Beyond the Gates spoilers: Vernon plots against his own flesh and blood?

As Beyond the Gates continues to bring on the drama, with Leslie (Trisha Mann-Grant) soldiering on in her plans for Dr. Ted Richardson (Maurice Johnson), Doug McBride (Jason Graham) getting into some gambling trouble and Dani (Karla Mosley) and Bill (Timon Kyle Durrett) seemingly committing to mutual destruction of the other.

Then there’s the mystery surrounding Martin (Brandon Claybon). Given his series of nightmares and the several innuendos made by Bill, it appears Martin may have killed someone in his past but has somehow managed to forget it. Additionally, Vernon (Clifton Davis) and Anita (Tamara Tunie), the Dupree patriarch and matriarch, are determined to protect Martin’s secret at all costs. Which brings us to our theory.

Martin has mentioned a few times now that he wants to run for president. Given all that goes into a presidential bid and the amount of scrutiny candidates undergo in the spotlight, we suspect Vernon won’t be on board with his grandson’s lofty ambitions. It’s likely that Vernon will be fearful that Martin declaring his candidacy would trigger people into snooping around in his past and discovering that Martin has blood on his hands.

So what does Vernon do? Does he tell his grandson the truth of why running is a bad idea? Given this is the soap world, that’s not that probable. Instead, we can imagine Vernon either dissuading Martin from running using a detailed lie or Vernon working behind the scenes to help ensure the campaign doesn’t get off the ground.

If the patriarch does try pulling strings behind the scenes, perhaps he’ll convince every reputable campaign manager in town not to work with his grandson, providing them with a list of excuses they can use. Not for nothing, Vernon swaying people not to work with Martin because of the PR nightmare Dani is becoming, is actually quite believable.

Of course, if Martin learns his grandfather is actively sabotaging his political ambitions, Martin is sure to become furious. Should Martin then confront Vernon, Vernon may find himself at a loss for words or wind up telling him an even bigger lie. It’s not hard to picture Vernon falsely telling Martin he just doesn’t believe Martin has what it takes to be president, all in an effort to spare the young politician from being reminded of his deadly past and maybe even facing prison time.

Again, this is just a theory we have at the moment, so we’ll have to watch closely to see if it becomes reality.

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