Spock and Dr. M'Benga are getting first names in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds...but not yet
Pictured: Ethan Peck as Spock (left) and Babs Olusanmokun (right) as M’Benga of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: James Dimmock/Paramount+ ©2022 ViacomCBS. All Rights Reserved.
APRIL 14, 2022 - Last week we told you about new key art for the primary crew of the USS Enterprise in the upcoming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Not long after, poster artwork at the Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention turned up with some extra fine print, including first names for Spock and Dr. M’Benga. The images quickly circulated on social media.
Well, never mind.
TrekCore has noted in an update to their original story on the first names that those names were described by CBS/Paramount+ as “inadvertently displayed” and were “incorrect.”
The names had come this close to becoming canon, yet they had been sourced from published Star Trek novels. Spock had been given a first name, S’chn T’Gai, way back in 1985, in Barbara Hambly’s Ishmael. Dr. Jabilo M’Benga had been so named more recently by David Mack in Harbinger, from 2005, the first of the Star Trek: Vanguard novels.
Now, apparently, we will have to wait to find out what their first names will be on screen. CBS/Paramount+ did tell TrekCore, “While Spock and M’Benga do indeed have first names, they have yet to be revealed.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premieres on May 5 on Paramount+.
David is a contributing writer for Daily Star Trek News on the Roddenberry Podcast Network. He is a librarian, baseball fan, and book and movie buff. He has also written for American Libraries and Skeptical Inquirer. David also enjoys diverse music, but leans toward classical and jazz. He plays a mean radio.
