He first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Fan said goodbye to him in Star Trek: Picard.
But is it really over?
Jonathan Del Arco addresses what it is like being a part of the Star Trek universe and if we’ve really seen the last of Hugh.
Michael: If I was the writer on there [Picard], I would have let you live. Just so you know.
I appreciate that.
But you know, it is Star Trek. No one ever really dies.
Michael: That’s what I was getting at. Thanos snapped half the world away, and in the next movie, everyone’s back and they beat him up.
Right.
Michael: So, do you think Hugh can come back at some point? Do you have hope that Hugh might come back at a later date?
I mean, you should never give up hope. I don’t see it in the cards. I’ve not been talked to about it. I don’t think the writers, that’s where they’re at right now. But you never know down the line. There’s so many incarnations of Star Trek, so many different kinds of shows that happen. You never know. I didn’t think I’d come back now and here I am.
Michael: It’s sad that your character died before reuniting with Geordi. Were you a little disappointed?
Very disappointed.
I was surprised and I had asked them, “why don’t I ask about Geordi?” I don’t understand why Geordi is not being addressed in any way. Maybe they had plans for using him later on and they didn’t want to muddy up the storytelling. I have no idea. But yeah, I was definitely bummed.
I was bummed I didn’t have a scene with Jeri [Ryan]. I was bummed I didn’t have a scene with Whoopi [Goldberg] or with literally any of the characters that the character initially knew well. I was super bummed that we never got to that.
Eric: With you playing the Hugh character, there’s not a drop of gayness. There is one scene between you and Elnor, they’re kind of hinting towards something, but I know there’s nothing for sure…
Well, I made a choice to love him. My choice. It wasn’t in the script.
You caught it.
It’s tricky because we didn’t have many scenes together and we had to get to a very emotional moment, very quickly. I had to die, basically, in his arms. I wanted something more powerful than just like, “hey, there’s a guy that’s been hanging out, that’s cute, for a few days.” and then die in his arms.
I wanted some investment for myself. The idea that they were seeing–like maybe you never saw what happened between the two of them? I definitely wanted to, kind of, float that out there. So I just used myself, you know? How I would respond to someone like that and the idea of being a droid your whole life and never loving someone.
And then maybe, right before you die, you do.
It’s kind of a moving thing, you know?
Listen to the full interview:
Check out Jonathan’s podcast, Hollywood Caucus, anywhere you get your podcasts.