Blu del Barrio On Their Star Trek: Discovery Journey & Adira's Future

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 9 - "Lagrange Point"

Summary Blu del Barrio shines as Ensign Adira Tal in Star Trek: Discovery, making history as the first non-binary actor in the franchise.

"Lagrange Point" sees Adira on a daring mission with Captain Burnham, showcasing their growth as a valuable USS Discovery crew member.

Blu del Barrio expresses bittersweet feelings about the show ending, emphasizing the importance of LGBTQ+ representation and Adira's impact.

Blu del Barrio has come into their own as Ensign Adira Tal in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. Del Barrio is the first non-binary actor in Star Trek, and Adira has grown into an invaluable member of the USS Discovery's crew.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 9, "Lagrange Point" sees Adira go on a dangerous away mission with Captain Michael Burnham (Soneqa Martin-Green). Adira dresses up as a Breen and infiltrates the aliens' massive dreadnought to heist the portal to the Progenitors' ancient technology. After Adira parted ways with their love interest, Gray Tal (Ian Alexander), Star Trek: Discovery season 5 has seen Adira distinguish themselves in new ways as a Starfleet Officer.

Related Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide As Burnham seeks the universe's greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she'll need help from a host of new and returning characters.

Screen Rant had the pleasure of chatting with Blu del Barrio about Star Trek: Discovery coming to an end, their pride in the show's LGBTQ+ representation, what it was like to dress up as a Breen, and their hopes for Adira's future in Star Trek.

Blu del Barrio Feels Bittersweet About Star Trek: Discovery Ending

Screen Rant: It's the final season of Discovery. How do you feel about it ending? And how do you feel about your time as Adira?

Blu del Barrio: It's really bittersweet. It feels weird now because it's been so long since we actually filmed it. Like, closer to two years. So it feels very bizarre having it come out now, so long from when we filmed it. It feels very strange. And reliving all the sadness of it being over is really hard. I really hope for another future for Adira, especially because they were so young. And I think it could be cool to see them being older or in a different iteration of Trek. I think that would be really cool. And it's Star Trek, so that can happen. You never know. So yeah, it's really bittersweet. I think that they ended in a really good place. I'm very happy with Adira in season five and the journey that they got to have through it. But yeah, I think, as it would be for anybody, it's really sad.

Have you seen the ending of the finale, and the extra scenes you filmed? Are you saving it?

Blu del Barrio: I'm saving it. I have not seen them yet.

I did see it the other day, and I turned it into that meme of Matthew McConaughey crying in Interstellar. I was emotionally a mess for the rest of the day. It was beautiful.

Blu del Barrio: Oh, that makes me really happy. I'm waiting to watch the whole last episode. Yeah, I haven't seen it, so I'm waiting to watch it with everybody else.

Blu del Barrio Takes Pride In Star Trek: Discovery's LGBTQ+ Representation

The LGBTQ+ representation on Discovery is always going to be one of the show's greatest legacies. Talk to me about what it means for you to be part of this show and this cast.

Blu del Barrio: It's the thing that I'm most proud of, being a part of this cast, because, and I've said this before... and it's still very strange to me that it's true... But the representation that Ian and I provide on this show is probably the representation that would have helped me when I came out as a kid. To stay out of the closet and have people validate me and to have characters on TV that were validating my experience, because I didn't have that. And unfortunately, I didn't have anybody around me who validated my experience. So what just meant was I went back in the closet. And I know that's true for a lot of people. And not many people have someone in their immediate friends or family who is trans or non-binary or genderqueer. That's starting to change now. But definitely, when I was younger, that was not the case. So to now be able to be that representation is the thing that I'm most proud of about my time on Discovery, and the fact that I've had other people and viewers who are trans, non-binary, send me messages and talk to me at conventions. It's about how they love Adira, and Adira validated their experience, and how they feel connected in ways. And also, to have parents of trans kids reach out to me and tell me that it helped them better understand their kids and have conversations... That is the most meaningful thing about this entire process to me because that would have saved my life as a kid. And I didn't have that. And the fact that Adira can be that for people is incredibly special.

I saw you and Ian Alexander do an Instagram Live recently, so it's great you guys still hang out.

Blu del Barrio: Oh yeah, we have the same friend group. So we just are very close and he's gonna be in my life, whether he likes it or not, for a very long time.

Is Dungeons and Dragons still a thing you guys do? Do you still get together and play D&D?

Blu del Barrio: We haven't played D&D in so long, which I'm really sad about because I really, really loved playing D&D, and that was such a fun thing. But it's really hard when we're not all in the same place. We started it while we were all able to get together at the same time, even when we were on Zoom. But now we're all doing very different things and very busy. Anthony has been so busy, and it's been a lot harder to get together. But I hope that we do something in the future.

What It Was Like For Blu To Play A Breen In Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 9

Let's talk about Discovery 509. I talked to Jonathan Frakes about it, and I was blown away. It's one of my favorite episodes of the series. And it's so cool you had such a big part to play - disguised as a Breen! What was it like to wear a Breen suit?

Blu del Barrio: Oh, it was so rough! (laughs) You look so cool. It is so heavy and difficult to move around in. It's like wearing a piece of art because it is a piece of art. It took them months and months and months to actually craft these suits. And I don't even know how much they're worth, like probably priceless. We had, like, five fittings for each of us, I think, over the span of filming the season, getting ready for this. But it feels like you could not be wearing any more clothing if you tried. And you're weighed down by so much. The padding and all of the different metals around it. It's just so heavy. And you're trying to look cool, and that was really difficult. But then I realized after you watch a little bit, you can do pretty much anything except for fall down on your face and still look cool because of how the whole thing fits and how [the suit] kind of holds you. Also, it kind of restricts your movement, sort of like a corset does where you can't really lean certain ways. It felt like that. But they look so cool.

It really does. And I love all the Iron Man scenes with the close-ups of your faces.

Blu del Barrio: That was really cool. I mean, they do so many really cool shots like that on this show. I've seen so many iterations of cameras and camera lenses that I didn't think was possible or real. But yeah, the stuff they did with the helmet was so awesome. I think there were little cameras inside of our helmets, or there was something that was farther away that was also a camera. But we spent so much time doing all of that. And it was so worth it because it looks so cool.

You also have one of the best one-liners: "Everyone always picks on the Ensign."

Blu del Barrio: That's true. And I love that I got to say it. I love the whole episode. I love that it really felt like Adira's first season of [being] a real crew member to me. They've really found their footing, and especially in this mission. Just the way they were making jokes and stuff that they would never have done early on. So it just felt very solidified.

Blu de Barrio's Hopes For Adira's Star Trek Future After Discovery

If Discovery had continued and gotten a season 6, was it ever mentioned how Adira's story could have continued? Or is there something you would have liked to have seen happen with Adira?

Blu del Barrio: I don't know anything about how it was meant to progress. There was a myriad of things that I hoped for Adira. I always wanted Adira to go and to have some experience with the Mirror Universe. I always thought that would be really fun. I love the Mirror Universe, I really wanted to be a part of that. I would have loved to go back and see more of Adira’s story back on Earth. Like, before Discovery. I would have loved to learn more of the history behind that. I would have loved if they kind of followed Tilly’s direction of teaching. I think that would have been really cool. And they would be a really good teacher. Yeah, there was a bunch of stuff that was always in my head.

There is always Starfleet Academy. That seems like a no-brainer for me for Adira to come back as the grizzled Starfleet veteran.

Blu del Barrio: (laughs) Adira is so young on Discovery that I would love for them to come back in some iteration of Trek in the future. I personally would love to do it. I love this character with all of my heart, and they're very close to me. And I love Star Trek and everybody that I've worked with on this for four or five years. So I would love to come back in the future and in sort of iteration.

About Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

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The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well … dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.

Check out our other Star Trek: Discovery season 5 interviews here:

Star Trek: Discovery is streaming on Paramount+