The cast for the upcoming CBS series Star Trek: Discovery has started to roll out, and hoo boy, we are PUMPED.
The series is the first time Star Trek has graced the smaller screen since Enterprise wrapped in ’05, and already has a killer group of talented thespians attached. One of them is Anthony Rapp, who is a musical theatre aficionado who smashed the role of Mark in the greatest piece of modern art ever, Rent.
In a history-making move for the series, Rapp will be playing a new character, Lt. Stamets, who – aside from being a fungus expert and a Starfleet Science Officer – will also be openly gay.
This isn’t the first time that the Star Trek universe has indicated their support of gay rights. In the movie Star Trek Beyond, released earlier this year, the character Hikaru Sulu was rewritten as a gay man – presumably to honour George Takei, the openly gay actor/meme-lover who played the OG Sulu.
At the end of the day, though, Takei was pretty peeved that Star Trek‘s creator, Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991, wasn’t able to have a say in these dramatic shifts being made to his characters.
With Rapp’s character marking the first in the universe who is gay from the outset, we reckon Takei would be pretty chuffed.
To add fuel to this beautiful rainbow, Rapp is an openly gay man himself, as well as a diehard Trekkie. He must be pretty bloody keen, hey?
With the help of my friend Bill’s collection of all things @startrek I am doing a deep dive into the lore in prep for @startrekcbs pic.twitter.com/yB99dScL5t
— Anthony Rapp (@albinokid) November 30, 2016
Bryan Fuller, the creator of Discovery, vowed to include a gay character in the series, and I’m sure it feels all the more satisfying when the guy for the job can bring his own lived experience to set.
Other cast announcements include Michelle Yeoh (a legend who does all her own stunts and is probs best known for the inimitable Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Doug Jones – perhaps an unfamiliar name, but you would probably know him as this guy:
Yes, Jones is the Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth, aka the bringer of all your nightmares, but in general he’s an actor and former contortionist who is v good at not being a human.
So, I guess Discovery is setting us up for an awesome series packed with terrifying creatures, sick stunts and genius gay men. What a cool universe.
Source: Huffington Post.
Photo: Getty / Roy Rochlin.
