Back in May, CBS announced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, a spinoff of Discovery following the adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise in the days before Kirk took over as captain. Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike, Ethan Peck’s Spock and Rebecca Romijn’s Number One were all introduced in DIS season 2 and proved instant hints with fans. But how will we get to know them better in this new show that’ll fill the gap between Discovery and The Original Series?
The three stars took part in the Discovery portion of the Star Trek Universe panel at Comic-Con@Home yesterday and they were asked how their characters’ journeys when we last saw them will inform what happens to them on Strange New Worlds. To start with, Peck revealed that Spock’s interactions with adoptive sister Michael Burnham will have a lasting impact.
“Spock’s interaction with Michael Burnham is essential to transforming Spock from somebody who’s been born on Vulcan, that is half-human, that has been taught to be Vulcan, and I think Michael Burnham gives him the permission to be human and teaches him what it is to be human,” Peck explained. “So essentially [that’s] the development of Spock as we follow along the conflict between his emotion and logic, going forward to when we first see Leonard Nimoy in The Original Series. So it’s a huge character point for me and will dictate a lot of behavior for Spock because of his interaction with Michael Burnham.”
For Mount, the key thing from DIS season 2 that will inform where his character goes next is the dark moment when Pike saw a vision of his future – fated to be left paralyzed and disfigured after a terrible accident, as established in TOS episode, “The Menagerie.”
“I think the biggest thing, obviously, was seeing my future, and when you see how it’s all gonna end and it’s not gonna be pretty and what do you do with that,” Mount said. “So I think ultimately the question becomes how do you move forward and then… I think he’s probably going to wrestle with how can he best utlize the rest of his life for the good of the world, the universe.”
Romijn then chimed in by saying that SNW will explore how the three as a team deal with “surrendering to the unknown” as they travel where no one has gone before. This led Mount to reveal perhaps the most intriguing character detail from the chat, that Pike’s knowledge of his fate will cause him to shut himself off from his friends.
“That’s probably a very important point,” the actor added. “He’s probably not thinking about it as a team yet because he’s wrestling with it himself. But I hope that he’s going to let other people help him wrestle with it.”
Not too much else has been revealed about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as yet, though it’s looking likely that it’ll feature many other recast younger versions of TOS characters – not least Kirk himself. There’s no word yet on when we can expect it, but Discovery season 3 is just around the corner.