Star Trek fans responded well to the performances of Anson Mount and Ethan Peck as Captain Pike and Spock in Discovery Season 2. The response was so positive that Alex Kurtzman and other decision-makers greenlit a spinoff for them and Rebecca Romijn's Number One, called Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Those characters will continue in the pre-Kirk Enterprise era, but that doesn't mean they'll be untouched by the effects of the Discovery crew.
Even in the future Star Trek: Discovery will continue to influence the timeline before the original Star Trek. During the Star Trek panel at Comic-Con@Home, Ethan Peck elaborated on how the events of Season 2 will influence his Spock as they move ahead into the new series.
Spock’s interaction with Michael Burnham is essential to transforming Spock from somebody who’s been born on Vulcan and is half human, that has been taught to be Vulcan, I think Michael Burnham gives him the permission to be human, and teaches him what it is to be human. So that is essential to the development of Spock. As we follow along the conflict between his emotion and logic going forward into when we first see Leonard Nimoy in the original series.
As some may have guessed, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will draw heavily on the evolution of Spock, and the person he becomes between Star Trek: Discovery and the original Star Trek. That seems to say Peck's Spock hasn't gone full Nimoy yet, even though Burnham successfully brought her adopted brother out of his mental break and back into being a functioning member of Starfleet. There's apparently an opportunity for more growth, so an opportunity for more moments of growth for Spock in the new spinoff.
No doubt some of Spock's growth will come from further mentorship from Captain Pike, who faced his major life moment in Star Trek: Discovery. After taking a Klingon time crystal Pike was shown the circumstances of his unpleasant future in which he is severely incapacitated and confined to a life support machine. Mount spoke a bit about that moment and what it will mean for Pike moving forward.
I think the biggest thing obviously was seeing my future, and when you see how it’s all gonna end and that it’s not so pretty what do you do with that? I think there’s a reason that we can only see our past. We’re a very neurotic species and we wouldn’t know how to comport ourselves. And so I think ultimately the question comes how do you move forward? I think he’s probably going to wrestle with how he can best utilize the rest of his life for the good of the world, the universe.
Pike was able to press onward in the short term in Star Trek: Discovery, but it seems his inevitable fate will hang with him in Strange New Worlds. Rebecca Romijn hinted it may not be a burden Pike's forced to shoulder alone, so others will be brought in on the situation it seems. Of course, there will be many other Star Trek-related adventures to get into, and other stories that will further bridge the gap between Discovery and Star Trek.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently in development for CBS All Access. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on its progress, and more of the latest news happening out of television and movies.
