Just an objective honest criticism, I feel this show could have done much better in casting in general . I know they are fictional characters, but usually in biopics when they get actors for roles, they go out of their way to make them look like the person. Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln, Tom Hanks as Walter Disney, Rene Zellweger as Judy Garland, Jamie Foxx as Rey Charles just to name a few.
I just feel that whenever a person is playing a role that is so well established be it a fictional legendary/iconic character like Spock or a real person like Lincoln, they need to do better with the casting appearance, make up and hair styling .et.c to make them appear more like what was established on physical appearance. There needs to be some kind of look alike even if it is not much.
Paramount + Star Trek just does not seem to care. Dr. M'Benga, looks nothing like the original actor, he is suppose to become in 10 years, also for the actress who plays chapel. the original actress had a more heart shaped face, while this new actress face is rounder. Paul Wesley looks nothing like William Shatner. His jaw bones are too sharp and his handsomeness is more broody and mysterious (I know this from the vampire dairies days when I used to watch the show) Shatner kind of handsome was more all American man, even in the most generic of terms.
It is funny because when I used to watch the extra features of star trek 2009, the casting folks always said it was amazing how much zachary quinto looked a lot like Nimoy and they were lucky to get him. Ethan Peck's facial features is vastly different from Nimoy. Nimoy had a long face, Peck's face is more square. No wonder people prefer him with the beard.
I know most will say it does not matter, but there is nothing wrong in putting the effort to make actors actually look like the establish characters they are playing when it is a direct prequel to the movie or series, it is so funny that many shows of the 90s used to put effort than shows now in casting looklalikes.
When I look at young Sheldon, I see the older Sheldon from Big Bang Theory that he grows into. None of the cast here in SWN has any striking resemblance to their original characters.
For many black actors, I know this can be a hard issue due to colourism, and how hollywood has always favoured light skin black actors, However you dont need to dispose of light skin black actors to make room for dark skin black actors, this is not how the problem is solved since all you are doing is following the western establishment rule of (only one black person gets to shine or have a sit at the table) Please expand your show or characters to include a new character that are dark skinned characters right from their first appearance.
Dr M'Benga who is played by Bab Olusanmokun was amazing in Dune. He could have been a brand new doctor. Now we are going to try and work out how he goes from a dark skin black guy with different facial features, to an almost light skin biracial black guy in 10 years, when he could just have been a different character, that will add to the lore of star trek regarding minorities characters.
Again, among the more many problems of woke thinking.
