‘Star Trek: Discovery’ will feature two gay characters – and they are a couple
By Ross Semple
It’s not long until the small premiere of the new Star Trek TV series Star Trek: Discovery, and more details about the show’s characters are beginning to emerge.
Last year, we told you that Rent actor Anthony Rapp had been cast as a gay character in the show. Anthony, who played Mark in Broadway show Rent, before reprising his role in the film adaptation, will play Lieutenant Stamets, a scientist who is being billed as a central character in the sci-fi series.
During a Comic-Con panel at the weekend, it was announced that Wilson Cruz, who has appeared in numerous TV shows and, like Anthony, starred in the stage version of Rent, has been cast in the show as gay medical officer Dr. Hugh Culber.
The characters played by Rapp and Cruz will be a couple on the series, it was confirmed.
“Wilson Cruz will be playing my love interest, my partner,” Rapp revealed at the convention. “My man love―and we’re both officers on the ship.”
Sulu, the character played by George Takei in the original series, was revealed to be gay in the latest big screen adaptation, Star Trek Beyond. However, Discovery’s characters will be the first gay couple to be featured on Star Trek, as well as the first to be portrayed by openly gay actors. The show will also feature the first female lead since Voyager.
Discovery will be set in the Star Trek universe, a decade before the original 1960s series, which starred George Takei and Leonard Nimoy. Star Trek: Discovery‘s creator, Bryan Fuller is also gay. Fuller has developed acclaimed TV shows like Hannibal and American Gods.
Star Trek: Discovery comes to Netflix UK from September 25.
Watch the trailer below:
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