At the Star Trek: Discovery panel at San Diego Comic-Con, it was confirmed that Discovery would feature Spock in its second season. It turns out, that process is even further along than fans may have guessed.

While speaking to Variety, Star Trek: Discovery co-creator, executive producer, and new showrunner Alex Kurtzman revealed that a new actor has already been chosen to play Spock in the coming season.

“We are, we are casting a new Spock,” Kurzman said. “It’s not just a possibility, it’s been done.”

Kurtzman did not reveal who the new Spock actor is, but he did elaborate a bit on the challenges of casting a the iconic character.

“Everybody assumes that just because Spock is all about logic, that there is no emotion in there and that’s entirely untrue,” he says. “So, finding an actor who can convey what we know to be very Vulcan, but also reveal so much emotion in the eyes and in the small gestures, so you understand there’s just a tornado of things happening under the surface is critical. So you need an actor who can do both of those things at the same time, which is very challenging.”

It is interesting that Spock has been recast, but that no announcement was made at Comic-Con, arguably the biggest platform for such an announcement. Perhaps there is a story-based reason for keeping the actor a secret for now, or perhaps CBS wants to have a visual ready to show off when they make the announcement.

Spock’s role in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery was heavily teased in the new trailer released at San Diego Comic-Con. The trailer revealed that Spock took a leave of absence from his duties as science officer aboard the USS Enterprise in order to pursue the answer to a mystery that had perplexed him. The mystery involves various red spots that are occurring throughout space. Spock’s commanding officer, Captain Christopher Pike, seeks out and takes command of the USS Discovery in order to further investigate this mystery and Spock’s disappearance.

Are you excited to hear who the new Spock on Star Trek: Discovery will be? Let us know what you think in the comments!

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the United States, through CraveTV in Canada, and through Netflix in other international markets. Star Trek: Discovery Season Two is now filming in Toronto.

Star Trek: Discovery returns to CBS All Access in January 2019.