We’re only midway through the debut series, but it’s clear that Star Trek: Discovery is shaping up to be the most thrilling and divisive project that the Trekkie community has ever seen. Rocked by controversy both on and off-screen, the first season has already managed to generate more publicity than all the other Star Trek television shows and movies combined.
Obvious SPOILERS ahead!
As if the media coverage of actor Anthony Rapp’s allegations against Kevin Spacey of historic sexual abuse weren’t explosive enough, the show-runners have gone and crafted a working environment filled with a whole host of jaw-dropping features, some of which are enough to make even a Game Of Thrones fan blush.
The roller-coaster storyline has so far seen openly homosexual relationships between serving crew members, the cannibalistic murder of a main character and a brutal inter-species rape scene, demonstrating the franchise has come a LONG way since creator Gene Rodenberry’s original vision. There’s no signs of things letting up either, with this week’s cliffhanger mid-season ending prompting an explosive internet fan theory.
This swirling storm of conspiracy and speculation is centered around the Discovery’s new Security Chief, Ash Tyler. Rescued from captivity by Captain Lorca, Tyler’s a brave and skilled fighter, sadly suffering from serious mental trauma as a result of some savage mistreatment at the hands of his Klingon captors. OR IS HE?
There’s been something a little ‘off’ about the troubled Starfleet Officer ever since he was hauled out of the confines of his alien prison cell. Things went from bad to worse for him this week, when a covert mission saw him come face to face with his former captor, L’Rell. This resulted in some quite nasty flashbacks of torture porn for the poor lad, and a rather debilitating bout of PTSD.
Which is of course all quite understandable. What isn’t understandable though, is L’Rell’s reaction to the meeting. Despite having had half of her face burned off, and being subsequently slung into the Discovery’s brig, she ended the episode telling Tyler she was hiding a secret, and wasn’t going to let anybody else hurt him.
Tyler is played by British TV actor Shazad Latif (Spooks), who was listed on the show’s original cast announcement to play the Klingon Commander, Kol. Now there’s nothing at all unusual about the show’s creators offering him a different role once production began, but the fact that one of the other main Klingon characters is apparently being played by a non-existent actor has led fans to theorise that Latif may well be playing two dual roles on the show.
Albino Klingon warrior Voq was a key player in the show’s first four episodes, before being left to die on a derelict Federation spacecraft by his rival, Kol. L’Rell managed to speak with him briefly before he was abandoned, cryptically telling him there was only one way he could escape.
Voq is listed on IMDB as being played by an actor named Javid Iqbal, who is showing as having no other screen credits. There have been no press interviews or photos with Iqbal on set, and the actor’s apparent Twitter account only shows photos of him that have been deliberately and badly photoshopped to show him under Klingon Prosthetics.
Voq’s departure in episode 4 was swiftly followed by the arrival of Tyler in episode 5. It’s now believed that L’Rell’s affection for Tyler is because he is in actual fact not Tyler at all, but really Voq masquerading as a human prisoner who had been captured by L’Rell. This could either be by the use of generic manipulation, or some kind of brain transplant. It would also mean those flashbacks Tyler has of L’Rell raping him were actually from a time before he was a Klingon, and went on to became Tyler.
Unlike most internet fan theories that are filled with plot holes and scientific impossibilities, this one actually fits quite perfectly into the narrative. It also sets up a truly dynamite potential reveal in the second half of the season, as Sonequa Martin-Green’s lead character Burnham is likely to find out her first love is actually a murderous Klingon controlling a puppet human body.
We’ll have to wait until January 7th to see whether this is how things truly do turn out, but with a second series already green-lit, it’s looking like we’re in for a good few years more shocks and horrors ahead for the Discovery’s unlucky crew members.
What do you make of this Star Trek: Discovery fan theory? Be sure to tell us your thoughts in the comments!