Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Showrunner Teases Vulcan Body Swap Comedy Episode

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has hooked audiences with a version of the Trek universe that feels true to the tone of the original Star Trek. One of the ideas that has recurred a handful of times over the life of the franchise is the idea of a body-swapping storyline. It’s a tried-and-true science fiction trope both inside and outside of the Trek universe, and this time around, the plan is to mine it for comedy, as “Spock Amok” explores what happens when you body-swap with an emotionless Vulcan. Executive producer Henry Alonso Myers teased it to IGN as a comedy episode.

The idea of going full-on comedy for an episode of Star Trek might sound a little weird these days. After all, its fandom tends to talk more about its big themes and meaningful stances than its punchlines. Still, it’s hardly a new thing, having happened on the 1960s series.

“The experience of doing the specifics of a body swap with Spock and T’Pring makes it unique,” showrunner Henry Alonso Myers told IGN. “We haven’t seen that before. And in particular, the experience of doing it with Ethan Peck’s Spock, and Gia Sandhu’s T’Pring are what makes it unique and interesting.”

Describing it as a “romantic comedy kind of episode,” Alonso Myers said, “The hill I decided to die on was to say, ‘Trek can be funny.” 

The examples he cited to back it up included “Little Green Men (from Deep Space 9) and The Original Series’ “The Trouble With Tribbles.”

“It’s not a crazy stretch to say that Trek can be funny,” says Alonso Myers. “It is canonically funny many times. It can handle that tone. We have an incredibly talented cast who are also very funny. So it was really important to me that we do an episode that tried for funny. But it’s an hour long and there’s always a moment where funny doesn’t sustain it, and you need it to be about something. So I would call it like a dram-edy. We have that tone in it. And I think it feels like Star Trek to me. I loved writing that, and I will tell you, there is no funnier human being than Anson Mount. He’s got really good comic timing.”

You can see the official synopsis for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds below.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds follows Captain Christopher Pike at the helm of the USS Enterprise in the years before Star Trek: The Original Series. The series brings back fan-favorite stars from Star Trek: Discovery‘s second season: Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One, and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series follows Pike, Spock, and Number One before Captain Kirk’s command of the USS Enterprise, as they explore new worlds across the galaxy. The series also stars Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Christina Chong as La’an Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding as Cadet Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas, and Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuts new episodes on Thursdays on Paramount+.