Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Jess Bush Reflects on Nurse Chapel and Spock

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 5, "Charades," Nurse Chapel, played by Jess Bush, finally got what she wanted out of Spock (Ethan Peck). SPOILERS follow for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 5, "Charades." Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2's latest episode gave fans Spock as they'd never seen him before, fully human. In an ironic twist, Spock's efforts to mask his transformation in order to properly honor a Vulcan betrothment ritual were successful, but his hiding the change from his betrothed, T'Pring (Gia Sandhu), led to the couple taking some time apart. Only after returning to his half-Vulcan self did Spock and Nurse Chapel finally act on the feelings they'd been harboring toward each other.

It's a complicated situation. We turned to Bush to help unpack it for us.

Jamie Lovett, ComicBook.com: What was your initial reaction when you found out that your character was going to be involved in this romantic angle with Spock? Was there at all a reaction like, "Spock? You mean the one that doesn't have emotion?" Or were there no questions or hesitations?

Jess Bush: That was something that was told to me the moment I booked the role. They were like, "This is a big part of what you are going to be doing," and I was aware of their past in canon, so I was prepared and intrigued to see how that was going to play out, for sure.

There's this crackling nervous energy between Spock and Chapel in this episode. How did you go about developing their chemistry? Were there discussions with Ethan Peck or advice from the director that helped?

Ethan and I didn't really intellectualize anything. We didn't sit down and go, "This is what's going on." Because I think that often, you just have to be in open discovery mode in order for that stuff to crackle, because in real life, you're not deciding what's going to happen when you encounter someone that you're interested in or that you have complicated chemistry with, it's often really hard to put into words. So I think that for me anyway, it was more just about paying attention to what's already there, and being curious about that and leaning into it, and allowing the physical chemistry just to be.

It's interesting watching a will they-won't they style romance in a prequel, where anyone familiar with Star Trek: The Original Series will know how it ends. Do you think there is a trick or something special that goes into making it feel exciting despite that?

I think there's this cool thing about the way that they're making the show, where there are points in the story that are recognizable and staying true to the canon, but they also have allowed for deviations from that, and new complexities in relation to it being in the 2023 world rather than the '60s. Naturally, I think that it's not a far reach to allow things to be much more complex, and it's still part of their story that's never been told, so it's exciting, it's fresh, it's new, and I feel like it makes it even more romantic and tragic that you know that it's not going to work in end. I don't know, there's something gut-wrenching about that. And it's cool to fill in the gaps and be like, "Oh, how did they make it to that weird point" They could have made it there through so many different versions of a relationship. We don't know, there could be so much that could have happened in that time, and so exploring that, I think, is very satisfying.

Is there a term for what's going on with Spock and Chapel right now? Are they in the avoiding labels stage of the relationship?

It's almost like it's beyond a relationship. It doesn't really fit inside the normal bounds of a, "Oh, you are my girlfriend, you're my boyfriend," kind of thing. It's almost deeper than that, in a way.

As Chapel says at the end of the episode, it's "I don't know, shut up."

Yeah, this is just what it is, I don't know, some kind of soul connection that's undeniable, but doesn't make any convenient sense

One of the interesting things about this episode is that Spock gets transformed into a human, but otherwise, he's fine. There's no life-threatening ticking clock that's forcing him to turn back. He could go on living a human life, which means Chapel's urgent motivation to turn him back is coming from a different place and must be mixed with some feelings about Spock finally being able to express himself in more human, emotional terms. For you, what was the balance of all that going through her mind in the episode? 

Yeah, it's super messy. It's super complicated. Someone else had said to me before, it's almost like a genie in the bottle moment, where you get your one wish that he is fully human, and can express to you, and is available, and animated, and can read what's going on for him. But it's also like you say, he's not going to die, but if he was to stay human, there would be a death of sorts, there would be a loss. And that's the person, the real Spock, the half-Vulcan Spock, is actually the person that she developed these deep feelings for, and for a reason. And so while it might feel good in the moment, it's not real, it's not him.

And there's also this moral counterpart, where even if she did want to just entertain that for a while and see what that was like, she would never do that. That's not her decision to make. This would be changing the course of Spock's life forever, and that's not her decision, and she'll do everything she can to make sure that she preserves the thing that is best for Spock.

I think the ending speaks to that too. She doesn't even seem to consider the idea until he's half-Vulcan again. She never settles for whatever is going on with him at that moment until the real Spock comes back.:

Totally. Yeah, because he's not in his full right mind. I think it feels iffy for her, morally iffy, to be taking advantage of that.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 has already shown us a few different sides of Chapel. There's the romantic stuff going on, but also the badass/traumatized soldier veteran fo the Klingon War. Is there a particular side her that you most enjoy playing? And are we going to see additional sides, or more digging deeper into these as the season progresses?

Definitely digging deeper into what we've broached already. In terms of the first part of your question, I don't think it's that I prefer one or the other. When I have the opportunity to explore a side of her that's more hardened, more action-based, more of a fighter, experiencing that then also informs when I'm in a softer space or having an emotional, somewhat more romantic time, the information from that other experience comes into her, just like it would for a person in real life. We're a big, complex, circular, swirling smoosh of experiences and emotions, and I don't think it really separates out. I think that it's all more 

Before I let you go, just anything else you'd like to say to fans of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds? Any teases of what's next for Chapel throughout the back half of the season?

Just way more. The second half of the season for Chapel is so sick, so I had a great time. So I'm really excited for you guys to see what we've put together. There's some cool stuff.

How to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 debuts new episodes on Thursdays on Paramount+ in the United States, the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. The second season will stream on Paramount+ in South Korea, with a premiere date still to be announced. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds airs on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 is also streaming on Paramount+. It is also available as home media on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4k UHD.

Editors note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG actors' strike.