth, known for its Klingon Monastery, one of the most sacred locations in the Klingon empire, and the rare time crystals found in the lava caves of the planet. Putting two and two together, he heads down to the planet to procure one of the crystals which are needed for the Red Angel suit.
Pike is able to obtain the crystal, but he has to make the decision to see his fate, and the catch — once he sees his fate he's unable to change it — at least, according to the Klingon monk, Tenevik. His future is shown to him in a vision where he not only sees the accident that leaves him severely poisoned by radiation, but also the last effects it has on him from the scarring on his skin to severely reduced mobility. He sees an accident that changes his life forever as well as the timing. It's clear that such a premonition could become a life-changing event in itself, but for at least the time being, Christopher Pike can compartmentalize enough to focus on protecting the galaxy.
Even one episode into Strange New Worlds, it's clear that Pike's life has profoundly changed since his experience on Boreth. At first, Pike remains in his home in Montana, waiting for the repairs to the Enterprise, but still, he's not sure if he can return. Upon seeing reflections he hallucinates visions of himself and doesn't quite know how to proceed as a captain, or even if he should be a captain, still. Just knowing his fate can change his behavior. After all, he knows he'll survive. However, by the end of the hour, it's his Starfleet values that lead him back into the captain's chair and keeps him there. It's likely those values that will help Pike wade through the ironic uncertainty that comes with knowing his endpoint.