Warning: SPOILERS for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode “Charades” are ahead!
Although the newest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, titled “Charades,” ended with Spock and Christine Chapel finally having their big romantic moment after multiple teases across these two seasons, the story primarily focused on Spock being turned into a full human by some inter-dimensional aliens when they were healing him from a shuttle accident. While we’ve seen Spock deal struggle with emotions in this show, he soon found himself being hit with them at full blast, something that wasn’t an issue in his half-human, half-Vulcan state. While this proved to be a difficult experience for Spock, Ethan Peck told CinemaBlend that as an actor, he was “heartbroken” by the time “Charades” finished filming.
Peck, who’s been playing Spock since Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, opened up to me about working on “Charades” ahead of the Strange New Worlds episode premiering to Paramount+ subscribers. Early in our conversation, I asked the actor what it was like getting to fully delve into his character’s human half, and he responded:
It was delightful and utterly insane. Some of the things we see Spock do in this episode I think will be really surprising for a lot of people, obviously. They were really surprising to me, and as an actor, it was just so much fun. And challenging, because this version of him is so opposite to what we think of when we think of Spock. And so to maintain connection with the spirit of Spock was really hard. And Jordan Canning, our director for the episode, was such an amazing partner in that. She made me feel very safe and comfortable to take big risks and to be big and to really find the limit. How far can we take this version of Spock without totally disconnecting him from who we know him to be?
Immediately after noticing the changes to his appearance following his encounter with the aforementioned aliens, including rounded ears and his hair and eyebrows looking slightly different, Spock started being bombarded with various emotions and feelings, including laughing at a story while hanging out with some of his crew-mates, enjoying the wonders of bacon prepared by Captain Pike, and getting furious with Sam Kirk for not cleaning up after himself during a meeting (which Peck described as “really fun”). As if that wasn’t challenging enough, Spock later finds himself having to pretend to be his normal half-human, half-Vulcan self when his fiancé T’Pring and her parents arrive on the Enterprise to go through a ceremonial dinner with him and his mother, Amanda Grayson.
As “Charades” hit its final stretch, Spock’s biology was reverted to its normal state by Jess Bush’s Christine Chapel, who’d been working tirelessly to make a cure for Spock and eventually acquired one directly from those inter-dimensional aliens after informing them that their method of healing him was faulty. So we’ve bid farewell to 100% human Spock, and while it’s nice to have him back to being his logical self, Ethan Peck found himself sad to leave this version of the character behind. He shared this with me when I asked him what it’s been like for him accessing more of Spock’s human side than Leonoard Nimoy did on The Original Series, but then still keeping him faithful to where we know he ends up on the show that started this franchise. In Peck’s words:
It’s a process of discovery. Some things work and some things don’t. When we first set out to film that episode, the first couple of days, it’s so discombobulating because I’m used to feeling a certain way when playing this character, right? And there’s something automatic that’s occurring in me, there’s some sort of calibration or self-analysis that occurs where I know what it feels like to be Spock. I’ll do a take, and there’s something internal that’s saying, ‘Yes, this is authentic.’ And when we started filming that episode, that calibration no longer applies. It’s just a totally new person, and what I’ve settled in is these great qualities that Spock has. He’s full of wonder, he’s deeply curious, he’s deep emotionally, and he’s got this incredible sense of adventure and wants to know what’s out there, and in this case wants to know what’s in there, inside of himself. And so the way he gets to interact with these other characters I think is so beautiful and thrilling, and I think brings a lot of joy to the people around him. I was heartbroken to finish that episode and say goodbye to that version of him.
With the latter half of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 ahead of us, it’s not like there will be a lack of Spock in these next five episodes. And while he’s no longer a full human, given that he was having trouble with his emotions at the start of the season, it’s possible this problem could resurface later on. However, it’s understandable why Ethan Peck wishes he could have spent more time as this version of Spock. Alas, Chapel made the right call in the end, and because Spock and T’Pring’s engagement was called off after the dinner because the latter hadn’t been honest about his condition with the former, this paved the way for Spock and Chapel’s kiss, so now these two have to figure out what’s next for them.
New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiere Thursdays on Paramount+, and it’s already been announced that it’s been renewed for Season 3. Continue visiting CinemaBlend for coverage on this series and the upcoming Star Trek TV shows, and use our 2023 TV schedule to keep track of other current programming.