Spock’s mom, Amanda Grayson, is back. Here’s everything you need to know about the famous Star Trek character and her return in Strange New Worlds season 2.
Star Trek has a long history, and with the fresh Star Trek series Strange New Worlds being a prequel, it’s inevitable that some famous faces from its past have returned to the spotlight. In the new episode of Strange New Worlds season 2 (in which Spock gets turned into a human by the Kerkhovians, no big deal) we see the return of Amanda Grayson to our screens.
Amanda Grayson isn’t a Star Trek character who’s had a lot of screen time, but she’s been a part of the franchise since the very start. Here’s everything we know about Amanda Grayson, her backstory, and what’s in store for her future.
Who is Spock’s mother Amanda Grayson in Star Trek Strange New Worlds?
Amanda Grayson is Spock’s mother and a human, which is where his half-human heritage comes from. As well as being the mother of Spock, Amanda Grayson was also the foster mother of Discovery’s Michael Burnham, and we know she was friends with the Lanthanite engineer Pelia.
Showing up in Strange New Worlds in the episode Charades (to be present for and guide her son through a pre-marriage Vulcan ritual) Amanda Grayson’s bond with her son Spock is the emotional core of the new adventure.
She is a source of steady wisdom, offering non-Vulcan insight into the Vulcan culture learned from her time with Sarek and time spent on Vulcan. She simultaneously teaches Spock more about his Vulcan and human sides, how they blend, and how to embrace both: she’s a pretty brilliant mom.
Amanda Grayson’s backstory explained
Amanda Grayson is a human from Earth who worked as a teacher and translator. In the Star Trek movie The Undiscovered Country it’s implied that Spock — and therefore Amanda Grayson — is the descendant of Arthur Conan Doyle.
After being born at the turn of the century, she met her husband (and Spock’s father) Sarek in the late 2220s, and the two would go on to marry and have a child. They also fostered Michael Burnham, and Amanda was able to give Michael the love and emotional care which Sarek tried to prevent her from giving to Spock. When Spock was re-born thanks to the Genesis Device, Amanda Grayson helped him to rediscover himself after the fal-tor-pan ritual and tried to allow him to connect with his human side.
Amanda Grayson was first seen in the TOS episode Journey to Babel, played by Jane Wyatt, alongside her husband Sarek. She would also appear in an episode of The Animated Series Yesteryear, before being seen in the Kelvin movies and Discovery.
Will Amanda Grayson return in Strange New Worlds?
Nothing has been confirmed but we’re hoping to see Amanda Grayson come back for more in the not-too-distant future. She brings out another side to Spock which is amazing to see, and with Strange New Worlds being a prequel there’s definitely scope for her to come back without conflicting with canon.
That’s it for now on Amanda Grayson. For more read our Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2 review and interview with Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn before checking our the status of Star Trek Legacy and the Star Trek Discovery season 5 release date and see our ranking of the Star Trek captains. Finally, you learn about the one question Stephen Hawking asked William Shatner, and see which Star Trek captain would survive in a zombie apocalypse.