'Star Trek: Discovery' Showrunner Hints at Female Same-Sex Romance

Star Trek: Discovery just began production on its second season and that season may reveal Star Trek's first female-female same-sex relationship between regular characters.

At WonderCon, Star Trek: Discovery showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts were asked about the possibility of seeing a same-sex female romance in the series. Harberts hinted that they may have actually started seeding one in the first season without drawing attention to it.

"In terms of your question about a same-sex couple on the female side, you know, you may very well be already watching one and you just don't know," Harberts said. "As a gay man, what's very important to me about portraying gay characters is that they always lead with their competence and their characters first and not with their sexuality. And that's true of everybody on our bridge. All of our characters, who are so different, they lead with their professionalism and their strong character first. But you may already have a window into a relationship and you just don't know it."

That's an interesting tease from Harberts. The former Terran Emperor Philippa Georgiou already showed that she's pretty open about her sexuality involving men or women, but this seems like something more specific. Michael Burnham was in a heterosexual relationship with Lt. Ash Tyler throughout the first season.

As for the rest of the female cast, there's Admiral Cornwell and Ensign Sylvia Tilly. In Cornwell's case, we only know that she had a relationship of sorts with Gabriel Lorca. Tilly noted at one point that Tyler was handsome but otherwise didn't have much romantic or sexual tension in the first season. Primarily, the season showed her professional relationship with Lt. Stamets and her sisterly relationship with her bunkmate, Burnham.

It is possible that Harberts is referring to someone on the bridge crew, such as Lt. Joann Owosekun and/or Lt. Keyla Detmer. While Discovery's bridge crew grew as a unit throughout the first season, practically no time was spent on them personally, meaning basically nothing is known about their love lives.

Star Trek: Discovery was nominated for a GLAAD award this year for its depiction of Lt. Paul Stamets and Dr. Hugh Culber, the first same-sex couple in Star Trek television series.

Are you excited to see a new relationship on Star Trek: Discovery? Tell us what you think in the comments!