Why was that and what changed your mind?

I just didn’t want to be a pale shadow of the brilliance that’s gone before me. I grew up watching and worshipping Captain Kirk [played by Shatner]. And I’m not big on reboots or remakes of things. But then when they told me the story and I saw the script, I realised it was a completely new show, born of our troubled and difficult, divisive times and with something to say about the world we live in.

You did grow up as a fan of the series. What were the sort of specific elements that drew you to the show then?

Well, when I was a kid I just loved the stories. I guess, looking back, I probably was learning how to be a man, from the essential dichotomy of Spock and Kirk, the rational and the animalistic. But I just loved the stories.

Now, I’m an adult. When I see those original episodes, I realise how powerful they were… They were political allegories and they were kind of moral conundrums and they had a lot for adults to engage with. But I didn’t realise any of that then, I just thought they were fabulously entertaining.

What can you tell us about your character [Captain Gabriel Lorca]?

Well, the great joy of our show is that it’s serialised. Meaning, it’s one 15-hour story, like a novel. And so the characters can’t be summed up because they are rich and their behaviour and incidents have consequences. Somebody dies and you’re upset, you’re still upset the week after. In the original series, everything reboots to zero.

So I can tell you he’s a guy who is trying to win the war. He’s not looking to make any friends. He’s surrounded by hippies and idiots. He thinks that people in charge of the Federation have no idea what they’re doing and only he sees the scale of the threat.

Other people might find him to be tough and amoral and doing whatever is necessary by any means necessary… But as far as he’s concerned, he’s doing what needs to be done.