Ethan Peck says he doesn’t have to look to Leonard Nimoy anymore

Ethan Peck is in his second season of portraying Mr. Spock on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

When Ethan Peck first began portraying the iconic Vulcan, Mr. Spock, on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, he admitted the first season was nerve-wracking for him even though he’d already played the character on Star Trek: Discovery. He had a lot more responsiblity as Spock on Strange New Worlds and said he felt particularly unsure of himself and doubtful.

Fast forward to season two, and Peck is comfortable in the role he has made his own. Before the SAG-AFTRA strike, the actor told Inverse that he hadn’t spent much time with Nimoy’s Spock since the first season of Strange New Worlds and that he and Spock are sort of inseparable now.

"“I haven’t spent much time with Nimoy’s Spock since before I was preparing for Discovery. A little bit before Strange New Worlds Season 1. He felt alive in me at the point we got to Season 2. I discovered something of Spock in me. The human Spock is me. Spock learns from Ethan, and Ethan learns from Spock. We’re sort of inseparable.”"

Ethan Peck needed to find his own version of Spock

No one can imitate Leonard Nimoy’s portrayal of Spock nor should they. Taking a role that has been long-identified with Nimoy had to be difficult as it was. Had Peck attempted to embody Nimoy’s Spock, it wouldn’t have been looked upon kindly by the Star Trek fandom. In short, Peck needed to find his own way of playing the Vulcan that became popular on Star Trek; The Original Series.

By the time the first season wrapped, Peck had grown visibily more comfortable in the role and seemed to play the Vulcan with more ease. With the start of the second season, he is clearly owning the character that is a much earlier version of Leonard Nimoy’s character. Being that most of the things that are happening to Peck’s Spock haven’t yet happened in Star Trek canon, Peck does have a little more play room with the character. And he seems to have found the sweet spot, bringing both humanity and the rigidity of the Vulcan logical mind to his portrayal.