We have quite a wait for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, and while there are other upcoming Trek shows to be excited about, fans are now more eager than ever to see one "familiar" character returning sooner rather than later. The Season 2 finale saw engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott board the Enterprise, with actor Martin Quinn taking on the beloved role. In the week following the finale's intro, which was a huge moment for audiences, we now have comments from Chris Doohan, son of longtime Scotty portrayer James Doohan, who shared his thoughts on seeing his father's role recast once more.
Chris Doohan has appeared in various Star Trek projects himself over the years, and even provided his vocal talents to voice his father's role in Star Trek Online. Doohan already witnessed film star Simon Pegg play his own take on Scotty for the big screen, but Martin Quinn stepping in as the Prime Timeline character is something different entirely. All things considered, it's no surprise that he'd have some thoughts on a new actor stepping into his father's metaphorical shoes, but fortunately, the thoughts he passed along were nothing but kind.
Welcome to the #startrek world, Martin Quinn. Your life is about to change. 😊 https://t.co/Pe9ARYV6uIAugust 16, 2023
It's a relief to see Chris Doohan is already on board with Martin Quinn taking the role of Scotty in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. With Star Trek's creative teams being largely unafraid to recast its most prominent characters when need be, there's always a risk of upsetting former portrayers, or their surviving relatives, over a new portrayal. This post embracing Quinn feels about as welcoming as it can be, so it certainly seems he's a fan of seeing Scotty back in action again.
Scotty may be on board the Enterprise at the end of Season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, but there is definitely a question of how long he'll stick around. We do know that he's the Chief Engineer when James T. Kirk takes over the ship, but according to Kirk actor Paul Wesley, that transition is not happening anytime soon.
Based on a few clues, I think there's sufficient reason to speculate Scotty will remain with the ship past this Gorn conflict. To start, Carol Kane's Pelia is the current Chief Engineer, but we all know she only received it after helping the Enterprise escape so that she could skip out on her previous gig at the Starfleet base. She'll have to go back eventually, and when she does, the Enterprise will again need a new Chief Engineer.
This brings us to Scotty, whom we learned in "Hegemony" is the sole survivor of his science vessel, the Stardiver. That feels like a convenient way for Starfleet to reassign him to Enterprise. If he can use a device to avert a disastrous conflict with the Gorn, shouldn't he be on the best vessel in the fleet? I think so, but we may just have to wait until we're watching Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 with our Paramount+ subscriptions to find out.
Stream all of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 and 2 right now over on Paramount+. Of course, any classic TOS fan can also use the streamer to revisit James Doohan's performances as Scotty, and even Simon Pegg's!
