Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Video: Paul Wesley And Ethan Peck Talk Kirk And Spock's New Connection — Are They Officially Friends Now?

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Thursday's episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

One of TV's most iconic friendships is beginning to bloom on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

In Thursday's episode, the Enterprise crew took some much needed time off by visiting a resort planet that promised to deliver maximum rest and relaxation... thanks to planetary gasses that leave visitors feeling "naturally inebriated." They all partied hard in their own way — Pike even got a face tattoo! — but Spock's version of going wild had him playing board games with Kirk and opening up to him, saying he's never had "a human best friend" before. (Spock thought this Kirk was just a hallucination, but it turned out it was the real Kirk all along.) 

So is it fair to say Kirk and Spock are officially friends now? "I think they're buds," Paul Wesley, who plays Kirk, tells TVLine in the video above. But Ethan Peck, who plays Spock, adds that the Vulcan might not be on the same page yet: "I think that Kirk knows before Spock that they're buds. Because Spock doesn't have that sort of gear. Sometimes he picks up on things a little later. Social happenings might occur a little differently for him... I think friendship to a Vulcan might be a bit different. But maybe 'buds' is the right term."

Paul Wesley also notes that the obstacles Kirk and Spock have faced together have brought them closer together: "The best friendships come from vulnerability and adversity, actually, sometimes. Spock and Kirk can both be adversarial... but then they earn each other's respect, because each other's perspective provides something new or fresh to the way that they are thinking." He adds that when Spock finally does open up to Kirk this week, "I think his ability to be vulnerable without judgment, and Kirk being the person he becomes vulnerable with, it's like you're bound to then be friends with that individual, because you've shared something special."

As far as Kirk and Spock's friendship approaching the close bond we saw on the original "Star Trek" series, "I don't think they're there yet," executive producer Akiva Goldsman offers, "but they're definitely on their journey." (We'll see them get closer when "Strange New Worlds" returns for a fifth and final season.) Even though we might chalk up their new bond to "hallucinogenic accelerants," he notes with a grin, "I would say by the end of this episode, they're friends."

Press PLAY at the top to hear more from Wesley and Ethan Peck, and beam down to the comments to give us your take on this week's "Strange New Worlds."