How Anson Mount Channeled Gene Roddenberry in STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS' Retro-Holodeck Episode
The latest season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has given us some wild swings, but last week’s episode, “A Space Adventure Hour,” took fans on one of the more interesting directions of the franchise.
It dropped the crew into a stylized 1960s murder mystery on the set of a sci-fi show that looked a whole lot like Star Trek: The Original Series. It was part homage, part parody, and while a lot of fans seemed to enjoy it, I have mixed feelings.
Watching Anson Mount step into the role of “TK Bellows” was a clear nod to Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Mount did his homework and dove deep into Roddenberry’s persona to play this character, studying old tapes of Roddenberry to bring an authentic flair to the performance.
Director Jonathan Frakes, who helmed the episode, shared with Variety just how much care went into building the character.
“I had the privilege of working with Gene for three or four years before he died. Anson and I started really wanting to lean into Gene, and he asked me to get some tapes which I was able to track down from the Roddenberry Association.
“We were really into him doing Gene, but I think [executive producers] Akiva [Goldsman] and Henry [Alonso Myers] wanted us not to lean in too hard.”
Mount was clearly game to take it further, even embracing Roddenberry’s distinctive look. Costume designer Bernadette Croft shared that “Anson was like, ‘Let’s do a belly, let’s really lean into the suede jacket.’ [Roddenberry] was this bookish intellectual, but then he kind of turned, like a cut snake if he was in a bad mood or if someone crossed him.”
Frakes added that they found the perfect balance in the end, saying:
“We ended up in a wonderful place where Anson created a character who, for better or for worse, anybody who knew him could see Gene. The voice specifically is brilliant, the physicality is so not Pike. Everybody had a ball playing in a different part of their toolbox.”
While episode itself may have split opinions, it was a clear love letter to Roddenberry’s legacy, and Mount’s take on Bellows was a thoughtfully layered performance that fans of classic Trek will absolutely appreciate.
New episodes of Strange New Worlds stream Thursdays on Paramount+.