Summary
- Nurse Chapel's transformation into a Vulcan on Star Trek amplifies her core curiosity and thirst for knowledge.
- The new Vulcans aboard the Enterprise create humor and dredge up Lt. Spock's insecurities
- Becoming a Vulcan for Nurse Chapel feels like gaining a powerful new tool to explore and know everything in the universe.
Jess Bush says becoming Vulcan amplified Nurse Christine Chapel's core curiosity in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3. In a clip from a Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode directed by Jordan Canning that premiered at San Diego Comic-Con, Nurse Chapel several members of the USS Enterprise's crew into Vulcans, including herself. Four new Vulcans aboard the Enterprise amusingly dredge up insecurities in Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck), who is only half-Vulcan. But in a mishap, Nurse Chapel, Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) become stuck as Vulcans.
Screen Rant exclusively interviewed Jess Bush at STLV: Trek to Vegas about a wide range of topics, including the Starship Enterprise's crew becoming Vulcans in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3. Bush reveals how she approached Vulcan Nurse Chapel and gives insight into how becoming a Vulcan enhanced Christine's innate desire for knowledge. Read Jess' quote below:
First of all, I spoke to Ethan and just got some insights into his approach. And then, I found Vulcan Chapel through the script and [by] talking to the writers. Regular human Chapel is so curious and so hungry to do more, and to know more. She just wants to know everything and do everything and meet everyone and experience everything. She’s such a human stickler for knowledge.
I think, in each of our Vulcans, something about our human personalities was amplified and purified. And I think for her, what became kind of instinctual was like, it felt like she'd just been given this machine that she was able to… Like wow, I've got this new toy, and I can just know everything. I have so much more power to find out things. And so for me, the feeling was like, someone who loves cars is given a new car. Now I can do this trick in this car, and I can go faster, and I can do this! So that was kind of the driving force. This expanded curiosity and scope for what she can, at last, know.
What Becoming Vulcan Means For Nurse Chapel In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3
Chapel gains even more insight into Spock
All 3 seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds have featured a Vulcan comedy episode that delivers insight into Lt. Spock's psyche and inner turmoil. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's Vulcan episode does just that as well, but also flips the script by turning Spock's USS Enterprise crew mates into Vulcans. For Nurse Christine Chapel, becoming a Vulcan could mean a breakthrough toward a greater understanding of both Spock and herself. Vulcans' innate confidence and poise could rub off on Christine even after she reverts back to her human self.
By becoming a Vulcan, Chapel can now grasp what Spock was 'giving up' by downplaying his Vulcan side in favor of his humanity.
Nurse Chapel has always empathized with Spock and appreciated him as a Vulcan. In turn, Spock was inspired by Christine to become more in touch with his human side. But by becoming a Vulcan, Chapel can now grasp what Spock was 'giving up' by downplaying his Vulcan side in favor of his humanity. Even if this doesn't reignite their romance - especially with Chapel's future fiancé, Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O'Sullivan) joining Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 - turning Vulcan puts Nurse Chapel and Spock on a more even footing as friends.
