At the end of Season 2, Chapel decides to take a fellowship with Dr. Roger Korby, played by Cillian O’Sullivan, who viewers get to meet at the start of this new season.
Goldsman remarks, “Obviously this is a tremendous complication to Spock and Chapel’s romance. ‘Complication’ is a kind word, and that propels things at a character-level and at a romantic-level for other folks. And it’s our attempt to try to figure out how Christine Chapel married that Roger Korby that we meet in TOS who is not the pick of the litter. So we’d like to believe that the Korby character started out as something more desirable than maybe how he ended up.”
For Bush, she shares, “The dynamic between Chapel and Korby is one that feels very easy and exciting in the beginning because they both are so adventurous and value freedom of movement and free-spiritedness and not being tied down anywhere. That’s really refreshing for her to find someone who feels the same way about life. But then, that also presents some difficulties that comes with it. To be with someone who’s adventurous and free-spirited, you have to be okay with them not always being around and wanting to follow their own path. The dynamic is one that feels, in terms of connection, very easy and exciting, but, in terms of logistics, maybe a little tricky.”
And for his part, O’Sullivan jokes that fans will “discover that Spock has a mean right hook” this season.
On his scene partners, O’Sullivan says, “Jess is an incredible actor, so it was amazing to see how she operates. And I mean, Ethan was so incredibly welcoming, so was Jess. I had actually gotten to know Jess before we started shooting because I had done the audition process.”
“The part hadn’t been officially offered, but I got to know Jess because we’d done a chemistry and things like that,” explains O’Sullivan. “But when I arrived on the set in Toronto, Ethan just reached out just to say hello and just made me feel welcome. I developed a good friendship with Ethan out in Toronto and I just had a great time and it was such a good cast to get to know.”