Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns for season 3 on July 17, kicking off with “Hegemony, Part II,” the action- and horror-packed conclusion to season 2’s cliffhanger finale. But the series, known for its genre shifts, changes gears in the second part of the two-episode premiere, delivering lighthearted romance with “Wedding Bell Blues.”
Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) and Spock (Ethan Peck) had a brief fling in season 2, which Chapel ended in song when she was admitted to a prestigious fellowship program. The breakup left Spock emotionally devastated, and things don’t get any better for him when she returns to the Enterprise after three months to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the United Federation of Planets. But things get even more complicated thanks to the mischievous alien Trelane (played by Rhys Darby), who wants to create a happy ending for their relationship.
[Ed. note: The following contains major spoilers for the episode “Wedding Bell Blues”]
Spock was hoping to welcome Christine back with a big romantic gesture, after spending months working on his dance moves with chief of security La’An Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong). So he’s crushed when Christine turns up to the party with a date, her fellowship director Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O’Sullivan). After hearing the happy couple describe how their romance began, Spock retreats to get a strong drink. He’s greeted by a bartender who appears to Spock as a Vulcan but to the camera as Our Flag Means Death and What We Do in the Shadows star Rhys Darby. With a mischievous wink, he offers Spock “something you definitely want” and mixes him a cocktail.
Photo: Marni Grossman/Paramount Plus
When Spock wakes up the next morning, Chapel is beside him in bed and everyone on the ship seems to believe that it’s their wedding day. Trelane, now dressed in a fabulous blue coat, is acting as their wedding planner. When something goes wrong, like the cake tasting gross or the flowers dying, he fixes it with the snap of his fingers. When Spock and Dr. Korby try to stop the wedding, Trelane shows off his incredible powers by turning Korby into a dog and threatening to hurt the rest of the crew.
Like many characters in Star Trek: SNW, Trelane originates in Star Trek: The Original Series. In the 1967 episode “The Squire of Gothos,” a strangely childlike alien calling himself Trelane (played by William Campbell) abducts multiple members of the Enterprise’s bridge crew. Dressed in a stylish blue coat, he entertains them in a 1800s-style manor house and demonstrates incredible power as he effectively plays with them like toys, changing their apparel, teaching them new skills, and getting in a swordfight with Captain Kirk. The crew is only freed when Trelane’s parents, who appear as balls of energy, turn up and chide him for misbehaving.
“We looked at a lot of different people [for the role],” Star Trek: SNW co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers told Polygon in a Zoom interview. “Rhys brought a really great contemporary approach to it. Slightly different because obviously he’s got a New Zealand accent, but he’s just got such a flair. And frankly, having seen him on his other shows, he just looks great in that suit. That was a unique ability that only he had.”
Photo: Marni Grossman/Paramount Plus
The Enterprise’s encounter with Trelane in “Wedding Bell Blues” ends much in the same way, with Trelane’s exasperated father showing up and telling the 8,020-year-old child it’s time to stop playing and go home. But this ball of energy is voiced by John de Lancie, who has played the nearly omnipotent trickster Q across numerous Star Trek series. That casting solidifies a link between the characters previously established in Peter David’s Star Trek: The Next Generation novel Q-Squared.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about beta canon […] saying that these two are the same and they’re very similar and we loved that and were looking for a way to bring that together but that is true to everything that happens later […] than our show.”
The cute and silly episode made a big impact on Bush.
“It was really bizarre to get married on screen before I’d been married in my own life,” she told Polygon in a Zoom interview. “I was like ‘This is going to be cemented as my wedding. This is going to be my first memory of getting married in this beautiful set with all these beautiful aliens in $5,000 outfits looking at me walking down the aisle.’”
The first two episodes of season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are available to stream now on Paramount Plus. New episodes release on Thursdays.
