‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’: Ethan Peck Previews Romance, Hijinks & More in Season 3

Marni Grossman / Paramount+

After that chilling season opener, two of the three episodes have a lot of comedic elements. The second episode is sort of a romcom with a romantic triangle and a supernatural element. What can you tell us without spoilers?

Well, Nurse Chapel [Jess Bush], with whom Spock has been romantically involved with, will have a new man in her life, much to Spock’s disappointment, and then Spock and this new guy will have to actually work together to solve some problems, so, I think hijinks will ensue.

That new man is named Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O’Sullivan), and he may be almost as smart as Spock. Or so he says.

He thinks he is, certainly, and he’s portrayed wonderfully by Cillian O’Sullivan. He and I had a great time and we got along famously. We kept chanting “Sporby,” which is obviously a portmanteau of our [characters’] names.

Speaking of fun, you also do a very nice of couple of dances in two episodes, including a tango! Are you a good dancer?

I’m okay. Christina Chong, who portrays La’an Noonien-Singh, was a professional dancer; she’s incredible. So, I had a great dance partner.

Security Officer Lieutenant Singh seems to have a little something for Spock. True?

Definitely. La’an has some things to teach Spock. I think a lot of Spock’s journey is learning about being human, and he does that through his relationships, as we all do. But, it is very important for him because he is half Vulcan and is learning to embrace his human side and the strengths of being human, So, yes, La’an does become one of his teachers in that way.

So we don’t know whether it’s going to be a romance yet?

We don’t.

He has to get over his first real love with Nurse Chapel. He was engaged, of course, to a Vulcan, but I guess it’s fair to believe that Nurse Chapel was his first real understanding of being in love with someone in a human way.

I would say so, yeah. And the fact that she’s human and not Vulcan is very significant.

What can we say about the evolution of Spock this season?

He will continue to explore his humanness and grow and develop in that way. That’s sort of a theme of my Spock as I’ve played it on Strange New Worlds. And yeah, he will be put in uncomfortable situations where he has to learn to use his human qualities to his advantage at times when his Vulcan-ness just won’t be enough.

Marni Grossman / Paramount+

The fourth episode is also quite funny. There’s a satire of an Agatha Christie type mystery set on the very first Holodeck with Paul Wesley returning as James T. Kirk. And there’s a parody of a Star Trek show in which everyone really overacts. You play some humorous stuff just by being Spock, of course.

I wasn’t in a lot of that one, so I wasn’t there for all of those hijinks, but yeah, I know that they had a great time. They were all so excited to be dressing up as the sort of silly and exaggerated characters, I guess stereotypes or archetypes. And the running joke on the show is that when everyone else gets to like do something fun or transforming, Spock always stays the same. And so, in and outside of the Holodeck, Spock is just Spock.

You’ve been to a lot of fan conventions. How do you think the huge devoted fanbase will react to these fun but kind of silly episodes?

I’m not sure. I think it will be polarizing. There are diehard Star Trek fans that want things to be as they were. The fact that I’m not Leonard Nimoy will make our show just not right for them. That’s okay; they have the original series to return to, and the original series is wonderful in so many ways. Others will embrace it, and we’ll be able to bring on some new fans.

Humor may run through the show, but so does tragedy. Early in the season there is the strong possibility of the death of Capt. Pike’s (Anson Mount) girlfriend, Capt. Maria Batel (Melanie Scrofano), who is battling a deadly Gorn infection, which leads to Episode 3, when Pike and Dr M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) head to a hospital planet for a last-ditch attempt at saving her. That’s a scary episode with horror movie overtones for sure.

I’m not very prevalent in that episode, but I think fans will really love it. Zombies definitely are a hit for many people. And I think they’ll really enjoy that one. 

Can you talk about Pilot Erica Ortegas’ (Melissa Navia) worrisome throughline, which also involves having been wounded by the Gorns?

Yes. When I first read that script, I was like, “Huh? Is this right? What happens now?” For a few weeks, I didn’t know what was going to happen to her character, but it’s an interesting choice and an interesting turn that obviously results in this huge trauma for this character that I think will make for some really rich performance opportunities for Melissa Navia, who plays that role so beautifully. I’ll be honest — she’s maybe my favorite character in the show. She’s just so funny and has such great interjections and quips, and yeah, Melissa’s just super talented.

The original Star Trek engineer Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn), known of course as Scotty, is now a regular!

Martin Quinn portrays Scotty, and I think he is going to be beloved. He’s so perfectly cast. And I’m really excited for Trekheads to experience his performance as Scotty.

Will there be a lot of interaction with Spock and Scotty?

Gosh I hope so because I love working with the guy.

You’ve said you don’t watch the show, but do you have a favorite episode in Season 3?

It’s “Four and a Half Vulcans.” There’s a lot that’s arguably comedy, but there are also thrilling elements and romantic elements. That was my favorite to do.

Is it because there are more Vulcans around?

There are. Part of the crew are turned into Vulcans to complete a mission and then we have difficulty turning them back. So, comedy ensues because Spock is half Vulcan and Vulcans really don’t like humans, stereotypically. And so, Spock becomes the butt of a lot of jokes.

It’s a good thing that Spock’s father liked humans.

I suppose so, yeah.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 3 Premiere (two episodes), Thursday, July 17, Paramount+