Star Trek: Strange New Worlds may be opening a door with Spock and Nurse Chapel.
In Star Trek: The Original Series, Nurse Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett Roddenberry) had feelings for Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and though there were hints, it was never made clear if Spock returned those feelings. There were moments the two shared that certainly led fans to believe, to this day, that something more could have happened between the pair had TOS not been cancelled.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has brought Nurse Chapel and Spock together again, even if only in friendship at the moment. Last Thursday’s episode, Spock Amock, hinted at more even though T’Pring, as Spock’s fiancee, was aboard the Enterprise. If Strange New Worlds doesn’t stray too far from canon, a marriage will never take place between them, leaving Spock open for a different romance.
The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds actors have undeniable chemistry.
Ethan Peck’s take on Spock is brilliant and so close to Nimoy’s portrayal of the logical half-Vulcan/half-human. When he and Jess Bush, who is able to give Nurse Christine Chapel more of a personality and a chance to shine, had brief moments together in Spock Amock, as their characters, they stood as as much more than friends. There was a definite chemistry between the two of them.
Christine just ended things with a man she considered boring, and that is one thing Spock could never be accused of. And while things seem okay between Spock and T’Pring at the moment, their long periods of time apart will, again if Strange New Worlds stays true to canon, separate them, leading T’Pring to find love on their home planet.
A romance between Spock and Christine would give this pair something that should have happened in The Original Series. Christine gets Spock in a way he doesn’t really get himself, and the two together would be something close to perfect. With both working together aboard the Enterprise, there are so many opportunities to challenge the romance and create an unyielding bond. I’m certainly hoping this is the direction the writers/producers choose to take in the future.