Star Trek: Discovery leaves fans stunned after shock twist involving gay couple

Star Trek: Discovery made franchise history with its first ever kiss between two men, but fans have been left stunned after (SPOILER ALERT!) one half of the show’s popular new gay couple was killed off.

Lt. Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) quickly became fan favourites when they were introduced in the CBS/Netflix show last year, and the pair of actors open up about their historic onscreen romance in the February issue of Attitude – available to download and in shops now.

However, fans of the show were shocked when the show returned to screens on Monday night (January 8) for Culber to be brutally murdered by Lt. Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) after discovering his crewmate was a Klingon sleeper agent.

Actor Wilson Cruz spoke to Entertainment Weekly after the shocking scene was broadcast, and revealed he’d been apprehensive about the idea of (yet another) TV gay couple being pulled apart by tragedy.

“I would be upset if I was watching, and I think we need to give people permission to be upset. It’s upsetting. It’s a disappointing moment,” Cruz said.

“I’m nervous because we are all aware of this trope throughout television which we continue to see LGBT characters, characters of color, and women killed off in very dismissive ways, and I want people to know that this is not that.

“This is a chapter of this epic love story of these two characters. And this is science fiction. This is Star Trek. There are many possibilities.”

Heartbroken fans might also take solace in the fact Criz went on to reply that viewers may not have seen the end of Dr. Cruz.

“When [the arc of the Discovery series] was explained to me, I got really excited — so it’s different in that way, because I’ll be back,” Cruz teased.

He added: “What I can say is that I’ve been assured that this is a long, epic story, and I know where it’s going and I’m excited about telling that story.” 

You can catch new episodes of Star Trek: Discovery on Netflix on Mondays in the UK.

Read more about Star Trek: Discovery’s historic gay couple in the February issue of Attitude. But in print, subscribe or download now.