One of the big reasons for watching Star Trek: Discovery season 2 is that it’ll introduce a new version of Spock to fans. As played by Ethan Peck, this will be the iconic character as we’ve never seen him before. Set 10 years before The Original Series, we’ve been promised that Discovery will tell the “unwritten chapter” in Spock’s life.
In fact, showrunner Alex Kurtzman reiterated these comments while hyping up the new season to EW. He made clear that Spock will be “really struggling” in the CBS All Access show’s sophomore run and it’s only thanks to his adoptive sister Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) that he heals and becomes the Spock of legend.
“The Spock we meet in season 2 is not the one we know yet. He’s really struggling. But if it were not for his relationship with Michael, he wouldn’t become the Spock we know today.”
So, what is Spock “really struggling” with exactly? Well, in previous comments, Kurtzman has suggested that the character at this point in his life has not yet become the more logical, emotionally-controlled figure that we know, as immortally brought to life by the late, great Leonard Nimoy. Whatever his experiences on the U.S.S. Discovery are, they’ll presumably help him master his emotions.
That being said, the importance of his relationship with his sister, while the right decision for the show itself, does raise the question of why the heck Spock’s never mentioned Burnham in any previous appearance set later in his life. Perhaps the Vulcan’s human sister meets a tragic fate at some point in Discovery‘s future which makes it too painful for him to talk about her?
We’ll have to wait and see if that’s indeed the case, but for now, we know that Star Trek: Discovery is expected to last for several seasons yet, so we’ve potentially got a lot of time to watch Spock’s early days unfold.