Wilson Cruz on Learning About ‘Star Trek Discovery’ Ending & Culber’s ‘Epic’ Journey

After five seasons, Star Trek: Discovery, the show that launched the new set of shows in the franchise to continue its long legacy, will be ending.

It’s been quite the journey for this crew—especially for Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), considering he was killed early on! (Oh, we have never been so glad to be watching a sci-fi show.) Ahead of the final episodes (the first two of which premiere April 4), TV Insider spoke with Cruz and had him look back at Culber’s journey, tease what’s to come in the final season, and talk about what’s next for him.

Culber’s journey has been a wild one. Season 2 alone…

Wilson Cruz: Epic. I didn’t know what I was signing up for because the first season I’m there, Dr. Culber’s definitely on the periphery. If anything, he’s Stamet’s [Anthony Rapp] partner. We don’t really get to know him until Season 2, which is due to the fact that he’s killed. [Laughs] But welcome to Star Trek! It was literally a rebirth. What excited me about that was when I tried to find a way in, his entire journey has been about creating the life that he deserves, that he feels he deserves, about coming out from Stamet’s shadow because Stamets is such a genius. He created the spore drive. He’s done this incredible research that is universe-changing to be able to travel within an instant to anywhere in the universe. And so he’s the supportive spouse in many ways.

I think when he’s killed and comes back, it forces him to take ownership of his life and say, “Hey, I’m a genius, too. I have something to offer as well.” So much of it was inspired by people in my own life who in the ‘90s were diagnosed with HIV and AIDS and went out and spent their entire life savings, their life insurance money, and traveled the world because they were told that they were going to die in a few years. Then suddenly these new drugs came out, and they were literally given a second lease on life. Many of them found themselves in a position where they were like, “Oh, I get to live. How much of this life still works for me? Do I love the job that I have? Do I love the person I’m with? Are there things that I always wanted to do that I never thought I could or would have the chance to do that I now should pursue?”

So much about that second season especially was about deciding, “Do I want to continue in this relationship? Do I want to be in the shadow of this amazing man forever? Is this a kind of relationship where I will be allowed to become my best self? Do I want to be a doctor anymore?” Even in Season 3, he decides, “Yeah, I do want to be a doctor, but I also have something else to offer. My experience, my relationship to the crew members actually allows me to be a pretty great counselor. I’m a great listener.” He identifies his strengths and builds on them. He takes more risks. He goes on these missions that really put him out there and test him. That has been really fun to play, this person who is creating his life in the moment.

Michael Gibson/CBS

But everyone on this series has been given in one way or another, a second chance in some way. … The whole series is really about fulfilling your potential, whatever you think that’s supposed to be, not necessarily being dictated by someone else or old plans that you might’ve created for yourself as a young person. It’s about owning yourself. Discovering yourself even. [Laughs]

I feel like we’re seeing that in Culber now.

Yeah, I think Season 5 is really — We didn’t know that this was our final season. So it’s also really fascinating to me to think about this in terms of what would’ve happened after this. But this was the final piece for him to finally take real ownership over what he believes. This season is really about asking the biggest question of them all, and it’s existential, and there’s no answer for it. And for a scientist like him, it could be maddening, but being okay with the unknown, being okay with not knowing the answer to everything is the final piece, I think, in his development after the murder and coming back to life. So I think at the end of Season 5, there’s a real sense of wholeness.

You said you didn’t know the series was ending, so how has it been saying goodbye to Culber and the series?

It’s the longest job I’ve ever had. I have been the one-season wonder to the point where I would show up on set, and I’m sure that people would be like, “Ooh, I should start saving my money.” [Laughs] But it was hard, I’m not going to lie to you, when we found out. Because we finished filming in November, and I think the call came in January or February. We were all put on a call together, and I lost it. I think I took it the hardest. In that same call, they explained they were going to come back and film some additional scenes that we were fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to do to close the series. But I had already taken a job and it was taking me out of the country to Thailand and they were doing these scenes at the exact same time.

So through the magic of television and special effects, I am at the end. It’s not like Culber doesn’t show up, but I could not be there physically. So all of that to say that my goodbye tour really started when we were all at SXSW to see everybody again. The other thing I should add is I was literally filming in Thailand, sweating. And when they were all in Toronto, I was well aware that those were the dates and I was in between scenes and Sonequa [Martin-Green] and the entire cast called me on FaceTime. They clapped everybody out and they clapped me out on FaceTime. I had just gotten my makeup done for this scene, and between that and all of the humidity and the sweat, I had to go back to makeup. [Laughs] But it was really sweet of them. And really, that’s who we are to each other. So I got to say goodbye that way.

And it’s Star Trek, so you never know. The cast of Next Gen just did a whole new season on Picard together. So I have a feeling in some form or another, somewhere down the line, I may see Culber again. I hope and I pray, and maybe as I get older, they’ll loosen the white uniform so that I don’t have to be so body conscious. [Laughs]

Marni Grossman / Paramount+

There are still other Star Trek series, which have Discovery to thank because Discovery launched this new set of shows…

You’re welcome.

Is there one that you would want to show up on?

I think everybody wants to be animated. That would be hilarious and fun. There’s a new Starfleet Academy series that’s in development that’s starting soon. So if it’s possible for me to show up on there, I absolutely would do that. Listen, everybody knows I have not made a secret of the fact that I was very upset that Strange New Worlds got to do a musical episode and we didn’t, since we have been begging for that opportunity since day one. I mean, Anthony Rapp and myself?

… So if they’re going to be the musical show, then I would absolutely be happy to be reunited with Anson Mount, who, by the way, when he was the captain of our ship, we actually did one scene together and it never showed up on screen. … Because in Season 2, I had my own [arc]. It’s so great. Someone actually took all of the Culber scenes out of Season 2 and just made one short film out of it. It’s pretty amazing, I have to tell you.

So what was in that scene?

It was him welcoming — Actually, you know what, there is one scene we’re in together, but it’s a group scene. So he was telling me that he needed me to come back sooner than I expected, and I was wrapping my brain around it. I do remember I had that really great blue suit on during the scene.

What kind of role do you want to do next?

I think every actor out there knows right now it’s slim pickings, the pilot season that didn’t happen, so that’s a good question. I want to work. I love an ensemble cast. There is a project that I’m developing on my own. I’m executive producing a documentary series right now about LGBTQ youth.

But it’s going to be hard to top this because the thing about Discovery was that it was sci-fi, but it was also this ensemble cast. It was emotionally based. It was the kind of sci-fi that really allowed for character development in a way that I can’t remember on sci-fi. So I am open. My career has surprised me at every turn.

I’m also open to coming back to Broadway. I would love to be back on stage. It’s why I’m back in New York. I’ve been looking for the right project to come back with. So I am a free agent and I am open to whatever the universe has prepared for me.

The emotion is what makes Trek stand out from sci-fi shows because it’s so much about heart in all of the characters.

It’s about family, it’s about team building, right? I say this all the time: This series centered characters who in most other series would be on the periphery. We are brown and Black and LGBTQ, and those people never get to be the heroes of their own stories. I think our legacy in the end will be that these amazing, rich, complex characters of color who are queer in some cases got to be in the center of the story, got to be the protagonists, and got to be the heroes that we all are capable of being. And to inspire that in a new generation of young people who can learn how to become part of a team and excel in it and take risks is our legacy.

Would you want to do another multi-season series regular role, like Discovery?

Absolutely. I love TV. I grew up on it. I’m a fan. I watch a lot of it. My job really is about, for me, not the job that people think they’re giving me, but when I take on a role, when I start that job, I think about where I want them to end up. And so the fun part for me is discovering how I get there. Who do I want this person to be when I’m done? This is one of the few times that I’ve been allowed to really see someone all the way through. I didn’t know that Rickie Vasquez and My So-Called Life was going to be one season. By the way, it was 30 years ago this year. I do think about his trajectory in that one season and how I had kind of planned it out with Meredith Jacobs, TV Insider Winnie [Holzman]. And I think about Dr. Culber and how far he has come and how they were completely different people when you said goodbye to them than they were when you said hello to them, that they were more complex and different versions of themselves. And that’s my job. TV allows you for that long arc and to do it step by step in a way that a film, which captures a moment, sometimes a brief moment in a person’s life, doesn’t allow.

Star Trek: Discovery, Fifth and Final Season Premiere, Thursday, April 4, Paramount+