Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Ethan Peck Talks Spock’s Romance (Exclusive)

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 5, “Charades,” Ethan Peck got to show Star Trek fans a new side of Spock, the fully human side. The episode sees Spock and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) crashing into a stable space-time vortex. Spock’s body is damaged and the alien beings living within the anomaly attempt to repair him. However, with only Chapel as a point of reference, they restore Spock as a human with no trace of his Vulcan heritage. With T’Pring (Gia Sandhu) and her family making their way to the Enterprise to perform a Vulcan ritual for the betrothed, things quickly get awkward.

ComicBook.com has the opportunity to chat with Peck about the episode and what it was like playing a human Spock and the character’s romance with Nurse Chapel. Here’s what he had to say:

Jamie Lovett, ComicBook.com: I have to wonder when you signed up to play this famously stoic, unemotional, logically-minded character of Spock, did you ever imagine the amount of romance that this role would end up involving as we got into Star Trek: Strange New Worlds?

Ethan Peck: Super surprised. Season 1, Episode 1 kicks off with some very romantic moments between Spock and T’Pring that I was totally floored by. I just had no idea it would kick off like that. I love where Akiva Goldsman, one of our writers and showrunners, took it. Obviously, Henry Alonso Myers, too, but Akiva directed that episode in particular.

It’s so funny because Spock is famously sort of isolated and alone, and in this series, he’s the one that has all these romantic relationships. It’s crazy.

You’ve been working hard, getting these Vulcan mannerisms down. Then you get this script that’s like, “Hey, you’re a human in this one.” What was your initial gut-check reaction to that? Was it like, “Oh, cool, I get to unclench in this one,” or was it a little bit, “Come on, guys. I’ve been working so hard at this Vulcan thing”?

No, definitely the former. My reaction was, “Holy moly, this is going to be really challenging.” Because, yeah, you’re absolutely right, I’ve got to throw out everything I know about Spock, almost everything. The big challenge there is how far can we take this version of him without being totally untethered to the spirit of Spock. And where I landed, at least, is in these amazing qualities of Spock that I think are so essential to who he is, which are the curiosity — he’s filled with wonder, he’s adventurous, he’s brave — and he’s got so much depth. He gets to explore those qualities, just in a very different way this time, and that was really, really fun and liberating.

Was there a specific moment that posed a particular challenge when it came to letting go of a particular mannerism without totally dropping the character?

All the time. Every moment was like that. The first few days we were filming the episode — and shout out to Jordan Canning, our amazing director for that episode, she was such an incredible partner in this for me, really made me feel safe and comfortable, and is such a smart and creative collaborative — in those first couple of days, we were kind of figuring out, “Who is this guy? How loud is this guy? How big is he in his emotions and his emoting?” And the first couple of days were so discombobulating because this character is so different from the Spock that we know in so many ways, and it was really hard to let go of because I’m still dressed the same, and all of these things reinforce who he is normally. And so to be in these same environments, in the same costume, but be a totally different person was really difficult and exciting.

I know the scene was shot using the magic of television, but I have to wonder how much bacon were you actually forced to consume for that one scene.

A lot. I ate a lot of it.

Are you ever going to look at it the same way?

I’ll tell you what, I didn’t eat anything else that day, and I didn’t want to eat bacon for a while.

Tell me a little bit about working with Jess Bush to establish that nervous energy that seems to radiate between Spock and Chapel leading up to the end of this episode. What were some of the things you talked about as far as what that chemistry should be like, and also what feedback you got from the director in that regard?

Oh, great question. I love working with Jess so much. She’s so incredible in that role, and just an incredible person, as well, and we get along so well off-camera. We actually don’t really speak too much about process or how things are going to be. I know how she works, she knows how I work, and we show up and see what happens, to be honest with you. We did discuss a little bit the technicalities of the kiss and what that would be like, but we really kind of hide our process from each other and then experience them in the moment together on camera. That’s how I remember it.

Those sorts of moments of intimacy are really challenging because on paper it seems really intimate, but practically, it’s so mechanical and needs to be done a certain way, and it’s got to be discussed and choreographed, and it’s just kind of silly and awkward, which really did a lot for me as Spock because I think he’s silly and awkward in a lot of those sorts of situations, so, it was perfect.

In your mind, how do you define whatever this thing happening between Chapel and Spock is? I know we’ve got some episodes left to go, but at this point, what would you say to fans wondering about that?

Oh, that’s a good question. I would say that there’s some part of him that really hopes for it, that, really, he wants to fit in and he wants to belong. I think ultimately what we discover about him is that he doesn’t. He doesn’t belong on Earth, necessarily. He doesn’t belong on Vulcan, necessarily. He’s really perfectly suited to being in Starfleet and being on the Enterprise with all of these weirdos, these beautiful and intelligent weirdos.

And so I think there’s a part of him that yearns so badly to have this human relationship with Chapel, but knows that that’s not quite right because the same applies to T’Pring that he, I think, aches to be Vulcan and to belong with her and to belong on Vulcan. But there’s some part of him that understands that that’s not to be, and that’s what all of these events are leading him to, that realization that neither of these are really for him. I don’t think he knows that yet, but I think maybe the answers are in him, but he’s just working to reveal them at this point. But I think he wants to be with her.

The show is a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series. A lot of people who are watching will know where they end up. Do you think there’s a particular trick, be it in the performance, the writing, the directing, to make it feel just as raw and real and exciting as a traditional, “Will they, won’t they,” even though people may have already seen the ending?

Oh, well, I never think about where it’s going. I think about the moment that we have, day to day. So, I really do my best to stay in those moments and not think too much about the bigger picture. In that moment, I think Spock looks to be with Chapel but just isn’t really clear on what that means yet. I know that he has yearning and pining for her and to be with her.

There’s some great stuff with Amanda Grayson in this episode. One of the scenes really reminded me of a scene from the first J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie where Spock kind of tells off the council when they start looking down on his mother. I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about filming that scene. Did that scene from that movie pop into your mind or get mentioned at all, or were you purposely trying to avoid it?

No, it didn’t pop into my mind, actually. When I was preparing for the role, my focus was really on Nimoy’s version of the character because Zachary Quinto, I loved those movies, and I mean, I so admire him and love his performance in those movies, but he’s in the Kelvin Timeline, and so if I ever have a reference come up in my mind, it’s usually to Nimoy. But that’s a really interesting connection, and I think goes to show you that they’re both great, well-written Spocks. But again, I really try to view every moment and interpret it on my own and for what I see it to be as best I can at this point in time, knowing Spock as I do now.

How to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 debuts new episodes on Thursdays on Paramount+ in the United States, the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. The second season will stream on Paramount+ in South Korea, with a premiere date still to be announced. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 is also streaming on Paramount+. It is also available as home media on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4k UHD.

Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG actors’ strike.