Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is one of Trek‘s newer offerings to fans. With Season 1 completed, fans are eagerly awaiting Season 2. Strange New Worlds, unlike Picard or Discovery, relies more on episodic storytelling rather than serial, which hearkens back to earlier Trek, like The Original Series or The Next Generation. Though Strange New Worlds is a prequel to The Original Series, there are still some very familiar faces. One of those is Spock, played by Ethan Peck.
Peck plays an integral role in ‘Strange New Worlds’
Spock is one of the most well-known characters in the Trek lexicon. Spock was a character first introduced in the unaired original pilot episode, though the character did undergo some edits before airing. Originally, Spock was more emotional than the Vulcan we all came to know and love. In Strange New Worlds, Spock is not the first officer to Kirk yet; he’s a science officer under Captain Pike.
Ethan Peck first took on the role in Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery, and those episodes served as somewhat of a pilot for Strange New Worlds. As Season 1 of Strange New Worlds progressed, the audience saw an emotional range for Spock that they hadn’t been able to see before, with interactions between him and his fiance and how the younger Spock dealt with anger and insecurity.
Ethan Peck certainly has some big shoes to fill. As Spock, he has a legacy to uphold while still putting his personal stamp on the character. According to most reviews, he’s done just that.
Peck comes from Hollywood royalty
Ethan Peck comes by his acting chops naturally. His grandfather is one of Hollywood’s classic actors, Gregory Peck. Buzzfeed points out that not only is Gregory Peck his grandfather, but his father is Stephen Peck, who was also an actor and documentary filmmaker.
Some of Gregory Peck’s filmography includes Roman Holiday (1953) and To Kill a Mockingbird (1952), for which he won an Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch. The American Film Institute named him the 12th greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema in 1999.
Peck was very popular between the 1940s and 1970s and starred in numerous movies, for which he received several award nominations. He was nominated for an Oscar five times. He won the Golden Globe for Best Actor twice and once for Best Supporting Actor. He also received an Emmy for his role in Moby Dick. Peck also received the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award. For all of his work, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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Lastly, Peck was also given two civilian awards in his lifetime: the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The latter he received because of his humanitarian work.
Gregory Peck died in his sleep at the age of 87 in 2003. Ethan was still a teenager when his grandfather died.
As for Ethan’s father, Stephen Peck, he is known for Half Life, which he wrote. He has worked on The Trial of the Catonsville Nine and These Amazing Shadows, a documentary about the history of the National Film Registry.
Did Ethan Peck know his grandfather?
Ethan Peck certainly looks like his grandfather, but it doesn’t seem they shared anything about acting in Ethan’s younger years. According to People, Ethan said, “He was just Grandpa to me… He passed when I was 17, and I don’t recall ever having a conversation with him about acting.”
Ethan and Gregory Peck seemed to have a relatively normal familial relationship. Ethan talks about how his grandfather taught him how to float in a pool and that he has “so many questions for him now.”
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