'Star Trek: Discovery' cast describes 'bittersweet vibe' of filming after cancellation

NEW YORK, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Wilson Cruz, Mary Wiseman and Blu del Barrio say they weren't aware 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 that these were our last episodes when we were shooting them," Cruz told UPI in a recent Zoom round-table interview with reporters.

"We didn't know," Wiseman agreed. "But we got the opportunity to come back and film some stuff to kind of really make it feel like a series finale. So, the vibe was bittersweet, I would say. Goodbyes aren't just hard. They're kind of difficult to conceive of and don't feel real."

She said she realized the seven-year job was over when the cast and crew, led by cast member Sonequa Martin-Green, clapped for her after she filmed her last scene.

"I felt tears and spit just rocket out of my face," Wiseman recalled. "It was very spontaneous and weird, and that was the moment I think I accepted that it was over."

Del Barrio said they remembered that moment vividly, adding, "I was laughing the entire day."

They added: "i didn't know how to deal with it. I feel like the grieving process for this show has been coming in tiny little moments. It's like 20 seconds of time where it kind of just hits you really hard, and then you might cry for a second, and then it goes away, and then it feels weird again."

Wiseman chimed in, "You're asking that question and I'm like, 'Oh, yeah, it's over.' I'm still realizing that."

Cruz wasn't able to film those additional scenes with his Star Trek family because he already was off filming another project, Mother of the Bride.

"They were gracious enough and lovely enough to call me while I was in Thailand shooting," he said of how his co-stars remotely included him in the emotional farewell.

"They wrecked me and, so, needless to say, the makeup person on that movie was not thrilled, but they made me pretty again."

The sci-fi series follows the space adventures of the crew of the USS Discovery in the 23rd century, about 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 medical officer who was killed and then brought back to life; Wiseman plays Starfleet Academy teacher Sylvia Tilly; and del Barrio plays Adira Tal, a human bonded with an alien Trill symbiont.

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

"I have always been somebody who always thought, at every moment in time, that I know myself really well," del Barrio said.

"This experience has helped me grow in ways that I did not think that I could grow in," they said. "This show helped me kind of open up my mind a little bit and kind of listen to myself and having these people around me as my mentors and my friends also really helped me to do that."

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

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

"He's been a part of my life for this long, he will continue to be, and now all of these amazing people that I've shared this experience with will also be a part of my life," Cruz said, admitting he will miss his everyday interactions with them.

"What I will take away from Discovery is the belief that no matter how hard things get, no matter how difficult a cultural or political moment might be, all we can really control is our responses to that and who we are and, like Culber, if our lives aren't working for us, it doesn't have to take your sudden death for you to realize that you can reinvent yourself.

"You can create the life that you deserve, the love that you deserve, the career that you deserve, just by choosing to do that," Cruz said. "Give yourself that permission."