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.