Star Trek: Starfleet Academy - Gina Yashere On Lura Thok And Jett Reno's Relationship

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 3 - "Vitus Reflux"Gina Yashere explains the surprising new couple introduced in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 3. Directed by Doug Aarniokoski, and written by Alex Taub and Kiley Rossetter, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 3 explores the rivalry between Starfleet Academy's cadets and the students at the War College.

Gina Yashere plays Commander Lura Thok in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. The First Officer of the USS Athena and the intimidating Cadet Master of Starfleet Academy, Lura is a hybrid half-Klingon on her mother's side and half-Jem'Hadar on her father's side. As terrifying as Thok can be to the cadets, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 3 reveals Lura has a softer side.

ScreenRant's Liam Crowley spoke to Gina Yashere, who was paired with Robert Picardo, at Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's press junket. Yashere spoke about Lura Thok's romantic relationship with Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) and discussed the "different facets of Lura's personality." Read Gina's quote below:

Liam Crowley: There seems to be some sparks between Jett and Lura. Can you tease at all what's going on there between your two characters and beyond that? What was it like to develop that chemistry?

Gina Yashere: Episode three, you'll see that there is a relationship. Lura and Jett are in a relationship, and you'll see that when a dinner conversation comes up. And you'll see different facets of Lura's personality. You get the drill sergeant, Full Metal Jacket, screaming at the kid characters, but then you also see her softening around Jett. And you'll see she gets a little bit more coquettish and a little bit more flirty around her. So you'll see different facets of Lura that you might not have thought were possible.

Audiences shared Darem Reymi's (George Hawkins) shock when he realized that Lura Thok and Jett Reno are a couple planning romantic dinners together. Reno told Darem she "left a starship on the edge of creation" to be with Lura, confirming that Thok was the reason why Jett left her previous post on the USS Discovery.

Lura and Jett were seen spending time together throughout Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 2, but it wasn't apparent that they were anything more than bantering colleagues. Now that they're confirmed as a couple, Thok and Reno must have met in the four years between Starfleet Academy and Star Trek: Discovery.

Commander Lura Thok has drawn the ire of a segment of Star Trek fans who don't believe that the Jem'Hadar can procreate, never mind that 800 years later, any number of changes could have happened to the Jem'Hadar since Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended. For her part, Gina Yashere takes the umbrage in stride.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is a direct spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery, which broadened Star Trek's LGBTQ+ diversity and representation. In the 1990s, an episode with a lesbian kiss was controversial on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but Lura Thok and Jett Reno as an out and proud, interspecies couple show how far Star Trek has come.