‘Star Trek: Discovery’: Stamets & Culber ‘Connect in a Different Way’ in Season 5
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Star Trek: Discovery, now in its fifth and final season (with new episodes dropping Thursdays), has one of the best—if not the best—couples of the long-running franchise in Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz).
For Stamets, this final season is really about his legacy—especially upon learning that the spore drive program is being shuttered. Now that the U.S.S. Discovery crew has a new mission, “it’s his entire driving force,” Rapp tells TV Insider. “It’s a major crossroads moment and anytime any human being has a crossroads moment when he finds this new path, it’s like, all in. When you’re ready to walk away from something and then something else presents itself, it’s either, okay, I’m not going to do that or going to do it, but if I’m going to do it, I’m going to give every inch of myself to it. So it is like a lifeline in a way.”
That offers “a new opportunity for [Stamets and Culber] to connect in a different way with each other and try to help each other on their path,” says Rapp. “Culber’s been through so much also and so many changes and then he gets to go through even more in a way this season. It’s just an opportunity for them to have even more chances to be there for each other and help each other continue to grow.”
Adds Cruz, “When the season begins, Stamets is in a bit of a quandary about what’s going to come of his career path. But as a couple, I think Season 5 is really about seeing our kids and how we have to allow them to take risks and make choices that we wouldn’t necessarily make for them and be okay with not having control over that.”
Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Stamets, Culber, Adira (Blu del Barrio), and Gray (Ian Alexander) have become a family, one of the standout parts of Discovery. “And it happened so naturally, it was kind of a ‘duh’ moment,” notes Cruz. “By the way, I think — I can’t speak for them — a lot of that story of that family unit came out of Michelle Paradise and Alex [Kurtzman] and our producers noticing that when Blu and Ian came on to the show, that Anthony and I being older, queer actors who started their careers pretty early on and were open about it very young saw ourselves in these two young people who were taking what we did and taking it further.”
He continues, “We had a conversation about being openly gay actors and Blu and Ian are having a conversation about being openly non-binary and trans young people in this industry and playing these roles that reflect their experience. And so we knew a little bit about that, and we felt very protective of them, and I think they noticed that and wrote it in, from what I understand. So it was a very easy thing and very natural. It’s one of the things that I’m most proud of.”
As Cruz goes on to note, “that queer family, that chosen family extends beyond even them because we have Aunt Jet in Tig Notaro, [who is] so great. One of my favorite scenes actually is with her in Season 3 when she comes in to wake my ass up, to be like, ‘You have love in your life and don’t ignore it.’ And she uses her own experience and I love that that she uses her former marriage to wake him up to the love in his life. And that dynamic between Stamets and Jet is hilarious. So anyway, to me, it’s the queerest Trek ever, and I couldn’t be more proud of being a part of it.”
Star Trek: Discovery, Thursdays, Paramount+
Star Trek: Discovery where to stream
