Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek, strange new worlds

Strange New Worlds Star Ethan Peck on Building Spock/Kirk Relationship

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Ethan Peck on Spock seeing Kirk's "intelligence and humanity" and building their dynamic with Paul Wesley.

If there's one thing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds had that the J. J. Abrams Kelvin Universe timeline films, starting with 2009's Star Trek, didn't have time to build, it was the cohesion of The Original Series crew. Granted, both SNW and TOS had the advantage of taking their time as TV shows, whereas everything in film is condensed. Still, it's that invaluable buildup and patience out of Kirk and Spock actors Paul Wesley and Ethan Peck we always wanted, but sadly never got out of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, which is hardly the fault of the latter two. In the latest SNW episode, "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail," we see a watershed moment not only in Kirk's career, but also in the relationship with his would-be TOS first officer. Peck spoke to TV Insider about being part of that journey, guiding Kirk through his crisis as he's tasked with taking charge of the U.S.S. Farragut. The following contains minor spoilers.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Star Ethan Peck on What Spock Sees in Kirk

In TOS, we already see William Shatner's Kirk and Leonard Nimoy's Spock attuned as part of the cohesive unit of the U.S.S. Enterprise. As we come to find out in the episode "The Menagerie," Spock previously served under Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter). With SNW, we see a vision closer to Gene Roddenberry's original vision of TOS pilot "The Cage," which was repurposed to "The Menagerie" via flashbacks. Pine and Quinto's characters started in the 2009 film as cadet and instructor, respectively, at Starfleet Academy, but were thrust into action with Spock seeing Kirk as nothing more than petulant and reckless to the point where Spock orders Kirk thrown out on a pod from the Enterprise as acting captain. Things would eventually smooth over, but it wasn't exactly a good first impression for an enduring friendship.

In "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail," Kirk finds himself essentially alone on the bridge as the Farragut battles scavengers that decimate their ship, incapacitating most of the crew. With the Enterprise in assistance, Spock, Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Chapel (Jess Bush), and Scotty (Martin Quinn) beam on board to render any help they can. Kirk finds himself acting as captain, but is overwhelmed by the scenario, scrambling for options. As Kirk has volunteered his services before on the Enterprise, he never shouldered the captain's chair, confiding in Spock that he compares his situation to a "dog catching the car, but not knowing what to do with it" to his leadership ambitions to be a Starfleet captain. Spock tells him of a similar Vulcan scenario as the case of the episode title, "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail," before Kirk and company devise a scenario to free themselves from the scavengers and also save the Enterprise in the process.

"Spock sees his intelligence and humanity, which I think are so central to every really core Star Trek character, and there's also sort of a sense of humility in his doubt and his self-doubt," Peck said. "And so I think that gave Spock an avenue to speak to him and help clear up some of that self-doubt, diminish that hesitation. But yeah, I think from their very first meeting, there's a really nice connection that they have right away." As their incarnations have met before, Peck recognizes the seeds SNW is planting, "I'm not sure that they've begun building it too, too much," he said. "That particular scene is so primordial that I think it's just kind of a vector pointing towards the relationship that will be. But Paul and I, I will say, get along really famously, and we have a lot of fun together, and I think we have a lot of chemistry as friends, and I really can see that carrying over into our on-screen relationship."

Strange New Worlds is on a current trajectory of five seasons, with showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers planning on Pike (Anson Mount) passing the torch (rather, the captain's chair) to Wesley's Kirk by series end at season five. Their follow-up proposed series, Star Trek: Year One, would be the exact bridge to The Original Series, as Kirk's Enterprise was already a well-oiled machine. New episodes of SNW, which also stars Rebecca Romijn, Christina Chong, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, and Carol Kane, stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

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