Star Trek Confirms Two Original Series Characters Are Returning in Strange New Worlds (But Not in the Way Fans Want)

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Thomas Jane (The Punisher, The Mist, The Expanse) has reportedly been cast as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in Star Trek: Stranger Things Season 5; meanwhile, newcomer actor Kai Murakami will play Star Trek TOS character Lt. Hikaru Sulu. But don’t expect to see much of either actor onscreen…

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Reveals Its Endgame

Thomas Jane will play Bones McCoy / Lionsgate – Paramount

The key detail in this casting news is that Strange New Worlds is saving these big Original Series character reveals for a key moment: the final one. According to THR, McCoy and Sulu “will appear in the final episode of the upcoming fifth and final season, which recently wrapped production.”

That pretty much spells out the ending moments of Strange New Worlds, for any savvy Star Trek fan who is paying attention: Kirk taking over the captain’s chair on the bridge of the Enterprise, with a rebooted crew around him, including Spock (Ethan Peck), McCoy, and Sulu. Granted, that’s pretty much the ending of the series that most Star Trek fans expected – and pretty much the only one the series could deliver – but it could still end up being powerful, given the context.

Strange New Worlds’ Ending Will Be Bittersweet

Paramount

Strange New Worlds was a spinoff of the Star Trek: Discovery TV series, which started as a prequel story to the Original Series (before time-hopping into the distant future of Star Trek). The entire premise of Strange New Worlds hinged on Captain Pike getting to see the vision of his own horrific injury, and choosing to still live the life and pursue the Starfleet mission directives that will ultimately lead him to his fate. Captain Pike’s heroic sacrifice and his living hell afterward, horribly disfigured and trapped within a withered, paralyzed body, became deeply formative milestones for Captain Kirk to evolve into the noble leader he became.

That’s all to say, when Kirk finally stands alongside Bones, Sulu, and the rest, he (and the audience) will feel the resonance of Pike’s legacy and presence in the franchise, which Anson Mount has cemented for good.

During Comic Con 2025, Star Trek producer Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers teased that these recast versions of Bones and Sulu could have a future in the franchise – via the proposed “Star Trek: Year One” series that we see Kirk and his new crew working through their initial rough patches to become a unified crew.

“Nothing would make us happier than to be able to continue telling the stories of how Pike’s crew transitions to Kirk’s crew and how Kirk’s crew sets off,” Myers told EW. “Obviously, when we come into TOS [The Original Series], it’s not the first day of the job…. Fundamentally, there are relationships that already exist. How did they happen? And, obviously, we have the opportunity for Sulu, and we have the opportunity for McCoy in a longer life, and the opportunity for Chekov. So it would be awesome to be able to continue.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams on Paramount+. Season 5 will premiere in 2026. Talk about the show with us on the ComicBook Forum!