Star Trek: Discovery will feature female lead and gay character

The recently released Star Trek Beyond was hit with criticism over gay Sulu, but it seems that hasn’t affected Bryan Fuller’s decision to bring a gay character to the new series.

According to Deadline the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery will feature a female lead and a gay character.

Bryan Fuller, the creator and producer of the upcoming series, confirmed that the show will feature a more diverse set of characters during a Television Critics Association panel.

Fuller had previously worked on Star Trek: Voyager which ran from 1995 to 2001 and it featured the first female lead, Captain Kathryn Janeway.

Captain Janeway

But Fuller claimed that he received hate mail for suggesting there could be a gay character on the series and vowed that if he ever got the chance to make his own Star Trek, he’d make sure there was a gay character.

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

He revealed that the female lead will not be a captain like Janeway and instead will be a “lieutenant commander”.

“We haven’t cast her yet and we don’t know what level of diversity she will be. The story that’s fascinating for me is that we’ve seen six series from captain’s point of view and to see one from another point of view gives us a richer context.”

Bryan Fuller ST

He also promised that the show will have “more aliens” to follow the Star Trek tradition and cautioned fans that this series will be more “adult”.

Referencing the show’s acronym, Fuller said: “There’s a reason why we call it ‘STD’. It’s still Star Trek and we’re not subjected to broadcast standards and practices.”

Star Trek: Discovery is set 10 years before Kirk and will bridge the gap between Enterprise and the original seres. It’s set to premier January 2017.

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