It was announced earlier today that Marvel's INHUMANS actor Anson Mount will soon become a member of USS Discovery when CBS All Access' STAR TREK: DISCOVERY returns for its highly-anticipated sophomore season. According to reports, Anson, who portrays the silent king, Black Bolt, for Marvel's struggling superhero series, will board the space-fairing adventure series as Captain Christopher Pike. Of course, this begs the question: What is up with Marvel's INHUMANS, then?
To answer that inquire, we'd have to travel back to this past January, when ABC head Channing Dungey stated that Marvel's INHUMANS "didn't perform for us at the level that we would've wanted." Obviously, this does not bode well for the program, which (so far) has yet to announce its official cancellation. “We haven’t made any official decision yet about what we’re going to pick up in May," Dungey said, "but I will say that the numbers, unfortunately, were less exciting for us than we hoped they would be.”
Could Marvel be looking to salvage the INHUMANS brand by quietly prepping a follow-up to the program's original eight-episode debut? Or, should we take Mount's induction into the STAR TREK: DISCOVERY cast as a sign of things to come? My money is on INHUMANS being deader than Captain America by the end of AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (I think), though stranger things have happened.
On the other end of the spectrum, long-time Trekkies will know Mount's Captain Christopher Pike character as the one introduced in the original STAR TREK series. He held command of the ship prior to Captain James T. Kirk, and was well liked within certain circles of the fandom. In fact, while examining the character's history, I've found that he's been portrayed by several actors throughout STAR TREK's storied existence both on the big and small screens.
He was first represented by Jeffrey Hunter in the original 1966 Star Trek pilot episode titled “The Cage.” Some time after that, Sean Kenney assumed the role of Capt. Pike for a Star Trek episode entitled "The Managerie." In more recent times, the role of Capt. Pike was played by Bruce Greenwood for the J.J. Abbrams-directed 2009 STAR TREK film reboot. The character then appeared once more in the 2013 sequel STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS.
Little else is known about the second season of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY at this time, though we'll be sure to bring you the latest as soon as it becomes available. Are you excited for Captain Christopher Pike to join the crew of the USS Discovery? Are you at all broken up about the likelihood that Marvel's INHUMANS won't be coming back? Are you like me in that you wish Marvel's INHUMANS was just eight episodes of Lockjaw traveling the cosmos? Let us know in the comments section below.