At San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend, Wilson Cruz announced that he'll be returning for the second season of CBS All Access' Star Trek: Discovery.

In the sci-fi show's first season, Cruz played Dr. Hugh Culber, the boyfriend of anastromycologist Lieutenant Paul Stamets, played by Anthony Rapp – the franchise's first openly gay television characters. Cruz and Rapp are openly gay.

Fans criticized Culber's untimely demise in the show's first season.

“I'm not here just to say hello,” Cruz said during the show's panel. “We knew it was the first chapter in a long love story. This was just a bump in the road … in my neck.”

Speaking separately with The Los Angeles Times, Rapp said that he was amazed by “how quickly our relationship was embraced.”

“It was a missing piece in the Star Trek lore which had broken so many other barriers,” he added. “So we're really honored and thrilled that we got to do it.”

Cruz described his character's shocking death as “unexpected.”

“There were a lot of surprises. But in the end, when you think about it, it was our gay love that not only saved the world but saved the universe – and not just our universe, but all universes,” Cruz said.

“I've always said that gay sex is going to save the world,” he joked.

Showrunner Alex Kurtzman also revealed that Spock makes an appearance in season two, though he refused to say who would play the character.