“We’re doing Vulcans” — Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will bring some surprises from The Original Series

Before Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 even began airing, showrunner Akiva Goldsman dropped a curious little tease in an old Collider interview:

"We’re doing Vulcans."

At the time, it raised eyebrows. Was he talking about a new Vulcan-centric storyline for Spock? A flashback? A first contact arc?

Now, with Season 3 already four episodes deep and the context becoming clearer, that offhand comment has aged like vintage Trek: cryptic, clever, and totally on brand. Turns out, Goldsman was referring to Episode 8, which will see multiple Enterprise crew members literally transformed into Vulcans. Not metaphorically. Not mind-meld adjacent. Actually turned into Vulcans.

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The statement that sparked a thousand theories about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3

The interview itself dates back to the pre-Season 3 press circuit, when Goldsman and co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers were teasing the show’s next round of genre experiments. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 had already pulled off a musical and an animated crossover, so expectations were high.

Goldsman had stated:

"We are, as always, striving to create a different genre within ours."

Myers had said, hinting at upcoming episodes that would push both tonal and stylistic boundaries.

And then came Goldsman’s line, where he stated that they were doing Vulcans. A simple phrase, funny in hindsight, considering just how literal it would turn out to be.

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Five Vulcans, one Starship

By now, fans know exactly what the showrunners were hinting at. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 Episode 8, still upcoming at the time of writing, is set to turn five members of the Enterprise crew into Vulcans. Ethan Peck (Spock) had shared how surreal the episode felt on set, especially with other actors suddenly sporting pointed ears and asking him for tips on how to "act Vulcan."

And it wasn’t just about slapping on prosthetics. Myers had emphasized how hard the team worked to individualize each character’s version of Vulcan logic and restraint:

"Yes, they are Vulcans, but that doesn't mean they all act the same."

From hair designs to posture to speech rhythms, the goal was to explore diversity within the uniformity of Vulcan culture.

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The experimentation era of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Looking back, that interview was a roadmap to what Season 3 is delivering now: a lineup of episodes that each feel like their own genre sandbox. The Jonathan Frakes-directed Hollywood murder mystery already aired in Episode 4, and now Episode 8 looks poised to be the season’s comedic-philosophical detour; the kind of oddball brilliance that’s become Strange New Worlds’ signature.

It’s part of the showrunners’ broader plan to avoid playing it safe.

""If this was our last episode, what would it be like?" We want to do the best version of everything. If this was all we got to do, what are the cool things that we will be really upset that we never got to do? We look at every season like that." Myers had said.

That mindset has allowed the team to go big, whether that’s breaking out into song or breaking into Vulcan form.

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Vulcan logic, delivered with a wink

Revisiting that tease now, it reads like a perfect encapsulation of Strange New Worlds’ energy. It’s reverent but playful, familiar but unexpected. And most importantly, it speaks to a series unafraid to surprise its audience, even if that means turning half the bridge crew into stoic logicians for an episode.

The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds team didn’t just give us more Vulcans. They gave us Vulcans in places we never thought we’d see them, and maybe that’s the most Trek thing of all.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 is already streaming now on Disney+.