Spock is coming to Star Trek: Discovery in its upcoming second season, and he’ll be played by the third actor to take on the role of the Vulcan icon. Apparently, this actor’s already been cast, but their identity’s currently being kept a secret. What we do know, though, is that this fresh iteration of Spock will be “very different” from what’s come before.
Showrunner Alex Kurtzman spoke to TVGuide recently and teased that Discovery season 2 will feature a version of Spock who’s yet to mature into the character we know from Nimoy’s portrayal. For those worried that the show will change the him beyond recognition, Kurtzman was keen to stress that they’ve paid close attention to the canon.
“This is not entirely the Spock who has been formed enough to be the Spock that we know from TOS. There’s a lot of story about who Spock was before he becomes the Spock that is the yin-yang to Kirk. What I’m so excited about is that we have an opportunity to present a version of Spock that’s both totally consistent with the Spock everyone knows but very, very different. And it’s all gonna tie to how we sync up with canon.”
Going by what else is happening in season 2, we might be able to work out what Kurtzman is saying here. Apparently, the next run of Discovery will be inspired by “The Cage,” the pilot of The Original Series, by introducing Captain Pike and Number One (as played by Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn, respectively).
Spock also appears in this pilot and, as the character hadn’t been fully developed yet, he’s much more overtly emotional than the Vulcan logician we’ve come to know. It looks like Discovery‘s Spock will attempt to bridge the gap then between this more human interpretation and the later version and explore how he came to be that way.
All things considered, Star Trek: Discovery season 2 appears to be taking the show in a more fan-pleasing direction after the first outing divided viewers, and you can catch it when it returns to CBS All Access in January 2019.