Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Actors Hype Up Lower Decks Crossover Episode, Including ‘Spoimler’, ‘Improvised’ Scene And 'Hijinks And Silliness'
I’m looking forward to this episode!
Star Trek is no stranger to crossovers, ranging from the various Original Series alums who stopped by The Next Generation, to the tribute-filled episode “Kobayahsi” in Prodigy Season 1. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, however, is delivering a particularly ambitious crossover by this franchise’s standards, as later on in Season 2, Jack Quaid’s Brad Boimler and Tawny Newsome’s Beckett Mariner from the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks, will not only meet Captain Pike and the crew of the Enterprise, but also be depicted in live-action, as seen above. While speaking with CinemaBlend, ahead of the SAG-AFTRA strike, three of Strange New Worlds’ lead actors hyped up what this special episode, titled “These Old Scientists,” is delivering to fans, including teases of “Spoimler,” a completely “improvised” scene and just general “hijinks and silliness.”
Let’s start with Ethan Peck, who recently got to play a fully human Spock in the episode “Charades.” While he’s now back to his normal half-human, half-Vulcan self, Peck’s Spock will find himself in the unusual predicament of meeting two Starfleet officers from more than 100 years in the future who’ve somehow been transported to roughly half a decade before the events of The Original Series. Here’s what Peck had to say to me about Quaid and Newsome stopping by to play around with the Strange New Worlds cast:
We got our first taste of “Spoimler” in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 trailer released in late May, with Spock telling Brad Boimler to “Live long and prosper,” only for Boimler to fail in repeating the same sentiment before being transported away. As anyone familiar with the modern Star Trek landscape knows, Lower Decks is a comedy series, so even though Quaid and Newsome will be playing their characters in live-action rather than only voicing them as per usual, that won’t stop them from delivering laughs and amusing moments in “These Old Scientists.” That includes Spock and Boimler being in enough scenes together that director Jonathan Frakes (also quite well known for playing William Riker) decided to affectionately join their names together.
Next, we have Jess Bush, the actress behind Christine Chapel, who reached a major romantic milestone with Spock at the end of “Charades.” When I brought up the Strange New Worlds/Lower Decks crossover with her, Bush shared that one of her scenes actually came together literally just hours before she was supposed to shoot it. As she recalled:
The Strange New Worlds/Lower Decks crossover was announced almost an exact year ago during the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, and now fans are less than two weeks away from getting to experience it, with “Those Old Scientists” set to be the former show’s seventh episode of the season. Now obviously Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner won’t be able to get quite as wacky here compared to Lower Decks given that they’ll be in live-action rather than depicted in their traditional animated forms. Still, Celia Rose Gooding, who plays Nyota Uhura, assured fans that the episode won’t be lacking in comedy, saying:
Following the airing of “Those Old Scientists,” there will only be three episodes left in Strange New Worlds Season 2, but the good news is that the show has already been renewed for Season 3. Meanwhile, not only will Lower Decks return for its fourth season sometime later this year, Season 5 has also been greenlit. As for what specifically unfolds in “Those Old Scientists” that leads to these corners of the franchise colliding, and bringing so many shenanigans, Paramount+ subscribers will simply have to watch the episode for themselves to find out.
New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds drop Thursdays on Paramount+, with “Those Old Scientists” on July 27. Remember to look through upcoming Star Trek shows guide to learn what else this franchise has coming up on the small screen side of things, as well as our 2023 TV schedule for information on current and soon-to-arrive shows.
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Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.