Star Trek Just Made A Huge Reveal, But Is It Actually Canon?
It looks like the folks from Star Trek made a big reveal, possibly by accident, about a major character. Will this be canon for the franchise?
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The Star Trek universe and franchise continues to pump out stories decades (and decades) after the original hit the small screen all the way back in the 1960s. It’s a testament to the staying power of the world they originally built around the Captain Kirk-led crew, but also to the staying power of the particular characters, some of whom we’ve seen in multiple iterations throughout the years. One of them is Spock whose stoic and logical Vulcanism has been a trademark of the franchise over the years. And while we’ve learned quite a bit about the character through the different iterations, it doesn’t seem we know quite everything. Now there is some question over his the character’s actual name and whether some Star Trek information was released incorrectly or whether it’s canon now.
In a poster that was recently (and maybe incorrectly) released for the upcoming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, we get an image of Ethan Peck’s Spock, the third actor to play the character in the franchise. Ok, all well and good and nothing all that new to see here, right? Well, wrong. In addition to having that promotional piece out of the way with Spock standing against a martian desert landscape, one will also notice that there is more than just Spock labeled on the poster. Instead, it’s a full name S’Chn T’Gai Spock as the formal title. Noticed by Winter is Coming, it appears that this poster name was in reference to a name given to Spock in a Star Trek companion novel Ishmael which came out in the mid-80s. That wasn’t considered canon, but Strange New Worlds assuredly would be. Check out the original poster:
Because Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set as a precursor to the original Star Trek series with Anson Mount playing Captain Christopher Pike, one could assume that they are set to give these details a formal release in the new series. But according to Winter is Coming, the release of the poster with Spock’s full name on it was done in error. Whether the error was in timing (we weren’t supposed to know yet) or in labeling (this isn’t the way they are going) isn’t totally clear at this point.
And to go with this, Collider got in touch with the folks at CBS Studios, who control the Paramount Network and all of the Star Trek IP at this point. The higher-ups over there were adamant that the poster was released in error with the wrong name on it saying, “Sometimes when you work at warp speed, mistakes are made. While Spock and M’Benga do indeed have first names, they have yet to be revealed.” But color me skeptical on that front. It’s a little too specific, a little too official-looking, a little too spot-on accurate to another mention of this name, and a little too quick in the mea culpa. It would sure appear this is where the studio wants to go with the character’s name. Whether they reverse course because of the (possible) accidental leak remains to be seen. If they go that route we might never know the truth.
We might know for sure soon enough when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuts on Paramount+ on May 5th. First name or know, we are sure to get to know Spock even better over the course of this series.
