Star Trek going gay ... again

|

What's Up?

|

Web Directory

August 12, 2016 | Arts / Entertainment

Star Trek going gay ... again

Last month, we found out in the movie Star Trek Beyond that Sulu, a character who has been part of the sci-fi franchise since the series started 50 years ago, was gay.

Now, CBS is promising that its new series, Star Trek: Discovery, will include a gay character as well.

“Absolutely we’re having a gay character,” screenwriter and television producer Bryan Fuller revealed.

Fuller, who is gay, said that when he worked on Star Trek: Voyager fans were not eager to see queer elements added to the show. He even had a folder full of hate mail whenever rumors surfaced about a gay character.

“We’ve come a long way since then,” he explained. “I feel like actually gay rights have come a lot further in that time than race issues and women’s issues.”

He also revealed that the star of the series would be a female lead, but she won’t be the captain.

“We have a character who’s on a journey, and in order to understand something that is alien, she first has to understand herself,” Fuller said. “We haven’t cast her yet, so we don’t know what level of diversity she will be, but that’s forefront in our minds.

“We’ve seen six series from the captain’s point of view; to see a character from a different perspective on the starship — one who has a different dynamic relationship with a captain, with subordinates, it gave us richer context,” he added.