A character from Star Trek: The Original Series is returning to the franchise seven years after he was last seen. The character will likely return to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and while the network has not officially announced it, the revelation came from the actor who last played the character, and his post might have been made in haste. In the post, which included one photo, the actor said he was sworn to “secrecy,” and even posting the photo might have gotten him in some trouble because he ended up deleting it. Considering that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes place before the events of The Original Series, appearances of older characters should come as no surprise, but this specific character needs some explanation.
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Screen Rant reported that James Frain, who played the character on Star Trek: Discovery, posted on Instagram that he will return as Sarek. The post has since been deleted, but the site reports that the post had Frain dressed as Sarek, and he wrote that he was “on set” for “a few different things.”
Sarek Returning to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Ambassador Sarek is Spock’s Vulcan father, so his appearance on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds makes sense because Ethan Peck stars as Spock on that series. Sarek took over the role on Star Trek: Discovery, where he was played by James Frain for the first time. In that series, it was revealed that the Vulcan Ambassador and his human wife, Amanda Grayson (Mia Kirshner), adopted Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and raised her as Spock’s sister on Vulcan. His last appearance on that series was in the Season 2 finale, “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2,” in 2019.
However, Sarek is a character from Star Trek: The Original Series, where he was originally played by Mark Lenard. The original actor also returned to the role in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). He also appeared in two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, voiced the character in Star Trek: The Animated Series, and even appeared as a different character, a Klingon captain, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). Ben Cross picked up the role in the Kelvin Timeline’s Star Trek (2009) reboot. This makes Frain the most recent actor to portray the character.
Sarek returning in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds could be complicated. It was revealed in Star Trek: Discovery that he had a closer relationship with Michael Burnham than with Spock, and he took a special interest in her career. However, while Mia Kirshner returned already in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 as Amanda Grayson, Sarek didn’t show up then. The explanation was that Sarek refused to speak to Spock since his son chose Starfleet over the Vulcan Science Academy. Whether the show retcons the idea that Sarek and Spock were on speaking terms or not remains to be seen.
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