Discovery cast describes ‘bittersweet’ feel of filming after cancellation

NEW YORK, Aug. 27 (UPI) — Wilson Cruz, Mary Wiseman and Blu del Barrio say they were unaware Star Trek: Discovery had been canceled while they were filming most of what would become the show’s fifth and final season, which will be released on DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday.

“We didn’t have the luxury of knowing these were our last episodes when we were shooting them,” Cruz told UPI during a recent Zoom roundtable with reporters.

“We didn’t know that,” Wiseman acknowledged. “But we had the opportunity to go back and shoot scenes to really make it feel like a series finale. So it was bittersweet, I would say. Goodbyes aren’t just hard. They’re kind of hard to imagine and they don’t feel real.”

She said she realized her seven-year work was over when the cast and crew, led by cast member Sonequa Martin-Green, applauded her after filming her final scene.

“I felt tears and spit coming down my face,” Wiseman recalls. “It was very spontaneous and weird, and that’s when I accepted it was over.”

Del Barrio said they remember the moment vividly, adding: “I laughed all day long.”

They added: “I didn’t know how to deal with it. I feel like the grieving process for this show happened in little bursts. It’s like 20 seconds of time where it hits you really hard, and then you cry for a second, and then it goes away, and then it gets weird again.”

Wiseman added: “You ask that question and I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s over.’ I’m still realizing that.”

Cruz was unable to film these additional scenes with his Star Trek family because he had already left to film another project, Mother of the bride.

“They were kind and gracious enough to call me while I was filming in Thailand,” he said of how his co-stars included him from afar in the emotional farewell.

“They destroyed me and so, needless to say, the makeup artist on that movie was not happy, but they made me pretty again.”

The science fiction series follows the space adventures of the crew of the USS Discovery in the 23rd century, approximately 10 years before the events of the original. Star Trek series.

Martin-Green plays the ship’s captain, Michael Burnham; Cruz plays Dr. Hugh Culber, a doctor who was killed and then brought back to life; Wiseman plays Sylvia Tilly, a professor at Starfleet Academy; and del Barrio plays Adira Tal, a human bonded to an alien Trill symbiote.

Del Barrio said they were proud to be the first non-binary actor playing a non-binary character in the Star Trek franchise.

“I’ve always been someone who thought, at every moment, that he knew himself really well,” del Barrio said.

“This experience has helped me grow in ways I didn’t think I could,” they said. “This show has helped me open my mind a little bit and listen to myself. Having these people around me as mentors and friends has also helped me a lot in doing that.”

Hugh was married to chief engineer Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), making them the first openly gay couple in history. Star Trek history.

Having worked with Rapp for more than 25 years on various projects, Cruz said he learned that an immediate goodbye is never a forever goodbye.

“He’s been a part of my life for so long, he’ll continue to be, and now all these incredible people that I’ve shared this experience with will be a part of my life as well,” Cruz said, admitting he’ll miss his daily interactions with them.

“What I will take from Discovery It’s the belief that no matter how difficult things get, no matter how difficult a cultural or political moment might be, all we can really control is our responses to it and who we are and, like Culber, if our lives aren’t working for us, there’s no need to wait until your sudden death for you to realize that you can reinvent yourself.

“You can create the life you deserve, the love you deserve, the career you deserve, simply by choosing to do so,” Cruz said. “Give yourself that permission.”