It's been all eyes on Ethan Peck ever since he was cast in the role of Spock in Star Trek: Discovery, and he's felt the pressure. CinemaBlend learned from Peck during the show's Star Trek: Discovery TCA panel that playing the famous Vulcan wasn't easy, and there were moments in which Peck was doubtful he could handle portraying the character. Here's how Peck put it:
Yeah. I mean, it’s a huge responsibility and a huge burden, and I questioned whether I could handle it in the beginning. But I had the faith of people that I really admire, and that’s a real gift as an actor coming into this type of role...it’s been played so incredibly by Nimoy and then Quinto. Some people thought, 'You’ve had two people who have played it. So now is the pressure sort of off for you?' And I say, 'No, because they’ve both brought such incredible spirit to the role.'
As one might expect, Ethan Peck was a bit intimidated coming into the role of Spock. Leonard Nimoy helped make the character a quick fan favorite amongst science fiction fans, and Zachary Quinto's performance has lived up to the standard Nimoy set. Now, Peck's the third person to step in the role of adult Spock, and he's debuting in Star Trek: Discovery, which has gotten some flack from some fans for its style and various changes. It isn't hard to understand his burden.
Especially when one considers that Ethan Peck's job is a bit harder than Zachary Quinto's was, as he's playing the Spock. Whatever he does as the character in Star Trek: Discovery will stand as the character's canon and ultimately bridge a canon timeline gap between two of Leonard Nimoy's performances in the role. This meant extra pressure was on, and Peck appeared to understand that as he explained his process of examining the character.
I approached it with a lot of love and a lot of care. I spent a lot of time with Nimoy’s performance because it is a part of the prime timeline. But a lot of the work was done for me in the writing. This is this period of time ten years before the original series, three years after “The Cage,” which was the pilot episode for the original series. And there’s 13 years, essentially, of Spock unexplored, and I just, you know, came in with a lot of, I hope, humility and respect for what had been done and for what had been written down for me.
As of writing, Ethan Peck's performance as Spock remains to be seen by a lot of Star Trek fans, although one has had good things to say about him. Anson Mount has praised Peck's performance quite frequently, and mentioned in an interview with CinemaBlend and other outlets that he believes Peck will be a big movie star some day. That's high praise from a veteran actor like Mount, so it's possible Peck will bring the best Spock audiences have seen yet.
Star Trek: Discovery airs on CBS All Access Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. ET. Keep up with all the shows coming to television in 2019 by visiting our midseason premiere guide.
