At San Diego Comic-Con last month, Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Alex Kurzman confirmed that Mr. Spock is set to appear in the upcoming second season of the show. It has now been confirmed by Variety that the iconic Vulcan will be played by Ethan Peck.
Peck is the third actor to play Spock, following Leonard Nimoy in the original '60s series and Star Trek movies throughout the 1980s, and Zachary Quinto, who played the character in the recent reboot films. Peck has appeared in a wide variety of TV shows over the years, including Gossip Girl, 10 Things I Hate About You, That '70s Show, and Madame Secretary. Discovery is set a decade before the original series, and the main character played by Sonequa Martin-Green, Michael Burnham, is Spock's foster sister.
In a statement, Kurzman spoke about the decision to cast Peck in the role. "Through 52 years of television and film, a parallel universe and a mirror universe, Mr. Spock remains the only member of the original bridge crew to span every era of Star Trek," he said. "The great Leonard Nimoy, then the brilliant Zachary Quinto, brought incomparable humanity to a character forever torn between logic and emotion.
"We searched for months for an actor who would, like them, bring his own interpretation to the role. An actor who would, like them, effortlessly embody Spock's greatest qualities, beyond obvious logic: empathy, intuition, compassion, confusion, and yearning. Ethan Peck walked into the room inhabiting all of these qualities, aware of his daunting responsibility to Leonard, Zack, and the fans, and ready to confront the challenge in the service of protecting and expanding on Spock's legacy. In that spirit, we're thrilled to welcome him to the family."
Spock isn't the only classic Trek character set to appear in the next season of Discovery. In April, it was announced that Inhumans star Anson Mount will play Captain Christopher Pike, the predecessor of James T. Kirk at the helm of the USS Enterprise. The arrival of Pike was first teased in the Season 1 finale when the USS Discovery came face-to-face with the famous Star Trek vessel.
The first trailer for Discovery Season 2 was revealed at SDCC, and the show will premiere in January 2019. Ahead of that there will be four short films called "Short Treks" that will begin releasing from September. Each of these films will be 10-15 minutes in length, and focus on specific characters. Characters such as Sylvia Tilly, Harry Mudd, and Saru will be featured in them.
In related news, it was recently announced that Star Trek: The Next Generation star Patrick Stewart will reprise the role of Jean-Luc Picard in another upcoming series. The show will "tells the story of the next chapter in Picard's life," and, like Discovery, will air on CBS All Access. However, the next Star Trek movie is in doubt, following the reports of a pay dispute between the studio and stars Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth.
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