Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 4, Episode 8, “Orders of Magnitude.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is back with another complex and nuanced moral quandary in this week’s episode. Titled “Orders of Magnitude,” the eighth episode of Strange New Worlds Season 4 sees James Kirk (Paul Wesley) once again thrust into a position of power on the Enterprise when an emergency arises as a visiting Admiral takes control of the ship — and as they say, with great power comes great responsibility. In the episode, Kirk’s instinctual nature to always push for the best possible outcome butts up against a vengeful Starfleet Admiral, played by Scandal‘s Joe Morton, who’s bent on destroying a cloaked ship responsible for the death of his family. The episode also digs up Kirk family lore that completely shifts how the future Captain sees his father — and his future.
On the heels of Star Trek’s 60th anniversary this week, I sat down with Paul Wesley to discuss the final episodes of Strange New Worlds Season 4. “Orders of Magnitude” allows Kirk to see his own absent father in a new light when he learns that George Kirk was actually a hero. When asked about how this information might shape his own journey as both a father and a Starfleet officer, Wesley told Collider:
“It’s funny because his father obviously was kind of an absent dad, and he knows how much that hurt. He obviously felt that pain. And so I think for him, he doesn’t really know. I think it’s a consistent conflict. It’s like, “Do I not pursue my dream of becoming a captain, or do I be a good father?” And unfortunately, the reality of the situation is you can’t do both. You can’t. And I think in many ways, learning that his father was actually a hero gives him, in a way, the kind of drive and the fuel to maybe become a hero himself.”
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
Joe Morton Brings Empathy and Depth to His ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Villain
(L-R): Joe Mortin as Admiral Reeger and Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, episode 8, season 4, streaming on Paramount+, 2026. Photo Credit: Jan Thijs/Paramount+
Image via Jan Thijs/Paramount+
Morton, who’s known for delivering some of the most impactful “Shondalogues” in television history, brings a phenomenal level of nuance to his role as Admiral Reeger in this episode, something Wesley was both challenged by and appreciative of on set. “Well, I mean, it was hard, actually, because Joe brought a real empathy to his very immoral actions, and so you’re going head-to-head with this guy, and you’re fighting for doing one thing, and then he’s fighting for something else,” explained Wesley. He went on to say that Morton’s conviction in the role was so powerful, it almost makes you side with Reeger, “But at the same time, his justifications are so vulnerable and sensitive and profound, and there’s a part of me as a character that was like, ‘Oh, well, shit, maybe his actions are justifiable.'”
Wesley continued praising Morton’s performance in the episode, saying, “So, it’s cool because it makes it more multidimensional and there are more colors. It’s gray, and all the great dramas have a moral ambiguity to them. The characters are rich and layered, and that’s something he brought. Because it’s very simple to have approached this role in a very kind of classic villain arc way, and he didn’t; he brought a shade to it, which I really, really appreciated, and I think audiences will as well.”
Two more episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 remain. You can stream “Orders of Magnitude” now on Paramount+ and stay tuned at Collider for more.
Release Date
2022 – 2027-00-00
Network
Paramount+
Showrunner
Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman
Directors
Dan Liu, Amanda Row, Maja Vrvilo, Akiva Goldsman, Dermott Downs, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Jonathan Frakes, Jordan Canning, Leslie Hope, Valerie Weiss, Sydney Freeland, Christopher J. Byrne, Rachel Leiterman
![Strange New Worlds’ Officially Puts Kirk’s Future at a Crossroads [Exclusive]](https://i2.wp.com/static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/copy-of-collider-template-2026-09-10t144547-670.jpg?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&w=780&resize=780,470&ssl=1 "Strange New Worlds’ Officially Puts Kirk’s Future at a Crossroads [Exclusive]")
