One New Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Character Keeps On Stealing The Show

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is excellent, and the third season has been a thing of pure joy. The "Star Trek: The Original Series" prequel show has somehow managed to both explore big new ideas in "Star Trek" and look back at the show's past, introducing younger versions of beloved characters with some regularity. Since many fans had already seen younger versions of Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and the rest of the Enterprise crew in the Kelvin-verse "Star Trek" movies, it became an even bigger challenge, but they've managed to knock it out of the park. Ethan Peck as Spock is absolutely perfect, with echoes of previous actors Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto while still being a totally unique performance, and Celia Rose Gooding as a young Nyota Uhura lights up the screen, drawing from their love of the character from childhood. 

The actors who bring the younger versions of these classic characters to life are all doing great work, but there's one who has been an incredible surprise stand-out this season: Martin Quinn as young engineer Montgomery Scott, better known as Scotty. First appearing at the end of season 2, Quinn manages to steal every scene he's in without every feeling like he's doing a pastiche of Scotties past. 

One of the things that makes updating the original "Star Trek" series characters so challenging is that they have become cultural touchstones for many, and have been referenced and spoofed to high heaven since the series debuted in 1966. The folks behind "Strange New Worlds" are clearly aware of the long history of the characters in pop culture and even did a great meta-commentary episode where the show's Kirk, Paul Wesley, got to channel his inner William Shatner and really go for the Canadian actor's trademark stilted dialogue, mimicking the original Captain James T. Kirk. With Scotty, however, Quinn is playing things a little softer, with a younger version of the character made famous by James Doohan that doesn't drink much and seems pretty bright-eyed and innocent, a far cry from the more grizzled and sarcastic man he will one day become. 

While the other younger versions of legacy characters have all been given their own little tweaks because they would be different without the time and experience of their "Original Series" counterparts, Scotty is probably the most different, but it works brilliantly. Both Quinn and Doohan play exasperation the same way, and you can see glimpses of how hard years in Starfleet will wear down the bright young officer. He's still just working under the command of Lieutenant Pelia (Carol Kane), the current chief of engineering, but he'll be in charge of maintaining the ship before he knows it, with all of the stress that comes with it. But for now he's still an adorable young officer trying to hang with the already experienced crew of the Enterprise, and he's perfect.

For fans of "Star Trek" who have been watching for years (and in many cases, decades), the characters of Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Scotty, and the rest of the original Enterprise bridge team are really special. Every single version of "Star Trek" is at least somewhat a hangout show, because the great part of going on adventures each week is that we get to go on them with the lovable weirdos that make up each series. Just spending time with the crew is part of the draw, and they've managed to replicate that feeling well on "Strange New Worlds." Legacy characters and new characters alike get the chance to shine, and though the original series is revered "Strange New Worlds" doesn't feel fully beholden to it and isn't trying to simply repeat the past — a problem that plagued the Kelvin-verse films. 

Quinn is a perfect addition to the cast, and it's honestly a blast seeing him interact with the rest of the crew since he's the new guy and they're all starting to get set in their ways. Honestly, I would watch an entire series just about Scotty and Pelia's misadventures in engineering, because those two are a comedic duo for the ages. Maybe when she leaves she'll give him her Starfleet fanny pack?

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is available to stream on Paramount+.