Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Hugh Culber

Distraught fans didn't have to wait long to see Doctor Culber again after the… unpleasantness… with Tyler-Voq. He appeared to Stamets only two episodes later, although at that point it was suggested he really was dead.

Culber's proper return to the land of the living from the miasmas of the mycelial network didn't happen until the season two episode Saints of Imperfection. Interestingly enough, this episode, which reunited Star Trek's first openly gay couple was the last as executive producer for Trek's first openly gay showrunner Aaron Harberts.

In preparation for Culber's comeback, Wilson Cruz has said that he did extensive research into PTSD, but equally took inspiration from a pivotal moment in the HIV/AIDS crisis. Before the arrival of a new class of antiretroviral medication called protease inhibitors, and then of combination therapy, in 1995-1996, an HIV-positive diagnosis meant, for many, living life in the shadow of what was considered a death sentence.

As a metaphor for Culber's journey, Cruz began to consider what it must have felt like to be suddenly given a new chance at life by these drugs, to have hope returned. For the survivors Cruz knew, it had led to a re-appraisal of their lives before, of their wants, loves, and desires, and this was then reflected in Culber's emotional reconciliations in season two. In an interview for The Advocate, the actor stated that he hoped season two could provide "an example of resilience for LGBTQ people who have survived violence and trauma".