We’ve seen Zachary Quinto and the late, great Leonard Nimoy bring to life the legendary Vulcan, but now, it’s Ethan Peck’s turn to play the role of Spock for Star Trek Discovery season 2.
After scouring the four corners of the galaxy – nay, the universe – for potential candidates, CBS announced earlier this week that Peck, best known for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and 10 Things I Hate About You, had been selected to play the half-human, half-Vulcan foster brother of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green).
The USS Enterprise’s most famous science officer was first teased during Discovery‘s season finale, when our crew encountered the Enterprise for the very first time. But there’s a twist; Spock’s slipped off the radar to tend to his own personal journey, as if he’d run into a question he couldn’t answer, as Captain Christopher Pike (new series regular Anson Mount) infers. But when he finally shows his face, what should fans expect from the iconic character?
That was the question posed to Discovery‘s cast and crew by SyFy recently and they teased that the Spock we see on the show will be a bit different than the one we’re used to. To start with, executive producer Alex Kurtzman reminded the outlet that the Spock on Discovery is ten years younger than the one who first charmed audiences on The Original Series.
The Spock that we meet is ten years [before Star Trek: The Original Series]. So, he is not formed in the same way that he is formed by the time you get to TOS. What we will learn is a lot of what made him the Spock that he was and what will make him the Spock he is, has to do with his family and his sister.
Mary Wiseman, who plays Ensign Tilly, then added onto that by promising that it’ll be exciting for fans to watch the character at this stage in his life.
I think it is going to be so exciting for the fanbase. Spock is such a beloved character. It really captures the imagination of all people, not just hardcore Trek fans. I think it is going to be really fun, and really root the show. How we approach that is going to be, as ever, unique and with our very particular point of view.
Finally, Dr. Culber actor Wilson Cruz chimed in as well, saying:
I think he comes in with some mystery. I think we are going to learn some things about Spock, that we didn’t necessarily know before.
The next run of Discovery will apparently be inspired by “The Cage,” the pilot of The Original Series, and introduce us to Captain Pike and Number One. Of course, 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. Put that together with what everyone’s saying here, and it sounds as if Discovery‘s Spock will attempt to bridge the gap between this more human interpretation and the later version and explore how he came to be that way.
Overall, Star Trek: Discovery season 2 appears to be taking the show in a more fan-pleasing direction after the first outing divided viewers, and we can’t wait to see what else is in store for us when it returns to CBS All Access in January 2019.