The pair then told the story of how Paul Giamatti was cast as the season 1 villain:
Alex Kurtzman: So this happened because he was doing press for The Holdovers, and when he was asked about the part that he would most want to play, he said, “I want to play a Klingon on Star Trek.”… So we called his agent and said, “Was that a thing he just said, was that a bit?”… And she called back and she said, “He’d love to sit down with you. We got on a Zoom with him and he cried. He was so excited at the prospect of playing in the world of Star Trek and he was talking about how meaningful it was him… It was just one of those moments where you’re like, “Oh, one of the greatest actors in the world, and he really wants to come join us.” So that was pretty amazing.
Noga Landau: He also chose which role he wanted to play. We came to him and we said, “You could be this guy or that guy, or that guy.” And he thought about it and he came back and told us that the part he plays is the one he wanted.
Alex Kurtzman: We thought it was going to be like one episode because his schedule is so busy, and he was like, “No, I want to play the villain.” We’re like, “That’s the whole season.” He was like, “Great, let’s do it!”
Love to see it.
This is fantastic story, like Giamatti’s easily good enough that he could have just asked, but the idea was so big in his head that it just seemed like a total pipe dream from his perspective. I genuinely cannot wait to watch him.
Actually this brought up a completely buried memory for me. For a few years I lived in the same neighborhood as him – at the time, cool guy that I was, I had a Starfleet badge on my coat, and one day I was at the grocery store and had an awkward moment with him where our carts got sort of wedged together negotiating the too-narrow checkout lanes. He saw my pin and gave me a Vulcan salute as he moved into his lane. He seemed nice and a bit sheepish. The staff at the coffee shop I used to go to told me he was extremely lovely.
I can’t wait to see Giamatti chew through the scenes. It’s gonna be epic.
