Summary
- Anthony Rapp portrays Commander Paul Stamets on Star Trek: Discovery with realistic growth and depth.
- Stamets' relationship with Dr. Hugh Culber showcases LGBTQ+ representation in Star Trek's first married couple.
- Stamets' character arc evolves from an abrasive lieutenant to a compassionate commander, finding connection and love.
Anthony Rapp plays Commander Paul Stamets on Star Trek: Discovery, the engineer and astromycologist responsible for the development of the USS Discovery's unique spore drive. Rapp navigates Stamets' complex character arc deftly, playing Stamets as prickly and egotistical, with single-minded devotion to his work, and also incredibly intelligent, passionately enthusiastic about science, with a deep love for his family that emerges over time.
Among the crew of the USS Discovery, Stamets is uniquely qualified to operate the spore drive, which allows for immediate travel along the fungal pathways of the galactic mycelial network, thanks to illegally integrated tardigrade DNA that lets Stamets navigate the mycelial network.
Star Trek: Discovery's Paul Stamets was named for the real-life mycologist and author Paul Stamets, whose research explores the use of fungi in unconventional ways. The real-life Stamets advocates the decriminalization of psilocybin ("magic mushrooms") and its use as a medical treatment, and champions the possibility of fungi as a natural way to detoxify contaminated land and water.
Notably, the real Stamets' theories about the structure and ability of real mycelial networks to communicate over distance inspired the galactic mycelial network used by the spore drive in Star Trek: Discovery.Star Trek: Discovery's controversial spore drive is a technological leap forward that solves many problems Starfleet has with warp drive.
Anthony Rapp plays Paul Stamets on Star Trek: Discovery with subtle, realistic growth. Stamets was introduced as an abrasive engineering lieutenant in charge of the spore drive and regularly worked with Cadet Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Specialist Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), so Stamets was one of the more developed characters in Discovery season 1.
Stamets was promoted to Lieutenant Commander before Discovery season 2, in which Paul met verbal sparring partner Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro). In Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Commander Stamets tried working through his social difficulties by connecting with Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) through sympathy for Book's grief, and their shared ability to operate the spore drive.
Besides his role as Commander Paul Stamets on Discovery, Anthony Rapp is best known for originating the role of Mark Cohen in the Jonathan Larson musical Rent, which he performed on Broadway, London's West End, national tours in 1997 and 2009, and the 2005 movie adaptation. Rapp's theater career is extensive, with highlights including the 1999 revival of You're a Good Man,
Charlie Brown; Idina Menzel's If/Then from 2014 to 2016; and Rapp's one-man show, Without You, based on his memoir. Highlights of Anthony Rapp's filmography are A Beautiful Mind,Adventures in Babysitting, Dazed and Confused,and TV show guest appearances, including the musical episode of Psych.
No explanation of Commander Paul Stamets would be complete without highlighting Paul's relationship with his husband, Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), and the fact that Stamets and Culber are Star Trek's first LGBTQ+ married couple.
Their relationship was presented with a comfortable domesticity, until Culber was senselessly murdered by Lt. Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) in Discovery season 1. Fortunately, Hugh was resurrected in Discovery season 2, through a combination of Paul's grief, connection to the mycelial network, and scientific breakthroughs. Culber's revival presented its own set of challenges for Paul and Hugh's marriage, but they agreed to stay onboard for the USS Discovery's jump to the 32nd century.
Star Trek's LGBTQ+ representation expanded further when Commander Stamets was the first person that teenage Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) came out to as nonbinary. In Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Stamets and Dr.
Culber became a chosen family for Adira and their transgender boyfriend, Grey Tal (Ian Alexander) without a second thought, proving that Paul had come a long way from the standoffish Lt. Stamets of Discovery season 1, who had been living in a desperate survival mode. In a beautiful example of Star Trek: Discovery's core themes, Anthony Rapp's Commander Paul Stamets learns to thrive through connection, not just to the mycelial network, but most importantly, to other people.
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