Star Trek: Who is Roger Korby?

Key Takeaways

• Chapel’s backstory expands as
  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
  explores her wartime experiences and romance with Dr. Korby.
• With Dr. Korby joining
  SNW
  , Chapel’s feelings for Spock may complicate a brewing love triangle.
• Spock and Chapel confront their emotions and relationship struggles amid impending changes on
  SNW
  .

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW) has given fans a much deeper look at secondary characters from Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS), including Nurse Christine Chapel and other Star Trek fandom favorites. In TOS, Nurse Chapel played a very important role on the ship, but the majority of her story arc was centered on her work and her obsession with Spock. The show never really focused on her backstory or much of her personal life.

The only exception came in the episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” in which fans met Chapel’s fiancé, Roger Korby. Or at least, a version of Korby. Strange New Worlds has given fans some more insights into his character, and thus into Chapel’s as well.

Dr. Roger Korby is Christine Chapel’s Fiancé in TOS

Dr. Korby was the leading authority on ancient medical systems in the Federation. His work often involved examining the remains of ancient civilizations to gain clues about their medicinal practices and systems. Korby fundamentally changed immunological treatments throughout the Federation based on ancient Orion medical records he found and translated.

Chapel met Korby when she left her post on the Enterprise to study archaeological medicine with him. While she was a student of his, Chapel and Korby fell in love and got engaged. Unfortunately, they never made it to the altar. During a mission to Exo III, Korby disappeared. Starfleet arranged two search and rescue missions, but neither found any trace of Korby. Even so, Chapel remained convinced that he was alive and would be found someday.

Her hopes seemed to be confirmed when the Enterprise received a message from Korby, originating on Exo III. Kirk, Chapel, and two security officers beamed down to the surface to investigate, and they did find Korby. However, a series of strange circumstances led to the discovery that Korby was actually an android. After nearly dying during his mission on Exo III, Korby discovered an android civilization on the planet and learned not only how to create androids, but also how to transfer a human consciousness into an android. He built himself an android body that was an exact replica of his own body, and transferred his consciousness.

Though he was virtually the same man as Chapel fell in love with, she couldn’t accept him as an android. This, combined with the revelation that the androids he’d discovered established their civilization by murdering their human creators, led Korby to destroy himself and the android assistant he’d created.

Strange New Worlds Season 3 Will Feature Their Romance

Since the events of Strange New Worlds take place before Kirk’s five-year mission on the Enterprise, the show has given fans the opportunity to see what some of their favorite TOS characters were doing before the events in the show. It has also given characters like Chapel much deeper backstories. Fans now know that Chapel served as a battlefield medic during the Klingon War, an experience that deeply shaped her career and her friendships aboard the Enterprise as she served with Dr. M’Benga. Viewers also learned that she fell for Spock long before their time together on the Enterprise.

At the end of the second season, Chapel left the Enterprise to go study with Dr. Korby, but her journey was interrupted when the Gorn attacked the Cayuga, the ship transporting her to Vulcan. She’ll likely start the third season on the Enterprise because Spock risked his life to rescue her; however, a recent casting announcement for the third season of SNW indicates that she’s still leaving the Enterprise.

At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, SNW’s showrunners announced that Cillian O’Sullivan (In From the Cold and Vikings) will play Dr. Korby in the third season. They then confirmed that fans will get to see Chapel and Korby’s romance develop in the upcoming season. The reveal left everyone who avidly watched SNW‘s second season with one pressing question: what does this mean for Chapel and Spock?

Is There a Love Triangle Brewing?

In the second season of Strange New Worlds, Spock and Chapel finally kissed after a season and a half of serious romantic tension. Unfortunately, their relationship was painfully brief.

When Chapel accepted the fellowship with Korby on Vulcan, she decided to end her relationship with Spock. She claimed she was doing it because they weren’t going to see each other much for a while. Though this was partially true, Chapel’s decision was more than a little bit motivated by Bradward Boimler’s accidental revelation that Spock was pretty emotionless in the future, which led Chapel to believe that their relationship wouldn’t survive. The breakup didn’t go well.

Though their relationship ended, their feelings for each other did not. When the Cayuga was attacked by the Gorn, Spock was so worried about Chapel that his emotions impeded his ability to rely on logic. For a Vulcan, this is the equivalent of a mental breakdown. During the mission to rescue the crew of the Cayuga and escape the Gorn, Chapel and Spock both risked their lives to save each other. When they finally made it back to Enterprise, Spock tried to apologize for how he handled their breakup, but Chapel told him they’d have time to talk about it later.

Their last interaction in season 2 seemed to indicate that Spock and Chapel might reconsider their breakup, but the appearance of Korby and the confirmation that his romance with Chapel will develop in the upcoming season is a big obstacle for everyone’s favorite human/Vulcan relationship. Will Chapel forget Spock as she gets swept up in her romance with Korby, or will she struggle with feelings for both of them? Will Spock suppress his feelings with logic, or will he get jealous of Korby? Will the third season set up a messy love triangle with Chapel forced to choose who she loves the most?

Unfortunately, fans will have to wait a bit longer to get answers. Season 3 of SNW is set to premiere in 2025, but no official release date has been announced.