Actor Paul Wesley is crushing it as James T. Kirk in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," but even so, there's a community of fantasy fans out there still holding out hope to see him return to his former franchise. Those hopes were dashed recently when Wesley went viral explaining why he wouldn't return to "The Vampire Diaries," noting that eight years on a show was long. CinemaBlend wondered if that same mindset translated to playing Kirk in "Trek" and got a passionate response from the actor about the differences between the two.

We had a chance to speak to Paul Wesley recently, and during our conversation, we brought up the fact that many "Trek" actors have reprised their roles throughout their lifetimes. As the heir apparent to playing James T. Kirk from this point on, we noted he could be called on to play him in other projects and questioned if he was up for that, given the comments he made about never returning to "The Vampire Diaries." Wesley enthusiastically set the record straight on his original comments, with a bit of key context that better explained his response.