Zachary Quinto, alongside Leonard Nimoy, brought Spock to a modern audience with their takes on the character in the 2009 film, Star Trek. With Nimoy having left us, and a new Spock already on Paramount+ in the form of actor Ethan Peck, there’s always going to be a place for past actors to reprise their roles, even if they’re already is someone portraying them.
Fans attach themselves to actors, especially in a niche franchise like Star Trek. Fans are loyal like that.
PopCulture interviewed Quinto and talked about his role as Spock in Star Trek and what is on the horizon for him and the brand. When Quinto was asked about returning to the film franchise, he expressed a love for the universe but had moved on from expecting a fourth film to happen.
"Honestly, I have no real idea what’s going on with Star Trek. [But] we all love each other and we all love that experience and I’m sure if it comes back around and we’re all available, I’m sure we’d be happy to jump back on board. No pun intended. But I don’t know — that’s in other people’s hands and I know I, for one, have had sort of moved on in terms of any kind of expectations, but you never know things come back in surprising ways and it’s surprising times, and it could be fun if it happens."
Yet when PopCulture asked him about doing a series on Paramount+ if the opportunity popped up, Quinto was open to the idea.
"It’s so hard to say. I consider anything and everything that comes into my experience and I consider it on an individual basis based on criteria that are specific to that time and those circumstances. It’s hard to be theoretical about things.…I love that character. I love that world. I think there’s a lot of possibilities of storytelling in there and I’d certainly be open to any conversation, but it depends on the who, what, where when and how and why — and like all those questions that can only be answered in specifics, not necessarily hypothetically. So we’ll see."
Nimoy and Quinto played the same character (from two different universes mind you), so why couldn’t Peck and Quinto both share the screen as Spock? It probably won’t happen, at least not in the form of two dueling series on Paramount+ but perhaps the secretive Star Trek project will see Quinto return as Spock.
Maybe not.
Hopefully, if Quinto wants to reprise the role, he’ll be able to do so.