Strange New Worlds Made Spock & Uhura Close Without Abrams’ Mistake

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds set up Spock’s friendship with Uhura to leads into TOS without falling into the romance mistake of J.J. Abrams’ movies.

Spock (Ethan Peck) and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) have a friendship in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds that won’t duplicate the mistake J.J. Abrams made in his Star Trek movies. The younger Spock and Uhura in Strange New Worlds are the Prime Universe versions who will eventually become the Vulcan and Communications Officer played by Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek: The Original Series. In Strange New Worlds season 1, Cadet Uhura is a new arrival to Captain Christopher Pike’s (Anson Mount) USS Enterprise, and Spock helps her decide whether she wants to remain in Starfleet.

J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie trilogy took place in the alternate Kelvin timeline, which gave the director free rein to reinvent the TOS icons as their younger selves. Although Abrams’ movies stuck to the archetypes of Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and their crew, he made a shocking change by making Spock and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) a couple. Certainly, pairing the young and attractive Vulcan and Communications Officer looked good on-screen, but Star Trek fans took issue with it, and Spock being lovers with Uhura never quite clicked as intended. In Star Trek Beyond, Uhura and Spock broke up as a course correction. However, Strange New Worlds has already avoided a Spock and Uhura romance.

Related: Strange New Worlds’ Spock & Uhura Just Passed Their Toughest Test

Spock & Uhura In Strange New Worlds Sets Up Their TOS Friendship

Strange New Worlds‘ Cadet Nyota Uhura joins the Enterprise as a genius with languages, but she has a lot to learn, and her troubled past left her uncertain if life in Starfleet is really for her. Strange New Worlds episode 2 quickly established Spock as one of Uhura’s early mentors, which makes sense. Although Spock is still in his 20s, he’s her commanding officer and already has years in space as part of Starfleet under his belt. Spock initially counseled her to give up her position on the Enterprise to someone who wants it, but after they survived an encounter on a rogue comet, the Vulcan was impressed with Nyota’s talent and ingenuity. Spock encouraged Uhura to remain in Starfleet.

Spock was just one of Uhura’s mentors in Strange New Worlds season 1, along with Captain Pike and Lt. Hemmer (Bruce Horak), who arguably had the biggest impact on Nyota’s choice to remain in Starfleet. But it neatly set up the fact that Spock and Uhura will remain colleagues on the Enterprise for decades to come. While Spock and Uhura’s interactions in Star Trek: The Original Series aren’t plentiful, they have fond moments like when they sang together in the episode “Charlie X.” Uhura’s warm feelings and loyalty toward Spock continue into the TOS movies, but the beginnings of it all are evident in Strange New Worlds.

Strange New Worlds Won’t Repeat Abrams’ Spock & Uhura Romance Mistake

Thankfully, it’s already clear that Strange New Worlds won’t attempt to make Spock and Uhura a couple as J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies did. Strange New Worlds’ Spock is already spoken for since he’s currently engaged to T’Pring (Gia Sandhu). Further, Spock also has a burgeoning relationship with Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush). This love triangle has sparked fans’ imaginations, and it’s already far more successful and intriguing than Abrams’ Spock and Uhura love affair ever was. It seems unimaginable that Strange New Worlds would try to spark a romance between Spock and Uhura.

However, Strange New Worlds season 2 could finally give Uhura a romantic relationship with another character, which is long overdue. Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura didn’t get any kind of personal life, although there was a hint of a flirtation with Spock in TOS and with Scotty in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Thankfully, it’s highly unlikely that Spock is on Uhura’s romantic radar, while Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has already done an excellent job building up the friendship between Spock and Uhura that will last several decades.

More: Pike’s Relationship With Spock’s Fiancée Creates A Kirk Mystery

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 premieres in 2023 on Paramount+.