Star Trek Officially Confirms a Major Klingon Theory (& Sets Up a New Problem)

Star Trek‘s newest show – Starfleet Academy – has taken its time to really find its footing, culminating in a truly great sixth episode that canonized some forgotten villain, killed off a major character, and set up the final four episodes nicely. The show has also done well to balance straightforward school-based storytelling with compelling mystery elements, like the whereabouts of Caleb Mir’s mother (Tatiana Maslany), the secret Starfleet weaponry on the now destroyed space station, and whether Paul Giamatti’s villain has a Starfleet spy. On top of that, we also have individual mysteries attached to the lead cadets, and one more than most has generated discourse. Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Starfleet Academy.

But after months of speculation, it has now been officially confirmed that Star Trek‘s latest member of the Klingon Empire is queer. Whether he’s gay, bisexual, or pansexual is neither confirmed nor particularly relevant, but Starfleet Academy episode 7 offers the best evidence yet that Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diane) is in a relationship with human War College student Kyle Djokovic. And for anyone questioning whether the cheek-kiss and embrace we see are true confirmation, Diane’s costar George Hawkins, has confirmed that Jay-Den is also attracted to Khionian student Darem: “Jay-Den’s place in that role is obviously romantic. There’s romantic interest there.”

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In the episode, we see Jay-Den and Kyle very obviously displaying signs of being in a relationship, but the majority of the episode focuses on Darem’s arranged marriage, which Jay-Den ends up unwittingly interrupting, and being pressured into being Darem’s best man. The two build on previously established closeness as Darem’s wedding falls apart, and ultimately, we’re left with more questions about the nature of their dynamic, even as Jay-Den and Kyle appear to have cemented their own growing affection.

As Hawkins told ScreenRant, though, there’s a romantic storm coming, as Jay-Den clearly has feelings for Darem too: “The relationship between Jay-Den and Darem is really interesting because Jay-Den plays a mirror to Darem. Jay-Den is a really sobering person and character in Darem’s story because he calls him out. He’s the first person at the Academy to actually tell him the truth about who he is, that he is sort of a coward, really, and he has a mask. Jay-Den sees behind that mask, and it’s a really beautiful thing to witness in this episode, especially.

Kaira is probably the only person in his Khionian upbringing who has the same effect on Darem. I think both of those people are very sobering. And I think that’s who Jay-Den plays. Jay-Den’s place in that role is obviously romantic. There’s romantic interest there. But deeper than that, not just attraction, but the reason why these two people sort of get closer and closer, I think, is because they bring something out of each other, and that thing that they bring out is the truth. And I think that’s what we’re all searching for.”

Whether we’ll see Jay-Den and Darem’s relationship change into something more romantic remains to be seen: we don’t know Darem’s sexuality beyond what he’s said in passing (or whether this era of Star Trek even goes in for labels, to be honest), but this certainly introduces a complicating factor. As established in earlier Star Trek shows, Klingon culture is traditionally depicted as monogamous, with mates often bonding very quickly for life. There was even a whole storyline in Deep Space Nine about Worf’s disgust at the idea of Bashir and his partner Leeta cheating on each other leading to him joining a political and moral insurrection. These things tend to matter to Klingons.

Obviously, this is a new era, and cultures can change: but Jay-Den potentially cheating on his new boyfriend with Darem (or even expressing any desire for his classmate) would be a major change in Klingon culture at a fundamental level. And we all know how that tends to go over with fans of older Star Trek shows.

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