Beyond the Gates spoilers: Martin’s big secret involves his kids’ birth parents?

We’re almost positive that all the Duprees from Beyond the Gates have a deeply hidden secret, but at the moment, we’re largely focused on those of Martin (Brandon Claybon).

Since the soap premiered in February, it’s been teased that he has a deadly secret, and we’ve been scratching our heads to figure out what he did. He’s had nightmares and flashbacks about what occurred, but not enough pieces to this puzzle have been revealed to give a full picture. However, Anita (Tamara Tunie) and Vernon (Clifton Davis) clearly know about what occurred, as does Bill (Timon Kyle Durrett), who used the information to blackmail Dani (Karla Mosley) and the rest of the Duprees into attending his wedding to Hayley (Marquita Goings).

Then in the Beyond the Gates episode that aired on March 25, Anita and Vernon discussed Martin’s presidential aspirations and agreed he can’t possibly run. They fear his secret is too explosive to see the light of day, and should his opponents catch wind of his past, they’re bound to use it to stop him in his tracks. Furthermore, Vernon specifically notes, “There’d be no shielding Smitty and the kids from the fallout.”

Now, Vernon could have easily just meant that Martin’s family is likely to be embarrassed by Martin’s secret, but we started to think of the possibility that Martin’s mystery deals directly with his small clan. In particular, we developed a theory that it pertains to his children’s biological parents.

From what we can recall, Martin and Smitty (Mike Manning) adopted Tyrell (Jaden Lucas Miller) and Samantha (Najah Jackson) when they were young, but not much is known about their biological mother and father.

We can imagine Martin led the charge in adopting the children and did something illegal to ensure he and Smitty could get the kids. Then, a few years later, when Martin’s secret incident took place, one of the parents surfaced wanting Tyrell and Samantha back, but Martin blew his top, not wanting that to happen. As Martin went back and forth with this individual, perhaps things got too heated, and Martin lost control, killing the mother or father. If Martin later professed it was an accident, he could have leaned on his grandparents and Bill to help cover up the crime.

Let’s say things don’t play out this way, but slightly differently. Martin could have still led the charge to adopt Tyrell and Samantha through sketchy channels, but misled Smitty to believe everything was above board. But then years later, someone besides the biological parents came around claiming to know of Martin’s illegal maneuvers, and attempted to extort him. However again, a heated confrontation ensued and Martin accidentally killed this mystery person and had help covering up his actions.

We recognize that both theories seem wild and chaotic, but they fit within the realm of soapy drama. So do other theories we suppose, like the one claiming Martin had something to do with the death of Andre’s (Sean Freeman) parents. Beyond the Gates viewers will just have to keep watching to learn what skeleton falls out of Martin’s closet.

New episodes of Beyond the Gates air weekdays on CBS, and become available to stream the day after on Paramount Plus.