At last, a Canadian is cast in Star Trek XI!

The casting for Star Trek XI continues!

Now that most of the basic bridge crew have been assigned, the Hollywood Reporter says Bruce Greenwood — the Atom Egoyan regular who played John F. Kennedy in Thirteen Days (2000; my review) — has been cast as Christopher Pike, who was captain of the Enterprise before James T. Kirk came along.

Pike was played by Jeffrey “I Was a Teenage Jesus” Hunter in the original unaired pilot episode which was shot in 1964 and edited into the two-part episode ‘The Menagerie’ in 1966. ‘The Menagerie’, incidentally, is the episode that will be shown in theatres across the continent three times next week.

Hunter was 38 when he played Pike, and the pilot episode in which he appeared took place 11 years before Kirk assumed command of the Enterprise; Greenwood is 51.

Incidentally, the Reporter claims that Pike was “the Starship Enterprise’s first captain”, but as all Trekkies know, that honour actually goes to Robert April.