Actor Ethan Peck is getting candid about being cast as everyone’s favorite half-Vulcan, Mr. Spock.
In a September 2025 interview with Entertainment Tonight, alongside his Star Trek: Strange New Worlds castmate, Paul Wesley, Peck said he was initially nervous about playing Spock. As fans are aware, the deadpan, pointed ear character was originated by the late Leonard Nimoy on Star Trek: The Original Series, which ran for three seasons until 1969. Peck started playing a younger version of Spock during the second season of Star Trek: Discovery, which aired in 2019.
Peck explained that he wasn’t told he was auditioning for Spock “at the very beginning of the process.” He said, however, that by the “second or third callback,” he “could discern from those sides that it was for the character of Spock.”
“I was in like disbelief. It was a character I never expected to be up for,” said Peck, who currently plays the character on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which premiered in 2022.
He said that once it was confirmed he would be playing Spock, he “was really frightened.” The 39-year-old explained that he wasn’t sure if he could portray the beloved Star Trek character in a way that would honor his legacy.
“I was just really afraid that I wouldn’t be able to be consistent and sort of tackle the legacy of the character because it’s really heavy,” said Peck in the Entertainment Tonight interview.
Ethan Peck Said He Had to Go on a ‘Journey of Discovery’ After He Landed the Role of Spock
Peck discussed becoming a member of the USS Enterprise in a June 2023 interview with InStyle. While speaking to the publication, he said he was told he was going to play Spock on Star Trek: Discovery via a text message from one of the casting directors. According to Peck, he “shed some tears of joy and then was, like, flooded with terror” at the thought of having to play such an established character.
“Like how am I going to live up to this character to the expectations of the fans? Am I worthy of this? It was just such a massive moment,” said Peck in the interview.
He said that he eventually began watching Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 and Star Trek: The Original Series to prepare for the role of Spock. In addition, the actor said he had to work “to understand why [he] had been chosen” to play Spock.
“When I auditioned for it I didn’t know what role it was. And so if something in me sort of lent itself to this character, and I didn’t understand what that was in the moment, so I had to kind of go on that journey of discovery,” explained Peck while speaking to InStyle.
In addition, Peck said he “wasn’t super familiar” with Star Trek before filming Discovery, despite being “a big science fiction fan.” He explained that he wasn’t interested in watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, which had a seven-season run until 1994, as a young child because he found it frightening.
“It deals with some really big abstract concepts of existentialism and infinity. And these thoughts and ideas were really frightening to me as a child I remember, like, watching and being kind of, like, spooked out by it,” said Peck during the 2023 interview.
The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently in production.
