We’re less than a month away from the launch of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and at today’s Mission Chicago Star Trek convention, two classic Trek characters have both been granted first names — for the first time in their canonical lives.
APRIL 9 UPDATE: CBS/Paramount+ reached out to our team this morning to “clarify” that these updated character posters were “inadvertently displayed with Spock and M’Benga’s names that were incorrect.”
The posters were removed from the Mission Chicago Strange New Worlds costume and prop exhibit; the statement continues: “Sometimes when you work at warp speed, mistakes are made. While Spock and M’Benga do indeed have first names, they have yet to be revealed.”
OUR ORIGINAL ARTICLE IS BELOW.
Babs Olusanmokun will be officially portraying Dr. Jabilo M’Benga in the upcoming series, granting the two-time Original Series guest character a first name in Strange New Worlds. This of course will be very welcome news for novel readers, as the good doctor served in a primary role in the Star Trek: Vanguard book series — where Harbinger, the first book in that series, is the originating source of “Jabilo” for Strange New Worlds.
But in what is likely to be a somewhat controversial development for classic Trek fans, Ethan Peck will officially be continuing his time in pointed ears as Lt. Commander S’chn T’Gai Spock, the first time the half-Vulcan’s full name has appeared in on-screen canon.
While Spock told Leila Kalomi that “[She] couldn’t pronounce it” in “This Side of Paradise,” this extended name is not an original creation of the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds writing team.
Like Star Trek: Discovery’s dive into classic Trek fan works for planet Vulcan’s new name — Ni’Var, a term which was created by writer Dorothy Jones Heydt for the 1960’s-era fanzine Spockanalia — the name “S’chn T’Gai” comes from author Barbara Hambly’s 1985 Pocket Books novel Ishmael.
Will that embrace of classic tie-in sourcing benefit this new addition to on-screen Spock history? We’ll leave it to you to pass that judgment — after all, maybe Spock just didn’t think too highly of Leila Kalomi’s linguistic skills!
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuts on Thursday, May 5 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada. Additional international distribution has not yet been announced.