As San Diego Comic Con Anthony Rapp announced another cast member for Star Trek Discovery during the cast panel as he told fans at SDCC that Wilson Cruz was filming alongside them as Discovery medical officer Dr Hugh Culber.
At Star Trek Las Vegas Cruz – Known for shows including My So Called Life, Party of Five, Red Band Society and more including recently appearing in 13 Reasons Why – made his first public appearance as a member of the Discovery cast, taking part in panels and press interviews during his stay.
Cruz’s addition to the announced cast line up was a surprise one, but Rapp explained that within the show he and Cruz would portray Star Trek’s first openly gay couple in television. At STLV all eyes were on Cruz as he spoke of breaking the barrier for the Star Trek franchise and adding a relationship that plays on Star Trek’s hopeful vision of the future.
“It isn’t going to an issue. It’s not something we are going to explain to you.” He said proudly as he spoke of the relationship not being highlighted or treated differently because they’re a same sex couple, “It is just going to be what it is.”
For Cruz, a long time fan of Star Trek who described his younger self as ‘obsessed’ with The Next Generation, the role he and Rapp will play on screen was one he is clearly proud of as he looks ahead. “For anyone who doesn’t understand why this is such a big deal, it is because there is a kid out there who is going to turn on his TV sometime in September or October and he is going to be a young little boy or girl who is questioning their sexuality or orientation,” He told the crowd, “and they are going to see two men love each other and be there for each other and support each other and be in awe of each other’s genius.”
Cruz also noted that when he got the job one of the first things he did was write a letter to CBS’ casting department and showrunners Aaron Harberts & Gretchen Berg to thank them. “All I ever wanted to do is be on Broadway and be on Star Trek.”
You can see more of Cruz as he addresses the crowd at STLV in the following video, uploaded by YouTube user PJMaher.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKMdMfzJpnQ
Star Trek Discovery launches 24th September on CBS All Access in the US and Netflix here in the UK from September 25th. We’ll have more highlights from Star Trek Las Vegas including members-only content. Make sure you don’t miss a thing and sign up to Starfleet Command today – membership is free!
About the author
Resistance Is Optional: Choose Your Adventure!
Our trials of bringing the fleet together have been hit and miss with scheduling and dates being a bit slim. So we're opening the floor to the fleet to pick the next date and theme! You can make your selection below on what works best for you ahead of our next fleet event! The final outcome will be shared at Europa on Facebook and in Fleet Alert in the Officers Hub as soon as we have a comfortable number of notes. For more information or to get direct updates on non-Discord online events, you can the subscribe to Twitch channel, visit twitch.tv/sfcq2. Google Meets events are hosted by our google account - you can add sfcquad2@gmail.com to your whitelist to ensure direct notification. Info and invite confirmations may also come from jt@sfcq2.com directly.
Sixty Year Mission…
It's been a really weird year already for the world of Star Trek fans. We started 2026 with a new venture into a strange new future with Starfleet Academy. Then just as the show had won people over, we found out it's the latest in a long list of recent productions to get a cancellation order, is a bit of a weird way to start the 60th anniversary of a legendary franchise. The past few years we've kind of spoiled. Growing up it was exciting to have Deep Space Nine run alongside the Next Generation. In modern times we had multiple shows going at once with Discovery's launch spawning a new world of story telling from revisiting Picard in his post-Starfleet years, to animated comedy with Lower Decks, to finally telling the story of Captain Pike and even a peek […]
[Retro Review] Let This Be Your Last Battlefield
Often shown in highlight reels and quoted in discussions about Star Trek's more forward thinking messages, Let This Be Your Last Battlefield is at it's simplest, a story of the ridiculousness of segregation. En route to a vital mission of mercy, Kirk and his crew end up in the middle of a political minefield. Interrupted in the mission by a stolen Federation shuttle carrying an injured alien, Lokai from the planet Cheron, they're soon further interrupted by Commissioner Bele, an official representing Cheron who announces Lokai as a political traitor and demanding custody. One asylum request later, Kirk's stuck between the two trying to find the right course of action knowing he has orders to follow beyond the situation. The separation between Belle and Lokai is a simple context. And also a strangely charged one looking at it from a […]
[Treknology] The Holodeck
An immersive experience in itself, the Holodeck is one of the many creature comforts that help bring comfort and entertainment within the life of a starship years from home that not only acts in creating a live action gaming environment, but as a useful tool for educational simulations, experiments and the occasional Hirogen nightmare! The holodeck is a complex device. Essentially a simulated environment generator, the holodeck is usually a vast room that used a combination of forcefields, matter replication and visually manipulative holographic systems to create an immersive environment that one or multiple people can use to not only see and hear, but physically interact with. Able to replicate anything from historical settings to an entirely original landscape, the holodeck ios Knightmare in ultra high resolution without a headset or guide, but a physical interaction with a created world […]
A Fistful of Sisko
In the past few years, Star Trek has made several nods to it's past. But while The NExt Generation and Voyager had their continuations, Deep Space Nine continued to 'black sheep' of the family with it's history and name drops being few and far between. Until Academy when we had an entire episode based around the legend of Starfleet's most complex captains. Starting his show as a widower and single parent, Benjamin Sisko started his time in Star Trek as a reluctant hero turned religious icon who's become a prime figure in Bajoran history, the Federation-Dominion war and much more. If you missed his series, first of.... why?! And also, if you want a quick intro - here's our Sisko top five to see what the fuss is all about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzBkvzPoofQ IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT Season 6, Episode 13 Lets […]
Starfleet Academy to end with with Season 2
Announced first by Variety, it's been announced that Starfleet Academy will end with Season 2. Having just launches in January with the first season finale receiving positive reactions, and it's second season now in post-production following the completion of filming, the announcement comes at an unsurprising time with Paramount undergoing new ownership under Skydance and more business shenanigans with further consolidation in the works with plans to absorb Warner Brothers into the mix. Set in the 32nd century and using Discovery's season 3 'Burn' storyline as a reset point, Starfleet Academy was focused on new original characters who had signed up to be the new stewards of Starfleet's future to rebuild the strength and vision of the Federation. Opening strong, Academy improved throughout it's first season and used it's setting to help strengthen the hopeful vision of the future and […]
Related
Starfleet Academy to end with with Season 2
Announced first by Variety, it's been announced that Starfleet Academy will end with Season 2. Having just launches in January with the first season finale receiving positive reactions, and it's second season now in post-production following the completion of filming, the announcement comes at an unsurprising time with Paramount undergoing new ownership under Skydance and more business shenanigans with further consolidation in the works with plans to absorb Warner Brothers into the mix. Set in the 32nd century and using Discovery's season 3 'Burn' storyline as a reset point, Starfleet Academy was focused on new original characters who had signed up to be the new stewards of Starfleet's future to rebuild the strength and vision of the Federation. Opening strong, Academy improved throughout it's first season and used it's setting to help strengthen the hopeful vision of the future and […]
New Cast Welcomes Aboard for Season 5 of Strange New Worlds
As the media hype is starting to ramp up for Academy's debut, Strange New Worlds is adding the finishing touches and along with cast such as Anson Mount saying goodbye to their Enterprise, we have some new names announced to have joined for the final season. Acting as a prequel to the original series, Strange New Worlds has helped to expand legacy characters having brought over Ethan Peck's younger and less refined version of Spock, the first career steps of Nyota Uhura, a completely revamped Christine Chapel and smaller parts – such as Dr M'BEnga, Samuel Kirk and T'Pring among others – being revived for the new era. Since then we've also spent some time with a young Jim Kirk, even seeing his first time in command last season, and Scotty's joined the lower decks of Engineering. As the show […]
Across The Universe This November!
As the year comes to an end, the new cycles are spinning up as Star Trek looks ahead towards new frontiers... UNDER CONSTRUCTION.... AGAIN... It's safe to say the biggest news of December had all eyes back on the film side of the Star Trek franchise again as Paramount seems to have found a new plan to revive Trek on the big screen. Which, sure, comes with a lot of scepticism. We've already had the Tarantino plan, the Kelvin revival announcement, the Hawley film that went into pre production before another announcement and probably more that we've forgotten about. But this one comes from the all new Paramount under Skydance, so lets be cautiously hopeful! According to Deadline the new pitch is coming from Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley who will write and direct a completely new take on […]
Revisiting the Past and Rebuilding The Future: Across the Universe this August
As Strange New Worlds races through it's third season, Star Trek looks ahead to new frontiers with it's home studio under new management and new games on the horizon. Meanwhile a little drop of Trek history gets a huge expansion. New Owners, New Changes The biggest news for the month came not just across the Star Trek Universe, but the media industry as after a long tussle with some odd political turns, Paramount is finally under new ownership. Merging with the media giant Skydance, the new Paramount means many things. For tus, it basically just means we might have some movement on Trek news going forward after a massive pause in business operations while all the legalities were ironed out. A new Paramount means a new executive line up under the command of Skydance boss David Ellison who is not […]
Relay Recap: July 2024
All Features Universe Categories Fleet Alert Comms GORN GIRL recap; july 2025 Picking up on the Season 2 cliff-hanger, Strange New Worlds returned to our screens this month to find Captain Pike and his crew on the edge of war with the Gorn as Season 3 was finally released!Exploring new worlds and new problems, the Enterprise crew are back in action on Paramount Plus and we're keeping ourselves up to date with weekly episode discussion threads on our FB Continuing Mission Group & Weekly episode reviews from Admin ! Explore... Episode Reviews Spoilers Group ACROSS THE UNIVERSE As we look back on Pike's adventures on the Enterprise in the prequel series, Paramount also gave us a look at whats to come next as Entertainment Weekly and SDCC's Star Trek Universe panel gave us a sneak peek at the reopening of […]
A Look Inside the new Starfleet Academy
Right now it's all Strange New Worlds on Paramount Plus and a bit of a wait until Starfleet Academy opens it's doors for their debut season early next year, but it's SDCC weekend so the team behind the Discovery spin off is ready with a sneak peek courtesy of their panel in the legendary Hall H and collaboration with Entertainment Weekly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkBU8lvXm7M Set to continue the adventures started by the Discovery crew in the 32nd century, Starfleet Academy is based on a group of cadets training under the first class since the reopening of the Earth-based facility following Earth's return to the Federation after seceding during 'The Burn'. Inviting the best and brightest from across the galaxy, the young crew learn from a team of highly skilled and experienced instructors to learn what it takes to carry the weight of […]
