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Star Trek: Discovery Losing Anson Mount & Rebecca Romijn After Season 2
CBS All Access may be adding more Star Trek content, but Star Trek: Discovery is trimming down their cast by letting go of Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn after season 2 ends. The two stars joined the show as classic characters Captain Christopher Pike and his crew member Number One respectively. Their presence was meant to weave the series into the larger mythos, and fans were very happy to get updated takes on old favorites in the most recent season.
Jeffrey Hunter portrayed Pike in the original series, where he became the first captain of the USS Enterprise to be shown in canon, while Majel Barrett played Number One in her more limited appearances. Considering that they both first appeared early on in Star Trek, during a two-part story called "The Menagerie" which aired in 1966, it makes perfect sense to connect the dots and give viewers a peek into their adventures a decade prior. But a peek is all it's going to be, as Mount and Romijn will be stepping down when the season ends.
According to Deadline's sources, both actors were signed on with one-year deals ahead of time. Their arc was always meant to tie Discovery back to the original lore before the prequel's third season, so their departure is not due to anything other than planned storytelling. Synchronizing with canon means that Pike has to go to the Enterprise in order to play out his personal storyline, and it will be interesting to see how the Discovery's story lines up starting next season.
The exclusive report mentioned an on-set disagreement between Mount and a director that became physical, but noted that the actor did not receive any disciplinary action after CBS HR reviewed the situation. He even apologized to the director in question, and the source clarified that it was unrelated to the end of Pike's arc and that the production "would love to find a way to work with Anson again.”
Another actor that CBS All Access would surely love to work with again is Rainn Wilson, who played the morally ambiguous Harry Mudd last season. While Wilson won't be back on board for the show's current season, which has five episodes to go before its finale, the door is open for season 3 seeing as he's a big fan of the series and his character is iconic. Similarly, there's a little wiggle room for Discovery to interact with Pike once more between his first original Star Trek appearance and his final mention (in the 1967 episode "Mirror, Mirror"), so it's entirely possible that the showrunners could find another arc worthy of Mount and Romijn's return in the near future.
