Everybody’s favourite Borg beams back on to TV in Star Trek: Picard
As the part- human, part- cybernetic life- form Borg, Hugh, in Star Trek:
The Next Generation, Jonathan del Arco became an instant gay favourite. Now, as he reprises the part in Star Trek: Picard, he reveals the heartbreak that inspired him to take the role in the first place Words Darren Scott
Star Trek didn’t explicitly come out and say, “gay rights” until the launch of Discovery in 2017 but looking back, it had a sprinkling of fairy dust from the start — George Takei in the original series, Zachary Quinto in the reboot movies, and the Borg you wanted to take home to your mother, Hugh, in The Next Generation.
However, it was a tragedy that inspired the man behind all that Borg make- up and special effects, Jonathan del Arco.
Having appeared on stage, he quit acting to care for his sick partner, Eddie. And, ultimately, that’s who would shape Jonathan’s decision to return to the profession and take the role of the humanised Borg, Hugh.
“I didn’t really have a choice,” Jonathan reveals, “because when I read the script, it was his voice I heard. Eddie died of an Aidsrelated illness.
“He went through dementia, which is a common process for people with HIV and Aids and didn’t recognise other people.
But one of the most astonishing things that happened to him was that he became incredibly innocent.
“Any conversation you had with him when he was ‘ in dementia’ was like talking to a child. Scared – all those things.
“To me, that’s what Hugh was, 100 per cent. It was like: ‘ Oh, I know who this is.
This is Eddie in his last days’.
“When Eddie got sick, my life was turned upside down. I was young and he was slightly older than me. I never contracted it. To this day, I’m HIV negative. So when he died, there was a tremendous amount of survivor guilt.” Following Eddie’s death, Jonathan went on an Eat, Pray, Love- style journey through India and Europe but it was only when he visited London that he felt revived enough to give acting another go.
“Not that long after that, I got Hugh, which was kind of an amazing gift. So, London holds a very special place in my life.”
Jonathan realised he was gay at the age of 13, and his acting career began in Harvey Fierstein’s hit play about a New York drag queen, Torch Song Trilogy. But while immersed in that world, he wasn’t vocal about his sexuality. “A little known fact is that I [ tried out] for roles early on that would have meant playing a gay character,” he recalls.
“I auditioned for [ 1989 Aids drama] Longtime Companion, for the part that Dermot Mulroney played, and for [ Nineties TV series] My So- Called Life, Wilson Cruz’s role.
“If I’d got those, it would have been easy for me to say: ‘ I’m gay.’ But I was playing straight characters. I was scared I wouldn’t get a job.”
Later roles – and a lifetime of activism – helped him get past that.
And when asked to reprise the character of Hugh 25 years later in new series Star Trek:
Picard, the Uruguayan- born actor turned to an icon for inspiration.
“There’s a lot of medical things that are happening to the Borg, and I was trying to find an emotional hook to Dahj [ played by Isa Briones],” he says.
“When Princess Diana went to an Aids clinic in the Nineties, took her gloves off and shook the hands of the patients – what a seminal moment that was for the gay community.
“I have a great love for Princess Diana and that’s how I found my love for Isa’s character.”
“In preparing to play Hugh [ again], that would be my relationship to Dahj.”
Having found a YouTube clip of Diana’s hospital visit, Jonathan played it repeatedly in his trailer before his first scene with Isa so he could feel for Dahj what he felt for Diana.
He continues: “In a weird way, playing Hugh now is much more of my life experience as an activist, as someone who went through the struggle and saw all his friends [ die], including his lover. That is a lot of stuff.
“I feel I’m a mature enough actor and person now to be able to tap into that and not be psychologically scarred for the rest of my life,” he says.
Playing Hugh, aka Third of Five, is also easier now for another, much simpler reason.
“I was on a Borg ship,” he says with a gasp. “They built sets — massive, massive sets. You
“When i read the script, i heard eddie’s voice — HIS innocence”
didn’t have to imagine a bunch of things. It wasn’t green screen, we were in real scenarios. That just made me, as an actor, able to go to a new level. Also, the tone of the show, in terms of the language, is much more contemporary. This is a very real, visceral show.”
He says that he’d place Hugh on a nonbinary level in terms of identity. But why do sci- fi gays like the Borg so much?
“The hot rubber suit,” grins Jonathan, who turns 54 in March. “Jeri Ryan [ Seven of Nine] is the most beloved gay icon and she’s not gay. There’s just something about the Borg, something about not fitting in, which we as LGBTQ people comprehend.
“There’s the idea of sacrifice, which — no matter where you live, whether it’s an oppressive culture or a place you could be executed for being gay — plays into that experience, the thought of being disconnected, of being in a world where you have to be like everybody else.”
Jonathan, who also played openly gay medical examiner Dr Fernando Morales in The
Closer remains tight- lipped about Hugh’s journey in the new series, only revealing that he has an important role in upcoming events. But he’s not keeping quiet about his new podcast, Hollywood Caucus. “Every week we’re going to have either an actor, producer or political consultant talking about Hollywood, talking about politics, talking about Hollywood politics – which includes all the # MeToo stuff.
“All the things that have to do with showbiz politics. Of which, there is plenty.”
And his dream guest, he reveals, would be Meryl Streep.
“Maybe if she reads this, she’ll come talk to us,” he says hopefully.
Resistance is futile, Meryl…
Star Trek: Picard streams on Amazon Prime
Hollywood Caucus is on all podcast platforms