Star Trek: Strange New Worlds may be giving one relationship a chance.
Nurse Christine Chapel and Lt. Commander Spock never got the chance many fans wanted them to have on Star Trek: The Original Series. Even though there was plenty of chemistry between Leonard Nimoy and Majel Barrett Roddenberry in the 1960s series, that wasn’t a direction the producers chose to take. The focus of the show was Spock, Captain Kirk, and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, and rarely did they deviate from that MO.
But Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is offering fans a glimpse of what could possibly be between the Vulcan, portrayed by Ethan Peck, and the nurse played by Jess Bush. And, according to a recent Reddit thread, some fans are not only onboard with it but are okay with the change in canon should this romance happen.
But Star Trek: Strange New Worlds may not have to change canon…at least technically.
While we have no verifiable evidence there was a romance between Chapel and Spock aboard the Enterprise, we also don’t have any proof that something didn’t occur between the pair. Technically, Strange New Worlds could create a romance between the couple because we also don’t have proof that Spock and Chapel were only platonic friends. The series could use the premise that love occurred between the couple off-screen, and though it didn’t last, they remained friends.
If Strange New Worlds veers off in this direction, it would be a welcome deviation for thousands (or more) of fans who have long held that Nurse Christine Chapel and Mr. Spock should be together. This pairing has already been created in the fandom through fan fiction, and bringing the romance to live action could even bring in more viewers to the series, although I can’t imagine many Star Trek fans are skipping it now.