On Star Trek Day in September, Star Trek: Discovery was represented by the “found family” of Wilson Cruz (Dr. Culber), Blu del Barrio (Adira), and Ian Alexander (Gray). They were there to announce the season four premiere date of November 18th, and TrekMovie had a brief exclusive chat with the trio on the red carpet before their panel.
Wilson, what’s new for Culber in season four?
For Culber, it really was more of a parenting season for me. I actually got to do some parenting this season. And I get to fulfill a promise to Gray… At the end of season three, Culber promises Gray that they will be seen as they’ve deserved to be seen. That we would make Gray corporeal, and we do. So we get to experience everything that Gray is, and we get to see just how dynamic and brilliant he is. And that’s exciting for me because I get to fulfill that promise. But I also get to take care of my Blu [Adira] as well and challenge them to live up to their potential. And I should also say there is a lot more domestic loveliness between Anthony [Stamets] and me, which I really enjoyed.
Season three had more doctoring for Culber and even counseling. So to make Gray real, did he use some crazy, weird science?
I have to tell you, Culber is on another level this season altogether. He is the ship’s counselor, and we get to see him really take that up a few notches. And like I said, we are making Gray corporeal. But we also see him do a lot of doctoring in this season as well. So he has a lot of plates spinning. And he has a relationship and children to take care of. And so this year really was about how a person does that, how they juggle all of those things. Especially given the world we’re living in right now, where people in the medical world are dealing with pandemics and their own minds.
Wilson Cruz in the Discovery season four teaser trailer
Ian and Blu, both of you are new on the ship in season three and obviously new young actors. So are we going to see some growing up for both characters in season four?
Ian Alexander: I think we see a lot of independence start to blossom, which I’m so excited for you to see. For both of our characters.
Blu del Barrio: Yeah. Independence from–like you said before–we see you and everyone gets to see you. So independence for each other, knowing what it’s like to be alone and not be with each other 27/7 all the time.
So does Gray have a job on the ship?
Ian Alexander: I cannot confirm or deny anything.
Wilson Cruz: We can’t say, but you will see how brilliant they are.
Blu del Barrio and Ian Alexander in the Discovery season four teaser trailer
The fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery arrives Thursday, November 18 on Paramount+.
More Star Trek Day
There are still more red carpet interviews to come from Star Trek Day, so keep reading TrekMovie for our full Star Trek Day coverage.
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Rewatching season 3 of the show now and I have to say I really do like Adira. They come off very natural and endearing on the show. I felt it was a little forced for Stamets and Culber to become almost instant caregivers to them but not a huge deal! I like Grey too but since he’s literally just played off of Adira it’s hard to get any real feel for the character. But looking forward to how he is used next season. Also very nice to officially have a Trill on the ship.
Culber definitely was great in season 3 though. I forgot how much he was given to do last season but he had a lot of great stuff to do and interacted with everybody. So glad he was resurrected in season 2 and he’s not even a bridge officer! ;)
Gave a lot away there. We’ll see what they do with Gray, who is basically a living memory if I’m following this right.
We saw past hosts come to “life” a couple of times on DS9.
Nothing mentioned here makes me think this will be any better than last season in how they treat the queer characters. Sounds like Adira and Gray will have their interactions, Stamets and Culber, and then the ‘parents’ and their ‘kids’. How much interaction will they all have with the rest of the crew though? Really hoping, for the sake of queer representation, that they aren’t just kept in a corner together where they only have their ‘queer plots’ amongst themselves. It already seems like that’s what it’s setup for, whether they intended it that way or not.
That was frustrating, yes. And having Gray be a walking “We see you” metaphor was beneath everyone involved.
This
I watched 8 season of Deep Space Nine- it was more than clear that the Trill symbiont just retained the memories of previous hosts, so whatever they’re doing here is violating the established rules of a prominent Star Trek species and more importantly, doesn’t make any sense. It seems like they wanted to make a Gray a regular character and didn’t care how they violated the established Trek universe. This also reminds me a bit of how they killed off Culber, regretted it, and then resurrected him in a way that doesn’t make any sense. Just because you are doing a sci-fi show, doesn’t mean all fictional universe rules or storytelling logic can be casually tossed out the window. If you make it impossible for the audience to undergo suspension of disbelief, you violate the basic laws of drama that were established 2500 years ago and probably earlier.
“I watched 8 season of Deep Space Nine- it was more than clear that the Trill symbiont just retained the memories of previous hosts, so whatever they’re doing here is violating the established rules of a prominent Star Trek species”
They established that fact on Discovery itself. Stamets made that point to Adira when they told him they could see Grey. So yes they know, it’s clearly part of the storyline. Also remember Adira is not even Trill and yet able to sustain a symbiont long term. So they have something up their sleeve. And it’s Discovery, it does kooky things all the time, hence jumping 1,000 years into the future to even meet them.
Maybe we should just wait and see how they actually do it first.
As for Culber that was always part of the story line. He was suppose to come back. And it’s not exactly a new thing of killing characters and bringing them back. The literally just did it with Shaxs on Lower Decks. This is Star Trek, just roll with it.
I just want to know what happened in the eighth season of DS9. DS9 did show it was possible to transfer the consciousness of former hosts into people including Odo. It’s entirely possible that they could use founder DNA to make Gray corporeal.
eh, only 7 seasons of ds9
except for the jan’tarra. and the ritual ezri does to see and converse with joran has even closer results.
Has it been established yet what caused the destruction to the ship that killed Gray? Nope? Well, I guess it may have something to do with what causes these gravitational anomalies and that may link Gray and Adira to the main plot of S4, Maybe that phenomenon / entity responsible for his death is also responsible for keeping his essence alive within Adira. Just a guess. But maybe I have missed something and there’s no mystery behind his death anymore…
They are the three worst characters in the history of Star Trek.
Culber I thought was much better in S. 3. He got real lines and wasn’t a cardboard cutout. Adira was ok I thought. But Gray was the character selected to make every one of his scenes mind-numbingly slow. Like Troi throughout TNG but 10 times worse. Maybe 20 times worse.
Wesley Crusher, Yeoman Rand, and Kes?
Yes better characters and actors.
Culber became a great character especially when he threw a punch in season 2
I agree that was by far his best scene in the show! but unfortunately I cannot think of another one
I like Culver, Stamets and Adira as characters. gray seems a convenient plot point just to say LOOK WE DO LGBT RELATIONSHIP THINGS.
This is a really confusing statement considering Culber, Stamets and Adira (including Jet Reno) are all LGBT characters too. Aren’t Culber and Stamets ALSO in a relationship? None of them are any different than Grey in that regard.
I accidently clicked on this post and ended up here… in the comment section of a discovery related article… the worst place to be. I’ll be honest with you, when this show first came out I defended it tooth and nail. I tried every argument I could to justify that the show was fine, that people were racist or homophobic and that was the real reason they didn’t like the show. I tried the Old “Everyone Hated TNG, VOY, AND DS9 when it started” argument too. But the thing is, this is a terrible show! absolute dog shit! the writing is terrible, The set design is terrible, the acting is terrible, the overall contribution to canon is terrible, I hate almost everything about it!
But you see, As I said I’m here by accident. I don’t feel the need to constantly bitch and moan with the one liners that I listed above. I simply donot follow discovery news, I don’t plan on watching season 4, and I don’t plan on attacking anyone for liking the show. If you like it, good for you. But I’m fine with watching Picard… which is just a slight step above Discovery but watchable, Lower Decks (Which is the best Trek on right now IMO) and Strange New worlds when it comes out!
Goddenberry Hath spoken!
While I personally enjoyed season 3 a lot more, yeah, unfortunately the writing still sucks overall! I really want to like Discovery and I give them major credit for making so many changes to please fans who had trouble with the show from the beginning for many things; but it will always come down to how well it’s written for most and sadly that’s where its still the biggest issue for me–and I like the show.
But I also think every season has improved on the previous one. I truly mean that. I thought season one was one of the worst seasons of ANY Star Trek show. I rewatched the season twice now and I still just don’t like it for the most part minus a few key episodes. Season 2 was a vast improvement IMO, especially the first half. But it really took a huge down turn when the whole Red Angel thing was revealed and Control became a Terminator wannabe. Started amazing but ended up feeling like a really generic B level sci fi story with huge plot holes big enough for a galaxy class starship to fly through. But hey, it got us to the 32nd century so I’m not complaining THAT much, but yeah it ended very badly.
Third season, almost the same thing. Started off with a very interesting mystery, new setting and interesting characters just to end in one of the most ridiculous and eye rolling ways EVER with the Burn. I’m still really burned on how idiotic it was. And still a lot of dumb things in the season like making Tilly an XO or even making a former mutineer like Burnham Captain.
But hey, I’m an optimist. ;) I try to stay positive because I really do love Star Trek and I want to love everything in it. I love DS9, TNG, TOS, ENT and VOY! Classic Trek for me what defines Star Trek. But yeah none of it is flawless either and there are just as many people who have issues with any one of those shows. But rewatching all of them this year made me reaffirm my love of the older shows.
New stuff still needs time to gel like a lot of those eventually did, although I do love Lower Decks too. It has a lot of charm and heart. But not everyone is in love with that show either. Star Trek fans are very very fickle lol. Yes there was a time all the old shows weren’t considered ‘good’ Star Trek. I remember when people treated Enterprise like it was Satan, kind of the way Discovery is treated now. So yes minds can be changed in time. Not everyone’s and maybe not yours but it still very early.
But if you still think Discovery is a shit show, that’s OK too. Not everyone is going to love everything or need to. And just based on what I see online, I do think Discovery is probably still on the low end for a lot of fans (although some do truly love it or grown to enjoy it more like me). Either way, we have plenty of Trek today to focus on what we do like.
I don’t know if I’m in the minority, but I enjoyed season 1 and 2 alot for trying something new. At the same time I understood the critics and welcomed the changes to make DSC more in line with canon in season 3. But the storytelling went into the same direction as PIC so I like season 3 way less then 1 and 2. Each time I had the impression “when does the story START?”. Just like PIC, season 3 felt like a 3-parter stretched into 10 episodes.
I do notice a lot of people on this board was not very happy with season 3 (but many aren’t happy about Discovery overall ;)). I don’t know, I honestly enjoyed it for the most part. I just rewatched the entire season, finished it yesterday (along with my grand rewatch of the entire franchise) and I did like the majority of the episodes. And I admit, I am a sucker for the new setting too. But yeah I still had many problems with it as well don’t get me wrong. And you’re right, they did spin their wheels a lot, especially on the Burn. And I thought the finale still sucked ultimately…but just slightly better than the last two.
When it comes to Discovery, that’s a win for me. ;D
But ultimately the real problem is I think people who are writing for these shows and the serialization aspect of them just doesn’t seem to be in their wheelhouse; the shows really do seem to be suffering for it.
Harry, is that you?
It kinda looks like you were feeling the need to do the things you insist you don’t feel the need to do.
The not everyone is going to like Discovery point is very true but you know who should like it? Star Trek fans and the vast majority do not.
I was actually a fan of Discovery and thought season 2 was great but that third season was beyond awful and from what I’ve seen and read season 4 will be exactly the same, bad writing, boring characters, not to mention crying lots and lots of crying!
You don’t speak for the vast majority.
Warning for gatekeeping
I’m actually glad the LGBT characters don’t burst into tears every few minutes.
As long as they don’t tread an old honored starfleet-captain/admiral with disrespect….
It’s nice. But it kind of feels like they’re all being put on their own little island.