Original-Cin Q&A: Star Trek's Strange New Worlds' Ethan Peck on Being Spock
By John Kirk
At Toronto Comicon, Original-Cin was fortunate to sit down with Ethan Peck, a.k.a. Lieutenant Spock in one of the most recent iterations of the Star Trek franchise: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, currently shooting its third season here in Toronto.
Strange New Worlds examines the history of the USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), preceding the command of Captain James T. Kirk in the original series. The character of Mr. Spock first appeared in the original Star Trek pilot under Pike’s command (played then by played then by Jeffrey Hunter). We witnessed their relationship when that pilot was re-tooled in Season One two-parter Episode “The Cage.” The character of Mr. Spock is present and essential to this time frame as it explores the friendship between him and Captain Pike.
Being Spock, playing one of the most iconic characters in the history of Star Trek, has to have its challenges - meeting fan expectations, delivering your own performance and being aware of the historical importance of this character in the canon of the show.
With a smile on his face, and a tribble in his hand, we began by asking Ethan how he dealt with all of that.
ORIGINAL-CIN: Do you feel the weight of playing Spock?
PECK: Every day. I’m lucky that the we have such an amazing and dedicated cast. The fact that we are all so well-chosen for our roles is truly a great thing that I draw comfort from.
OC: How do you deal with it?
PECK: You grit your teeth. You suck it up and you choose not to be afraid of what people might think.
OC: Can you give us a sense of how you prepared for the role of Spock?
PECK: I started by watching the first 25 episodes of the Original Series. Over and over again. I spoke with Adam Nimoy and he gave me his blessing, he and his sister.
OC: Which performance of Strange New Worlds would you say is your favourite?
PECK: Definitely Charades.
[Note: in this episode S2E5, Spock experiences an accident when encountering a new alien race that involves the removal of all of his Vulcan DNA. He is forced to pretend to be Vulcan when he has to undergo a ceremonial dinner with his betrothed, T’Pring and her family. It is an episode that lends itself to a part of Spock’s history that Trek fans have never seen on television.]
Spock and T’Pring (Gia Sandhu) in the Strange New Worlds episode Charades.
It’s such a Spock comedy episode, in which I got play Spock as fully human. It’s a challenge and the director, Jordan Canning, is one of my favourite collaborators that made it such a memorable episode.
OC: Who do you feel closest to in the cast?
PECK: Well, I’m very close to Anson, of course. But Rebecca (Rebecca Romijn) is the only cast member who lives in LA so I spend a lot of time with her and her husband, Jerry (Jerry O'Connell), who is also in Star Trek: Lower Decks. But we’re all very friendly and we all get along well.
OC: What do you feel is your greatest reward from playing Spock?
PECK: Honestly? It’s meeting the fans and doing these conventions, which is really wonderful. I enjoy it so much because we make it in a vacuum without any sort of feedback and it comes out months or even years later and it’s so beautiful to see people be affected by our work; to love it and be affected by it. That they want to talk about it, about my participation in it, it’s really exciting to see that.
OC: Star Trek actors usually have a fan moment. Do you have a memorable fan moment that has happened because of this role?
PECK: I can’t think of just one. Well, today, a woman came up to me with her grand-daughter, who was 12. Her name was Jade. She was so surprised to meet me and I’m just so surprised when a younger person is into Star Trek, because there are so many mature themes. It’s played by a bunch of adults! But it was just so cool to meet her and see her excitement for the show and to see her grandmother sharing her interest with her.
OC: What’s in Spock that is Ethan Peck?
PECK: Everything. Except for the rules, which were established by Nimoy. These are: don’t express like this, the voice has to sound in a particular way, but everything else is me. It’s like a new transmogrification of me, in a way.
Being Spock is a heavy responsibility. But Peck’s friendly nature and his warm baritone makes you feel welcomed and reassured. It’s hard not to see that this role means everything, for him but also for the continuation of the character and for the sake of the fans.
Spock’s in good hands, folks.
And so was the tribble.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams on Paramount Plus and can been seen on CTV’s Sci-Fi Channel. Season 3 is unofficially expected to begin streaming in late 2024.