Summary

• Leonard Nimoy's approach to playing Spock changed due to the character's personal evolution and the introduction of Zachary Quinto's younger version.
• Star Trek 2009 showcases a broad spectrum of Spock's character, with Nimoy feeling comfortable and personally connected to the role.
• Spock Prime, played by Nimoy, becomes a tragic figure in the alternate Kelvin Timeline, never returning to his proper universe and eventually dying on New Vulcan.

Leonard Nimoy explains his different approach to playing Spock in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 2009. Prior to Nimoy donning Spock's Vulcan ears in Abrams' Star Trek reboot movie, the last time the legendary actor played his Vulcan alter ego was in 1991 when Spock appeared in both Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Unification" two-parter and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Nimoy played Spock about 80 years apart in Star Trek VI and TNG, but Star Trek 2009 called for a totally new performance of Spock by Nimoy.

In the Star Trek oral history, "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years" by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Leonard Nimoy details how his approach to playing Spock changed and how, with Zachary Quinto's portrayal of a younger Spock in the alternate Kelvin timeline, Star Trek 2009 "contains a very broad spectrum of Spock's chararacter." Read Nimoy's fascinating quote below:

My approach to the character has changed, because Spock has evolved in the sense that a lot of personal experiences have affected him. On the other hand, you’ve got Zachary Quinto coming into this movie, who is even slightly before the Spock I played in the original series. So you see him even before the place I was playing the character on the original series, and you’re seeing me giving a performance that’s totally after all of that. This movie contains a very broad spectrum of Spock’s character. I had a wonderful time making the movie. It was very close to myself. I felt totally comfortable, very much like I feel personally. Having arrived where I am as a person, and the place that Spock has arrived, I felt very, very comfortable with it. It was totally like slipping into a warm bath or an old, comfortable sweatsuit.

What Happened To Leonard Nimoy's Spock In J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Movies?

Spock never returned from the Kelvin Timeline.

Leonard Nimoy's Ambassador Spock - also referred to as Spock Prime - ends up being a tragic figure in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies. Spock Prime inadvertently helped create the alternate Kelvin Timeline when his attempt to use red matter to avert the Romulan supernova in 2387 failed. Romulus' destruction swept Nero (Eric Bana) and Spock's starships into a time portal that deposited them in the 23rd century. Nero's arrival in 2233 (25 years before Spock materialized) and his destruction of the USS Kelvin created an entirely new timeline where events of Star Trek: The Original Series and beyond happened at an accelerated pace.

Another major change caused by Nero was the destruction of Spock's homeworld of Vulcan.

After he arrived in the alternate Kelvin timeline, Spock Prime helped James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) to defeat Nero by advising him to elicit the younger Spock's help. Ambassador Spock then met his doppelgänger and devoted himself to repopulating the Vulcan population of New Vulcan. In Star Trek Into Darkness, Spock Prime told Commander Spock the tragic story of how his USS Enterprise crew defeated Khan Noonien-Singh (Ricardo Montalban), which informed the younger Spock how to beat the Kelvin Timeline's Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch). Sadly, Ambassador Spock never returned to his proper universe, and the elder Spock died on New Vulcan in 2263 just as Leonard Nimoy ed away in February 2015. However, Star Trek: Discovery season 3 established that the United Federation of Planets of the 32nd century knows about the Kelvin Timeline, implying that the Federation also learned what happened to Leonard Nimoy's Spock in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies.

Star Trek (2009) is available to stream on Paramount+.