Star Trek: Discovery To Introduce Franchise's First Openly Gay TV Character
Star Trek: Discovery will take another stride in representation for the Star Trek franchise by introducing the first openly gay character in Star Trek television history.
Anthony Rapp will play Lt. Paul Stamets, a Starfleet science officer who specializes in astromycology. During the Star Trek: Discovery panel at Comic-Con International: San Diego on Saturday, Rapp announced that Wilson Cruz has been cast as Stamets' love interest, Dr. Hugh Culber, the medical officer on the USS Discovery.
Cruz is most recognizable for playing Rickie Vasquez on My So Called Life. His other credits include turns on Party of Five, NCIS, Pushing Daisies, and Shameless, plus roles in films such as Nixon, Joyride and The Skinny, and playing Angel in the Broadway production of Rent.
Original Star Trek: The Original Series actor George Takei has become a celebrity in the LGBTQ community since coming out in 2005. However, his character, Lt. Sulu, never had his sexuality addressed. In Star Trek Beyond, the third film in the Star Trek reboot series, Sulu (now played by John Cho) was revealed to be gay with a civilian husband and daughter. This version of Sulu was the first LGBTQ character in Star Trek canon, though this version of Sulu has never appeared on television.
Sonequa Martin-Green, Jason Isaacs, Doug Jones, Shazad Latif, Mary Wiseman, Anthony Rapp, and James Frain were all in attendance, alongside Executive Producers Alex Kurtzman, Gretchen J. Berg, Aaron Harberts, Heather Kadin, and Akiva Goldsman for a panel moderated by Star Trek: Discovery guest star Rainn Wilson, who plays Star Trek: The Original Series scoundrel Harry Mudd.
The panel concluded with the release of a brand new trailer for Star Trek: Discovery, which can be seen above.
Set 10 years prior to the five-year mission of the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Discovery follows the adventures of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and new lifeforms, and one Starfleet officer who must learn that to truly understand all things alien, you must first understand yourself. The series will feature a new ship, new characters, and new missions while embracing the same ideology and hope for the future that inspired a generation of dreamers and doers.
Star Trek: Discovery's cast also includes Jason Isaacs as the starship Discovery's Captain Lorca, Rainn Wilson as Star Trek: The Original Series character HarryMudd, James Frain as Sarek, Spock's father, and Michelle Yeoh as Captain Georgiou, the captain of another Starfleet ship, the Shenzhou, which will be important to the plot of Star Trek: Discovery. Doug Jones and Anthony Rapp both play science officers. Mary Wiseman will play a final year Starfleet Academy cadet.
Star Trek: Discovery premieres Sept. 24, 2017.
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