Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Gia Sandhu Talks Vulcan Romance and Spock and T’Pring’s Future (Exclusive)

Gia Sandhu plays a Star Trek character that is simultaneously well-known and, until now, practically undefined in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. That character is T’Pring, Spock’s dejected fiance introduced in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Amok Time.” That episode provided little insight into T’Pring’s personality or life beyond that she was over her engagement to Spock and ready to commit to Stonn. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds adds depth to T’Pring, revealing her work as a treatment specialist for the Vulcan rehabilitation colony Ankeshtan K’til and that she really did love Spock before something drove them apart from each other.

That something may have occurred in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 5, “Charades.” Spock had been made human and instead of telling T’Pring chose to keep it a secret and muddle his way through an important Vulcan ritual related to their engagement. Upon finding out, T’Pring was none too happy at being kept in the dark and decided that she and Spock needed some time apart, perhaps setting the stage for “Amok Time.”

ComicBook.com had the opportunity to speak to Sandhu about bringing Vulcan romance to the Star Trek universe and adding layers to a memorable Star Trek character. Here’s what she told us:

Jamie Lovett, ComicBook.com: When you signed up for Star Trek, did you expect to be involved in so many goofy, romantic comedy plots, as opposed to the kind of thing the franchise is more commonly associated with — alien encounters, phasers, science problems, etc.?

Gia Sandhu: Well, specifically with T’Pring after watching “Amok Time,” I did not think that this was going to be a comedically charged character, but obviously, I’m so happy that it has gone in the direction that it’s gone in. I think the levity is so important when telling the story of what’s happened during Spock and T’Pring’s journey in advance of “Amok Time.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has done such an interesting job of fleshing out to T’Pring’s character, getting into her work, and going far beyond “Amok Time,” which shows her as somewhat one-note in how she’s a person stuck in an arranged marriage and not happy about it. Based on “Amok Time,” how strong were your preconceptions going into the role? How much did they change as you worked on the character? How much does it resemble who you thought this character would be?

That’s a good question. I think what I drew primarily from “Amok Time” was the more superficial layers of the character, because we don’t really get to go behind the scenes of what’s happening for T’Pring, and she’s only seen very briefly. So I think what I got was a lot about just what her presence feels like, the way that she stands, the way that she speaks and there’s a lot of sternness and she doesn’t really give anything away, and I don’t think that that’s just because she’s Vulcan. I think that there’s a lot more to that. So it was more of that I took from the original.

And then every time the scripts come in, I kind of just go with the flow of what the script is telling me because they really are taking massive liberties with how they tell this story. I mean, the world is their oyster. The story can be whatever they want it to be, to lead into what happens in “Amok Time” and I really enjoyed what they’re doing. I love that we’re seeing a kindness to her and a softness to her and a vulnerability to her, and we see her as this Vulcan who’s just so loyal to her love for Spock, so having all of those colors is really nice in advance of what we know happens.

I spoke to Bernadette Croft, the show’s costume designer, and she mentioned that one of her favorite things to work on are the Vulcan costumes. Since you mentioned those mannerisms, and the kind of stoicism that comes with T’Pring, partly because she’s Vulcan and partly because she’s who she is, how much does that costume work factor into your performance for you? Do you feel that Vulcan-ness come on as you put on those pieces?

Oh, absolutely. In the first season, the waistline was really tight on those costumes. I was very corset-like. So then during the second season, I asked them to open it up a little bit because at that point I understood what the feeling was and I thought I should just be able to breathe a little bit in Season 2. And so yeah, it is very informative, not only in the feeling on the body when the costume is on, but also when I look at myself reflected in the mirror, my posture kind of changes, my shoulders go back a little bit and my neck becomes a bit more aligned with my spine and that all feels very natural to what the shape of that costume is.

Can you tell me a little bit about what you considered while you were trying to work on those scenes with Spock? Because we don’t see a lot of Vulcan romance in Star Trek, and I imagine there’s a challenge to making it feel genuinely romantic but still recognizably Vulcan.

I think we get to see two very different types of romantic relationships between Vulcans in this episode. I mean, the mom and dad don’t feel very romantic at all; feels like a couple that’s been together for a very long time and have just learned to make it work. And then of course you have T’Pring and you have Spock who are still very early on in their love story and she’s obviously very much in love with Spock and of course, Spock is confused about how he feels and he spends this episode kind of, I guess, delving into himself and understanding himself better. But as far as understanding that romance, I think that it’s so universal, that relationship that they have. One party is fully in, fully ready to commit and the other party’s got some cold feet and some hesitations. I mean, who doesn’t know what that’s like?

It’s interesting because you almost see T’Pring as an antagonist in “Amok Time,” because she’s the one forcing Spock into the challenge, but all the work that you guys are doing specifically, it makes it so much more tragic because now you see how they really were in love at some point.

And I think T’Pring is finally a bit of a sympathetic character now. You can really understand where she’s coming from and the hurt that she feels and the betrayal that she feels.

I’ll end this by asking, is this the moment that they split up and don’t see each other again until “Amok Time”? Are they on a break? Is there a lot more up-and-down to this story of Spock and T’Pring to come?

I genuinely don’t know and I am also looking forward to finding out.

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.