Oh, ugh. No shade on Paul Wesley’s acting chops but the whole NuKirk thing makes me whince.
The character already had a decades-spanning arc from 1966 to 1994. I do not see what else we can or need to add.
Star Trek proved in the '80s and '90s that it has more to offer than the exploits of a single starship crew. There’s a whole fleet of ships out there, allowing for very different takes and interpretations of the larger philosophy and canon.
The nostalgia trip of returning to the Kirk/Spock/McCoy trifecta is deeply worrying on a franchise level, because it shows that the current generation of execs and producers don’t really acknowledge or care for the massive world building and modernisation that went into the TNG/DS9/VOY series.
Finally, 4. Just my own niggle concerning Paul Wesley’s casting as Kirk — when TF was Kirk ever this slim, this square jawed? Yes, I see Shatner’s fluctuating waistline as Kirk canon, okay? 😆 Clearly, I don’t agree with the choice of bringing Kirk back in the first place, but let’s be honest — Kirk needs to be a bit of a butterball.