Nurse Christine Chapel has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in the 2009 Star Trek movie. Nurse Chapel was a fixture of Dr. Leonard McCoy's (DeForest Kelley) sickbay, often standing by to provide assistance (or pine after Leonard Nimoy's Spock) in 25 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Dr. Christine Chapel easily falls into her old role as McCoy's trusted nurse. The prequel Star Trek: Strange New Worlds improves Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), making her a brilliant scientist with her own character arc.
Director J.J. Abrams' Kelvin Timeline Star Trek movies reimagined classic Star Trek: The Original Series characters for a new chapter of cinematic Star Trek. Familiar names matched with new faces: Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, and Zoe Saldaña as Nyota Uhura—now with a confirmed first name. Bruce Greenwood was there as Captain Christopher Pike, at the time a deep-cut reference to the USS Enterprise's pre-Kirk captain from Star Trek's original pilot. Nurse Chapel, on the other hand, didn't seem to be part of this new iteration of Star Trek.
Karl Urban's McCoy Calls For Nurse Chapel In Star Trek's 2009 Movie
Nurse Chapel Is Serving On The USS Enterprise In The Kelvin Timeline
In Star Trek (2009), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy calls for Nurse Chapel to prepare a treatment for James T. Kirk, who's having a severe allergic reaction to the Melvaran mud flea vaccine that McCoy gave Kirk. The vaccine's temporary symptoms let McCoy exploit a medical loophole that gets Cadet Kirk onto the USS Enterprise with other cadets during Starfleet's emergency mission to Vulcan. In sickbay, there are several female crew members who could be Nurse Chapel, including a woman that an ailing Kirk tries to flirt with, but none are actually confirmed to be McCoy's famous nurse.
Star Trek's Kelvin Timeline still sees the same USS Enterprise crew come together, even if some of them, like Kirk, have to force themselves into what the audience considers their rightful places. Commander Spock initially believes Lieutenant Nyota Uhura should be on the USS Farragut to avoid perceptions of favoritism, but Uhura confidently tells Spock in no uncertain terms that she belongs on Starfleet's flagship. (He agrees.) There's no reason that Nurse Christine Chapel shouldn't also be part of the USS Enterprise crew if everyone else is, and McCoy's call for Chapel confirms it.
The Kelvin Timeline Star Trek Movies Made Other References To Nurse Chapel (But She Never Appeared)
Nurse Chapel Dated Captain Kirk In The Kelvin Timeline
The Kelvin Timeline Star Trek movies made other references to Nurse Chapel, but she never appeared on-screen. Between the events of Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, Chapel was romantically involved with Kirk and left the USS Enterprise. As a friend of Christine's, Dr. Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) brings Nurse Chapel up to Kirk during a conversation in Star Trek Into Darkness, only to find that Kirk doesn't remember Chapel. Since Nurse Chapel also decides to leave the Enterprise after a soured romantic relationship in the Prime Timeline, Chapel's Kelvin Timeline romance with Kirk and subsequent departure might be related.
In a deleted scene from Star Trek Beyond, McCoy namedrops Nurse Chapel again: still as an ex-lover of Kirk's, but this time noting that Chapel contracted an alien STD from the captain.
It's probably good that Nurse Chapel wasn't more than a dropped name in the Kelvin Timeline movies. Before Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Christine Chapel was defined by her proximity to men, from McCoy and Spock to Chapel's Star Trek: The Original Series fiancé, Dr. Roger Korby (Michael Strong). Strange New Worlds keeps Christine's relationships intact and gives Chapel agency as a multifaceted character. If Star Trek 4 ever gets made with Nurse Chapel's on-screen Kelvin Timeline debut, being more like Chapel's Strange New Worlds treatment will be worth not seeing Chapel in Star Trek (2009).
