Debuting in 2017, Star Trek: Discovery spent its first three seasons adventuring through time and space and alternate dimensions in their efforts to save the galaxy.

However, despite the presence of Sarek from the beginning, the inclusion of Spock and Amanda, as well as Gabby Burnham on Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, and the mission to save Book's family and homeworld on Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Discovery's crew hasn't had a family unit to call their own until Adira Tal (with Gray Tal) became a de facto part of Stamets and Culber's household.

Speaking with press via virtual roundtable from NYCC in October, Wilson Cruz, Blu del Barrio, and Anthony Rapp shared some of how their family grows and supports each other over the upcoming season.

It's clear, watching the three field questions as a group, that much of their on-screen comfort level with each other is grounded in real-life respect and familiarity. It's a beautifully balanced team dynamic.

To begin in the hypothetical: it's pointed out that living and adventuring aboard Discovery precludes many things a typical family would get to do. Given the opportunity, how would Culber, Stamets, and Adira go about taking a family vacation?

Rapp takes a moment to think about the logistics of that and asks Blu, "Does Adira let themself go outside? Into the beautiful countryside?"

Del Barrio shrugs, "They can go outside. It's just like I don't know how much that they would like it."

Rapp offers, "I think that Paul would want to go traipsing around in an old-growth forest somewhere looking at all the mycelial manifestations but would probably defer to... [gestures to Cruz]."

And Cruz concludes, "We would defer to me. So we would be on a beach. Some asteroid somewhere."

Rapp interjects, "I mean, I would be slathered in sunscreen."

Cruz admits that would be a consideration. "As you can see, it would take some negotiation to figure out."

Turning to their roles as Starfleet officers, what niches do Stamets, Culber, and Adira fit into best? To what tasks are they best suited?

Rapp's quick to admit that Stamets is always looking to solve something. "I'm a commander, Paul Stamets, but [really] a senior science officer, I would say. And in charge of the spore drive. But he's all-hands-on-deck in terms of any kind of major scientific -- or sometimes engineering -- question that he can lend his brains and talent to."

"Adira's kind of a mix," del Barrio muses, "They're definitely a science officer. They spend most of their time in Engineering as well."

Rapp points out, "That's only cause I'm down there."

"Me. Me. Me. Me." Del Barrio's eye-roll at Rapp indicates that it's not about Stamets, and then resumes their description of Adira, "They are sort of a mixed bag. A science officer on top of everything else.

When pressed for more specifics, Rapp lists off Adira's talents, "Super math brain and algorithm and programming..."

Del Barrio agrees, "Math and programming and, I think, history. I think there's a very specific reason they wanted to come on Discovery in the first place. And they had a vast knowledge of what was already on the ship, to begin with."

Cruz defines Adira's role more precisely. "Adira's our secret weapon. Any problem that doesn't seem solvable? We'll just ask Adira. They'll figure it out."

Del Barrio concurs, "I think that's why it's hard to pinpoint. They're that person that you're like, 'This is a weird, weird thing to ask about. Who would know this? It would be this person who knows weird facts about things. About a wide variety of things."

Cruz completes the role round-up. "And Doctor Culber is not only -- well, he also is a commander, so he's also a senior medical officer -- but he's also the ship's counselor. So, this season we actually do see him combining those two occupations, and it's a heavy lift."

At the close of Season 3, David Ajala's character, Book, uses his empathic abilities to pilot the spore drive that has been Stamets' baby for three seasons. How does that change Stamets' role regarding his uniqueness on the crew for Star Trek: Discovery Season 4?

Rapp is thoughtfully honest. "I can say that there are interesting dynamics that I get to explore. Finally, I get to have some scenes with Book, with David Ajala.

"It does come up a little bit -- in a really interesting way -- that Stamets isn't the only person [who can pilot the spore drive]. Stamets really likes to hold himself in high esteem -- and he deserves to be held in high esteem in many ways -- but it is hard for him to give ground.

"There's some sense of proprietary nature of the work that he's done and is a little bit threatened, maybe? So, yeah, it's not so cut and dried. It's also not like he's totally hands-off the spore drive. He's still very involved, but not necessarily [being] the only one is a little weird for him."

That families have more than their share of conflict is a given, but what about a family that works, plays, AND stays together?

"The conflict that happens is not around anything having to do with us being a family or anything like that," Rapp clarifies.

"There's an issue that takes place on the ship that we have some internal disagreement about how to solve it. So the fact that we're family -- that we love each other and trust each other -- allows us to have room to have this disagreement, have it out, and talk to each other on a level that we can talk openly and honestly and intimately with each other."

Cruz knows exactly what Rapp is referring to. "It's one of my favorite episodes this season.

"While it's obvious that we're on different sides at certain times during this episode, the way that we engage with each other comes from such a deep place of love and respect that we can get to a solution because of the way that we handle it and each other through this disagreement. So the family unit is stronger because of it."

Del Barrio adds some background to their family dynamic. "Like [Anthony] said, there's not really any conflict that arises. It's nothing to do with the base of this relationship between these four people.

"What I like is that I think the majority of that trust -- just that intuitive 'okay, we're family now,' and we understand that, and that's not just going to break and go away -- I think a lot of that work-in-process wasn't done on screen.

"There's a break between the end of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4, and I think that's when a lot of that really got cemented. It does feel that, coming into the new season, [it's] like 'Okay, this is how it is now," and I really like that it wasn't necessarily on camera. It just happened.

Adira, the first human known to host a Trill symbiont successfully, has the memories of all the previous Tal hosts as well as the companionship of Gray, their partner, and the preceding Tal host.

Will this immense bank of memories and lives play into Adira's growth?

"I think it exists constantly," admits del Barrio, "but I do think that it is still an area that can be delved further into. I would really like to, at some point, go into the history of each of these previous hosts and where they came from. What this symbiont contains and means. Who these consciousnesses are. I would really like to touch on it more."

An unusual unifying trait in this family is that they have all experienced death in profound and, typically, fatal ways.

To recap: Ash Tyler murdered Dr. Culber on Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 Episode 10, only for Stamets to find him in the mycelial plane on Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 Episode 5 and resurrect him using a jahSepp pod.

On Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 4, Gray Tal dies when an asteroid collides with the ship carrying him and Adira. Adira offered to host the Tal symbiont and, after that, was able to see and speak with Gray, an ability not known before to Trill hosts.

While Culber can still see and interact with Gray on the dilithium planet on Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 13, he vows to find a way to bring Gray back for everyone.

In essence, but different manners, this is a family that has conquered death and intends to do so again.

Cruz is the only one able to speak to this. "First of all, yes, because the way that Gray is corporeal and the way that Dr. Culber came back to life aren't necessarily ways that everyone is going to be able to, right? Death is still finite. It's just that we discovered a couple of ways where we can finagle it."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 premieres on Paramount+ on November 18, with new episodes streaming every Thursday.

TV Fanatic will be reviewing every episode, so be sure to beam on over after the show, and check us out!

Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.