00:00I think I talked to you like seven years ago when you were on Discovery about what it was like
00:04to take on this role.
00:05And you were so like touched.
00:07I'm wondering like seven years later, being with this character for so long and being through all he's been through,
00:12what has it meant to you and has it changed you at all?
00:15Well, yeah, I think every role that you spend time with this long changes you to some degree.
00:21What's meant the most is this franchise having enough faith in me to give me a job that kind of
00:32handed me the wherewithal and the courage to have a family.
00:37Because that's not a given as an actor.
00:40And it certainly helped my career.
00:47And I also just, I think I get better both in terms of my performance and in terms of life
00:53in general.
00:53Just being able to say, okay, you know what?
00:56Just make the decision, do it, whatever that thing might be, and you'll figure it out.
01:03We edit ourselves too often before it's written.
01:06The cult opener of season four, you guys are on horseback on an alien world.
01:10It looks like it's so much fun.
01:16We followed?
01:18No, sir.
01:20And the meds?
01:20Handed off more than enough to save the planet.
01:23I'm curious where you guys shot it, and who enjoyed it more, you yourself or Pike, the character?
01:29We shot that in a rock quarry outside of Toronto.
01:33And I love working with horses.
01:37I did it for six seasons on Hell on Wheels.
01:40I think they're incredible performers.
01:42Everything that they think or feel is exhibited on their skin.
01:48And any opportunity to get to work with a horse.
01:51I don't have the space in my life to have one of my own, so I get to live vicariously
01:57through the Wranglers.
01:58And I was lucky enough to have incredible Wranglers on both Hell on Wheels and on Star Trek.
02:03Saffron Burroughs guest stars in the premiere as this incredible Martian commander.
02:08There's this really touching, poignant moment where she says, you know, she picks up through her translator that when your
02:14character says, alone, just the word, is interpreted as widower to her.
02:18Sorry, I don't follow.
02:19Your translating machine used the word widower.
02:24And so my condolences.
02:28And you can see something just flash across your face.
02:30What did that mean, giving everything that happened last season to Pike?
02:33Because of the episodic nature of the show, it's easy to forget that Pike is in a place of grief
02:38still.
02:39He's lost probably the love of his life.
02:44Who gave him this incredible gift of experiencing a full life in whatever it was, another dimension, another time, another
02:51space.
02:55But he's trying to figure out how to cope with the rest of his fate here.
03:01Yeah.
03:02And what's going to do honor to both the memory of her and to the people surrounding him whose fates
03:08are intertwined with his.
03:09This is the 60th anniversary of Star Trek.
03:12You've been a part of this story for, you know, almost a decade with Discovery and now this series.
03:17There's been crossover events with other shows.
03:20Are you open to playing Pike again down the line in any capacity?
03:23Or do you feel like a story has been told?
03:25Well, first of all, it's been a tremendous honor.
03:27One of the biggest honors of my career.
03:30And one of the finest jobs of my career.
03:32Maybe the finest.
03:33You learn in this business to not have any expectations, but to also never say never.
03:38And really anything can happen.
03:39You don't know.
03:40So you never just say never and you see what the universe tosses your way.
03:45But it is heady to think that I'm part of this franchise that has almost 900 episodes produced over the
03:53years.
03:55I just feel lucky and I'm happy for what I got.
03:58Before we started, we were talking about pottery because we both do pottery.
04:00I'm really curious because I know doing pottery has changed my approach to so many things, my work or my
04:04life.
04:05How does it affect how you approach Pike and your work as an actor in any way?
04:09In an offhand way, pottery for me is my third space.
04:13So it's the escape thereof, right?
04:15So you've got your family, you've got your career, you need a third space.
04:19It's also, as a collaborative artist, it's the thing I don't have to collaborate on.
04:27It's also being an actor where you are your own canvas and it's hard to see the forest with the
04:33trees around you.
04:34You can't step back from the canvas.
04:37It's a way of learning craft from a completely objective viewpoint, right?
04:44And it's just, I love everything about it.
04:47It involves all four elements and it has a healthy dose of chaos.
04:55When you're working with a kiln that fires up to over 23, 2400 degrees, there's a lot of chaos.
05:01Next year is the 25th anniversary of Crossroads and some people first met you there.
05:05Do you still have a favorite memory of being on the set with Britney Spears,
05:08Dois Haldana, all those young stars?
05:10You know what's funny is I haven't been asked a question about that movie in years.
05:14And for some reason, this go-round, it's like, it's been a question that everybody's wanted to ask.
05:21And I appreciate it.
05:23But there's something in the zeitgeist.
05:26I don't know what it is.
05:27But I have tremendously good memories about shooting that movie and feeling completely protected.
05:36And it was a very well-scheduled, very managed production with very strong, very determined,
05:45very creative, nurturing women.
05:48We had Ann Carley, our producer, Shonda Rhimes, wrote it.
05:55You know, obviously the cast.
05:59And it's a pleasant memory that I revisit, especially when I see Zoe Saldana win an Academy Award.
06:07That was, wow.
06:09That was great.
06:10That was great.
