Star Trek #27 is written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and drawn by Mike Feehan and Tess Fowler. To lighten the mood aboard the Theseus, Sisko throws a dinner party and invites his crew. As the night wears on, the crew starts playing games, one of which is to name three people, alive or dead, they would like to meet. T’Lir, the sole Vulcan aboard the ship, gives Spock as their answer. Scotty reminds them there is only one Spock, but T’Lir fires back, saying there are at least three Spock variants available.
Spock Is a Star Trek, and Pop Culture, Icon
Three Different Actors Have Left Their Mark on the Character
Spock is warp and woof in the Star Trek franchise, and he is one of its most recognizable characters. Debuting in Star Trek’s first pilot, “The Cage,” Spock became a pop culture sensation, and made a star out of actor Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy would play Spock for the duration of the original Star Trek’s run, and reprised the role for the first six feature films starring Kirk and company. Furthermore, Nimoy would return as Spock during Star Trek: The Next Generation’s fifth season. Finally, Nimoy’s Spock helped kick off the Kelvin Timeline in 2009’s Star Trek.
That same film recast key roles from the Original Series, using new and younger actors, which gave rise to the second Spock, played by Zachary Quinto. Quinto’s performance as Spock drew praise not only from fans, but Nimoy himself, and established a precedent for the Star Trek franchise moving forward. Before JJ Abrams’ Star Trek, the idea of recasting Spock, Kirk and Uhura seemed blasphemous, but in the years since the film, those roles have been recast again, for Strange New Worlds. Star Trek: Discovery’s second season introduced another Spock, from early in his career, played by Ethan Peck.
How Many Spocks Are There in the Multiverse?
Star Trek Calls Out Its Spock Problem
The larger Star Trek multiverse is littered with other Spock variants that further illustrate T’Lir’s point. Perhaps the best known is Mirror Spock. Introduced in the second season episode “Mirror, Mirror,” this Spock variant channels logic to his own unscrupulous ends. Despite his dark nature, this Spock would eventually go on to help overthrow the very Empire he served. The existence of Mirror Spock raises questions over what other variants could be found in the multiverse. As Star Trek continues to lean into the multiverse concept, these questions may get an answer.
