Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Paul Stamets

Anthony Rapp is very much a nerd, a professional theatre nerd for one, and, as the actor told StarTrek.com, he also appreciates a good video game. On a scale of nought to Elias Toufexis, however, it would be fair to say that Rapp's Star Trek fandom lies somewhere in the middle. Or, at least, it used to.

In the same interview for StarTrek.com, Rapp revealed that he had grown up watching reruns of Star Trek: The Original Series after school, gaining a fascination for Spock in particular, but, already into acting by the 1990s, Rapp missed Trek's other incarnations the first time round.

When he got the part on Star Trek: Discovery, Rapp turned to a "superfan" friend for advice and began to binge-watch from Star Trek: The Next Generation onwards. That same friend, Bill, also made it clear to Rapp that there was a "hunger in the fandom for this kind of queer representation," and even created watchlists of Trek's "watershed [queer] moments".

As a character, Paul Stamets is one of the most satisfyingly nerdy on Discovery, alongside the equally geeky Tilly. Tilly, in her excitement over the science and engineering of the spore drive in Choose Your Pain, can also claim the very first f-bomb in Star Trek history, for which no apology is necessary. As Stamets, who gets the second, says moments later, "No, Cadet. It is f**king cool". We're all nerds, and some of us are queer. Get with the effin' programme!