star trek trans woman

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Casts Its First Nonbinary Character For Episode That Already Had LGBTQ+ Ties

This sounds like a cool addition to the latest Star Trek series.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is halfway through its run, and it’s quickly become a fan-favorite among fans of the sci-fi franchise . While we already know Strange New Worlds has scored a second season, during which we’ll meet Paul Wesley’s version of James T. Kirk , there are plenty of other characters for Paramount+ subscribers to meet in Season 1’s back half. This includes the show’s first nonbinary character, who’ll appear in an episode that already had LGBTQ+ ties established.

Big Sky and Queer as Folk star Jesse James Keitel has landed a guest spot on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ’ seventh episode. As revealed by Variety , Keitel, who is a trans woman, will play Dr. Aspen, who used to be a Starfleet counselor, but became a humanitarian aid worker following their experiences on the Federation border. Aspen will form a “surprising connection” with Ethan Peck’s Spock, one of the Enterprise’s science officers. This episode, which drops Thursday, June 16, was directed by trans filmmaker Sydney Freehand, who has helmed episodes of shows like Grey’s Anatomy , Fear the Walking Dead and Reservation Dogs .

Jesse James Keitel’s casting in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds marks another major step for LGBTQ+ representation in the Star Trek franchise. On the acting side of things, Star Trek: Discovery has particularly made great strides in this area, with notable examples including Anthony Rapp’s Paul Stamets and Wilson Cruz’s Dr. Hugh Culber being married, as well as Blu Del Barrio starring as nonbinary character Adira and Ian Alexander recurring as transgender character Grey. Star Trek: Picard has also featured Michelle Hurd’s Raffi Muskier and Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine in a romantic relationship , and in last week’s episode of Strange New Worlds , Jess Bush’s Christine Chapel mentioned dating both men and women.

As already noted, Jesse James Keitel’s Dr. Aspen is only set to be a guest character in the upcoming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episodes, but if the series ends up running for a long time, perhaps there’s a chance they could be brought back in a future season. Along with the aforementioned TV shows, Keitel’s other credits include Alex Strangelove , Younger and Miller & Son . The actress shared on Twitter that getting to “be part of the Star Trek family” is “an ACTUAL life long dream come true” for her, and then posted the following:

Thank you for welcoming me aboard! The enterprise just got a little bit hotter 🥵😈🪐 https://t.co/JpRa9iUpNV June 7, 2022

Taking place after the events of Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, and a decade before Star Trek: The Original Series rolls around, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds follows the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise traveling to wild locations in the galaxy , running into strange phenomena, helping people along the way, all that jazz. Along with Ethan Peck and Jess Bush, the main cast includes Anson Mount as Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley/Number One, Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura, Babs Olusanmokun as M’Benga, Christina Chong as La’an Noonien Singh, Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas and Bruce Horak as Hemmer. The series’ recurring characters include Adrian Holmes as Robert April, Dan Jeannotte as Sam Kirk and Gia Sandra as T’Pring.

Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on what Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has coming up, and learn what other shows are also currently airing or will premiere soon by scanning through our 2022 TV schedule .

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Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.

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‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ To Introduce Nonbinary Character Played By Jesse James Keitel

| June 7, 2022 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 73 comments so far

Once again the Star Trek franchise will embrace diversity with the introduction of a new character on  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

Jesse James Keitel as Dr. Aspen

First reported by Variety (and confirmed officially by Paramount+), Jesse James Keitel ( Big Sky , Queer as Folk ), who is a trans woman, will be appearing as a guest star on episode 7 of Strange New Worlds , debuting on June 16th. Keitel will be playing a nonbinary character named Dr. Aspen. According to Variety , Aspen “once worked as a Starfleet counselor, but whose experiences on the Federation border prompted them to shift careers and work as a humanitarian aid worker.” In the episode helmed by trans director Sydney Freeland ( Reservation Dogs ), Dr. Aspen “will develop a surprising connection” with Ethan Peck’s Spock.

Jesse James Keitel at New York City premiere of Strange New Worlds

Keitel made history as the first openly trans series regular on primetime network TV in the ABC series Big Sky . She is now starring in Peacock’s revival of Queer as Folk , which debuts on Jun 9th.

Jesse James Keitel in Big Sky

Keitel reacted to the official announcement by saying it has been a lifelong dream to be part of Star Trek.

So shook to be part of the @StarTrek family! An ACTUAL life long dream come true 🥹🚀😈 #StrangeNewWorlds https://t.co/kjnm22o2Ly — Jesse James Keitel 🏳️‍⚧️ (@JesseJKeitel) June 7, 2022

The inclusion of Keitel’s Dr. Aspen continues the efforts seen in the new series to embrace LGBTQ representation in the Star Trek Universe. Just last week, Jess Bush’s Christine Chapel was revealed to date both men and women, and the most recent season of Picard included a romantic storyline with Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). And last year Star Trek: Discovery won a GLAAD Award for season three, which introduced the nonbinary character Adira (Blu Del Barrio) and trans character Grey (Ian Alexander), joining with the ship’s same-sex couple Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz).

Jeri Ryan as Seven and Michelle Hurd in Star Trek: Picard

New episodes of  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  debut on Thursdays exclusively on  Paramount+  in the U.S., Latin America, Australia and the Nordics. The series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada. In New Zealand, it is available on  TVNZ , and in India on  Voot Select .  Strange New Worlds  will arrive via Paramount+ in select countries in Europe when the service launches later this year, starting with the UK and Ireland in June.

Find more Strange New Worlds news and reviews on TrekMovie.

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I love brave identities. From Tumblr to Star Trek!

Excellent, I’m excited for the new Queer as Folk too.

Love her on Big Sky!

The would be so cool to have her as a recurring character as Chappel’s love interest.

Dr Korby though?

I don’t think these writers really care that much. The show has already broken that canon since Chapel is dating other people now and she’s clearly not engaged to him in this period like she was in TOS. So what would it change at this point?

The writers are just changing whatever canon to develop the characters more. Which I’m OK with, but I wish they stopped pretending the show is following canon. It’s not outside of the broad sense. The two Chapel’s act so differently from each other, you would think one came from a different universe.

We have no idea from “What Are Little Girls Made Of” when Chapel and Korby became engaged. They could introduce Korby in the show’s last season and still fit the canon of TOS.

The fact headlines are still made for LGBTQ+ introductions signals we still have a long way to go. Hopefully one day it becomes so commonly accepted that it’s just part of everyday life.

Star Trek has done a great job recently with representation and I’m not surprised this will continue with SNW.

Well cbs / paramount like to parade their lgbtq arround like prize show ponies, so they can pound their chest shouting from the roof how great they are for being so inclusive. Kinda leaves one questioning is cbs really being inclusive to benefit lgbtq representation?, or are they just doing it for more self serving interests because its become a trendy thing to do.

Your reaction confirms for me exactly why this needs to be done by P+.

It’s the last… If they were really trying to do smtg good for some people or the society , they’d think about ways to introduce characters or write stories about peopl who still stand in the Schmuddelecke and break new ground. Doing something trendy is not special nor brave. It’s just part of marketing.

“Schmuddelecke” probably doesn’t get you a lot of replies from the English speaking fan community, but you’ve earned points in my book, mein Freund! 😂

That being said though, the more positively written diversity, the better, I say! 🏳️‍🌈

Hehe, I actually translated that to English and got the same expression, wondering a bit, but thinking of Kindergarten or Angst I decided to keep the word. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to bring the normality of diversity into media. But it’s still extremely limited and superficial. Discrimination may start with gender, sex, sexual orientation or skin colour, but it doesn’t end there. I’d wish Star Trek to look more into the future, figure out problems of society that most people don’t think of and set trends.

Well written sci-fi has always done a good job as an allegory for the audiences of its time, and done even better when it held up over the decades that followed. I wonder, what kind of problems, issues, or angles would you wish for them to tackle, specifically (especially if yet more “unforeseen” to even arise)?

If you’ve got a great, creative angle for a storyline, you might want to think about submitting it to the powers that be! Don’t know if they’re open to that kind of approach anymore, but the Trek of yesteryear really thrived on some of those submissions. 🖖😉

They could make a character for example that’s really annoying to everyone, including the audience therefore being excluded by the crew. Keep that some episodes and then change the perspective and showing what happened in his life and made him that way. Happy End: Development to the most trusted crewman (or woman). Sad end: everyone turning the back on him/her and the guy killing himself in a way that no one of the crew ever knows or even gets a clue of his suffering. Just the audience would know. I mean it’s hard to bring that into Trek, but since the current producers don’t really care for plot holes it would be possible. Or just something like that. Something that really makes people think. Something where the audience says “wow, I haven’t thought about that, ever.”

Point taken, but historically Star Trek has never really done that. I think you’re confusing it with actual, literary science fiction.

That…. was a bad take. No.

Who is “pounding their chests” in this matter, aside from yourownself?

It couldn’t possibly be that they’re trying to celebrate people in marginalized communities that have only just begun getting actually visible roles, which Paramount has had a hand in casting. Just let them be celebrated and introduced. It doesn’t hurt anyone.

No, it really doesn’t “leave one questioning” anything other than why someone’s looking for something to object to.

This. Just have the characters. Make them good characters and treat it as the future (hopefully) will – as just a regular part of life. One day.

Even NASA it doing it by parading the fact that a woman and POC will walk on the moon as part of the Artemis Program. I really wish they wouldn’t and just let the press pick up on it on their own. The fact NASA keeps highlighting it worries me.

I never even knew that, so I just found out about this by you parading that info here.

Whilst I don’t disagree with the long term goal it is worth remembering that it is currently Pride Month so it does still make sense that they are releasing this casting news now to coincide with a period of celebration for LGBTQ+ culture.

Excellent point!

I’m sure most of the creatives are sincere but from the business perspective it will be about money because *that’s how capitalism works*.

However if this is one of those cases where what capitalism demands and the right thing to do are in alignment I’m not going to knock it.

cough, cough, marketing, cough cough, corporate representation…

Well. It’s nice to see some more diversity, but it’s a shame they didn’t get a non-binary actor to play a non-binary character.

Keitel is non-binary and uses she/her pronouns. Big Sky made her the first nonbinary actor to play a nonbinary series regular on primetime television.[

Your information is wrong, dude.

Well someone better tell the Advocate, pretty much every news outlet & Jesse herself…she says she’s a Non-Binary transfeminine actor who uses She/Her They/Them pronouns.

https://www.advocate.com/television/2020/11/13/jesse-james-keitel-makes-nonbinary-tv-history-big-sky?amp

“she says she’s a Non-Binary”

Exactly…not sure what you are talking about then because I was point that out to Cass myself?

Why….they are an actor. They are acting.

What are you talking about? Keitel is non-binary. Did you not read the article before responding?

Why so condescending, friend? You could have simply replied, “Actually, she is” and cited your source.

Source? The article above. LOL

What the heck, people?

hahaha. Yeah, but is TrekMovie an “official” source?

(Ducks phaser fire, scurries away…)

At what point did anyone say anything was official? Paul said to cite a source. I did. So your comment is a complete non sequitur.

Again, so condescending. Perhaps you need to get a kitten (or a tribble).

If you don’t like the tone of my replies… well, actually, I’ll sleep just fine. Feel free not to read them.

Cool. Can’t wait to see the episode. This show has been great (beside the small point of a federation doctor mutilating and harming life forms for “fun” with M’benga’s space station fly fishing trip that seemed an odd and contemporary choice anchored in our less enlightened “primitive” 21st century culture.)

I’m pretty sure fishing wouldn’t just end just because they don’t enslave animals anymore. I do have a hard time seeing hunting being part of the 23rd or 24th century but humans still eat meat just the same unless I’m forgetting something.

Since they have food replicators or synthesizers (?) in the future, this shouldn’t be a thing. They just eat replicated meat. With 3d printing I can see this coming in our near future.

Fishing isn’t done just for the food, though. See “catch and release.”

I still think they eat regular meat though, at least sometimes. We see people like Riker, Sisko and now Pike cooking. Is it just replicated meat? Sisko dad has a restaurant, I imagine there is real meat there. Or maybe it’s just made in the lab or something?

At least 80 years after a Strange New Worlds people will still be fishing: In 2344, young Will Riker & his dad went on a fishing trip. Will was able to hook a large fish, but His dad insisted on reeling the fish in. And on Nepenthe his daughter hunted “bunnicorns” (rabbits with horns).

Great examples! I forgot about the Riker story too.

It is interesting though, some think Star Trek is an ultra left society to the point killing animals for food is no longer a thing. And I agree, with replicators it doesn’t have to be a thing anymore. But no one comes across as strictly vegans or vegetarians in the 23rd or 24th century either. But even if I can believe humans no longer kill animals for food I can’t imagine it being a Federation decree in every society.

You’re right. That’s a small point.

Why? Fishing is fishing. People will continue to catch and eat fish for as long as people and fish both continue to exist.

“ Chapel was revealed to date both men and women”? Huh? How did I miss that? Well, since English is not my native language, I might not notice that. On the other hand, there was a subtle “female bromance” between Chapel and Ortegas. Nevertheless, since they are dating characters from different species, this shouldn’t be a thing anyway.

She referred to an ex-girlfriend.

Just write a real character and don’t use their character to be a trite metaphor like Discovery did with Grey. That’s such a low bar to clear, I am optimistic SNW will set a good example for the community.

I was very disappointed with Grey. They made such a big deal about the character, who ended up bringing nothing to the show, was portrayed by a bad actor, and then just left. Grey was a dud and a mistake, which was frustrating since it was exciting at first to see such representation.

I do like those actors in star trek series. I don`t like the fuzz its made about it. I would much more appreciate if they focus on good stories.

Yes, that’s what makes it so annoying. I often get a feeling that LGBTQ+ persons are used as an instrument by companies to parrade their unearned virtues. Tell a good story and all will be forgiven

This^. I could care less about a character’s sexual preference(s), as long as there’s a good story to be had.

I hope this isn’t just pandering to get views, like that terrible kiss between 7 and Raffy that came out of nowhere. That was some terrible pandering. There was no hint of chemistry even between them. Just like the writers were like, oh.. it’s the last episode… we need something big…. how about random lesbians? Picard and Q have waaaaaay more chemistry and honestly I thought they were going to kiss too, the way that finale was going…

I agree that Seven and Raffi were a pointless coupling. There is zero chemistry between those actors and between those characters. What a missed opportunity.

It ticks a box though, so who cares if it’s totally hollow, it’s where we are now with modern TV and film.

A show where they fit in a non binary character very naturally was in Another Life, which is like a sci fi type alien invading earth type show. Anyways the relationship with zayne and the fat Mexican dude (maybe horhay or hesus or sorry i forget) was pretty cute, and not forced.

As long as the story works, and they don’t make the same mistakes with Adira and Grey.

Uh, wouldn’t the first trans a trans actress to be a series regular have been Candace Cayne on Dirty Sexy Money?

I think since she was in less than 1/2 the episodes it would be a recurring role, not series regular.

There was Nicole Maines on ‘Supergirl’. Years ago there was a trans character on a UK soap called ‘Coronation Street’ but this was long enough ago that I couldn’t be sure they did it right and cast a trans actress. There’s also Laverne Cox who’s done numerous roles including on ‘Orange Is The New Black’. There will also be other cases where the actress is trans but they aren’t out or at least not to the public.

I’m sure there will be many other examples.

I don’t care.

I would like to see the Binars again… They are also genderless. Although I have to say that the term nonbinary Binars doesn’t really compute :-)

I love it when Trek shows the great diversity of the human condition…plus it freaks the right out completely and we get to hear the true ugly conservative rant as they pop blood vessels attached to their beady little brains.

Spoken like a truly open-minded, pluralistic, enlightened individual

Sorry, might be a bit of anger brought on by my two brothers who have been life long Star Trek fans suddenly turned hating it because of some conservative editorial piece that told them to be ageist it. But I suppose this is the truth of the world we live in today.

Not sure about this. I would rather focus on the cast of characters, rather than needlessly expand the roster. Should have established the character first from the jump.

Will this person be a guest or a recurring character? Because to add another regular cast member would be a head-scracther because they are already not making enough use of Number One, Uhura and Hemmer!

its not very often that someone as naturally beautiful as Jesse James Keitel comes along !

Star Trek's new characters Gray and Adira are transgender, non-binary

Science fiction franchise Star Trek's first transgender and non-binary characters will debut on US television next month.

Key points:

• Transgender character Gray will be played by transgender actor Ian Alexander
• Non-binary Adira will be played by Blu del Barrio
• They will appear in the third season of CBS Television's series Star Trek: Discovery

Transgender character Gray will be played by transgender actor Ian Alexander while non-binary Adira will be played by Blu del Barrio, an actor who, like the character, does not identify as male or female.

They will appear in the third season of CBS Television's series Star Trek: Discovery, the latest incarnation of the TV franchise that launched in 1966.

Star Trek has spawned films, cartoons and a legion of loyal fans, known as Trekkies.

"Star Trek has always made a mission of giving visibility to underrepresented communities ," said Michelle Paradise, the show's co-showrunner and executive producer.

"It believes in showing people that a future without division on the basis of race, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation is entirely within our reach."

Star Trek: Discovery broke boundaries by featuring a married gay couple as central characters for the first time in the franchise's history.

The show also entered a new frontier when actor Sonequa Martin-Green became the first black woman to lead a Star Trek television series.

"I cannot wait for you all to meet these beautiful souls and wonderful artists," said actor Anthony Rapp, who plays one of the show's two gay characters, on Twitter.

"I am so so so proud of them and happy that they are a part of our show".

Actor del Barrio auditioned for the role while finishing drama school.

"When I got the call that I'd been cast as Adira, I hadn't yet told the majority of my friends and family that I was non-binary," del Barrio said.

"So when this happened, it felt like the universe saying, 'go ahead'."

Alexander, 19, played Buck Vu on the Netflix science fiction mystery series The OA and, according to CBS, is the first openly trans Asian-American actor to appear on television.

The third season of Star Trek: Discovery is scheduled to begin on October 15 and will be free-to-air.

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'Star Trek: Discovery' makes franchise history with trans, nonbinary characters

LOS ANGELES - In a first for the "Star Trek" franchise, characters who are gender-nonbinary and transgender will appear on the third season of "Star Trek: Discovery," CBS All Access announced on Wednesday.

Ian Alexander ("The OA") will play Gray, a trans man who has spent his life as a Trill planning to be a host for a symbiotic alien species that lives in different hosts over its lifetime.

Newcomer Blu del Barrio will play Adira, a nonbinary character who bonds with Lt. Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), the first same-sex couple in "Trek" TV series history.

"'Star Trek' has always made a mission of giving visibility to underrepresented communities because it believes in showing people that a future without division on the basis of race, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation is entirely within our reach," co-showrunner and executive producer Michelle Paradise said in a statement.

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The production worked closely with GLAAD, especially director of transgender media and representation Nick Adams, in crafting Gray and Adira for Season 3.

"We take pride in working closely with Blu del Barrio, Ian Alexander and Nick Adams at GLAAD to create the extraordinary characters of Adira and Gray, and bring their stories to life with empathy, understanding, empowerment and joy," said Paradise.

When Alexander first appeared as a trans character on the Netflix sci-fi series "The OA," he was the first out trans Asian American actor on TV. He most recently played the trans character Lev on the acclaimed video game "The Last of Us Part II."

Del Barrio was cast on "Discovery" while in their final year at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. They've been acting in theater and short film productions since they were 7; "Discovery" will be their TV debut.

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In an interview with Adams posted to GLAAD's website, Del Barrio says Adira is "an introvert" suffering from memory loss who doesn't tell people that they're nonbinary right away -- which ended up mirroring their own experience coming out as nonbinary.

"When I got the call that I'd been cast as Adira, I hadn't yet told the majority of my friends and family that I was nonbinary," Del Barrio says. "I had only recently discovered the word and realized that it described how I'd felt for a long time. I knew I wanted to tell my friends and family, so when this happened, it felt like the universe saying 'go ahead.'"

Although the original "Star Trek" TV series, which first ran on NBC from 1966 to 1969, was groundbreaking at the time for its depiction of Black and Asian characters, until the 2010s, the "Trek" franchise largely avoided LBGTQ characters of any significance.

For years, the most explicit depiction of any LBGTQ characters in "Trek" was in a 1992 episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" titled "The Outcast," in which the crew of the Enterprise encounter the J'naii, an alien race that has no gender and views any expressions of gender or sexuality to be taboo. Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) ends up falling in love with a J'naii who identifies as female, until she is forced by her society to undergo a form of therapy that eradicates her gender identity. (Frakes has said the episode was not "gutsy" enough.)

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The Trill species has also allowed "Star Trek" to dip into queer issues, if tentatively. In the 1991 "TNG" episode "The Host," Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) falls passionately in love with a male Trill, but when the host body dies and the symbiont alien is placed in a female host, Crusher says she can't continue with the relationship. A 1995 episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" flipped that equation, with the female Trill Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) reuniting with a woman who was Dax's wife when Dax lived inside a male host. Dax wants to restart their relationship, and the two women kiss, but the episode ends with the ex-wife deciding instead to move on.

Finally, the 2016 feature film "Star Trek Beyond" — set in an alternate "Trek" universe — revealed that character of Sulu (John Cho) has a husband and daughter, though the husband character (played by the film's co-screenwriter Doug Jung) had no lines, and the characters only briefly hug on screen.

It wasn't until Stamets and Culber were introduced on "Discovery" in 2017 that two male "Trek" characters were depicted in a fully expressed romantic relationship -- and played by two out queer actors.

The third season of "Star Trek: Discovery" premieres on CBS All Access on Oct. 15.

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Published Apr 20, 2023

How Star Trek: Discovery Helped Shine a Light on Trans Narratives in Sci-Fi

Gray Tal boldly goes where no trans character has gone before.

StarTrek.com

Today is Ian Alexander 's birthday, and it’s the perfect opportunity to celebrate Star Trek: Discovery ’s Gray Tal !

Played by Alexander, Gray made his first appearance in the third season episode, “Forget Me Not," but he didn’t exactly make his first full appearance until Season 4. This is just one of the ways that Gray’s narrative arc on Discovery echoes the lived experiences of trans people like myself.

While Gray may not be the first time trans people have been able to see some aspect of ourselves reflected in Star Trek , he represents a significant step forward in depicting trans characters for the franchise.

Gray Tal and the Synthetic Golem

Gray was first introduced in the episode “Forget Me Not,” in which Adira (Blu del Barrio) and Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) travel to the Trill homeworld in order to restore the memories of the Tal symbiote. After this mission had been accomplished, Gray began to appear and interact with Adira. However, they were the only one who could see Gray.

In the third season finale, “That Hope is You, Part 2,” Adira beams aboard the active holodeck of the K.S.F. Khi’eth . Because of the nature of the holodeck program, they appear as a Xahean rather than a human. Remarkably, the hologram is also able to detect the presence of Gray alongside Adira, and while he appears as a Vulcan instead of a Trill, this limited manifestation gives Gray a taste of interaction with fellow crewmembers Saru and Dr. Hugh Culber. After that episode, the hologram is deactivated, and Gray once again becomes visible only to Adira. But before that happens, Culber promises Gray that they’ll find a way to make him visible to everyone.

Dr. Culber finally follows through with his promise in the fourth season. In the episode “Anomaly,” the synthetic golem technology we saw Dr. Altan Inigo Soong developing in the first season of Star Trek: Picard is applied to provide a synthetic body into which the Tal symbiote may be placed. Over the course of the next episode, “Choose to Live,” a Trill Guardian performed a special zhian’tara that allowed the Tal symbiote to bond with the synth body. While these science fiction aspects of Gray’s story are fertile ground for exploring trans-coded stories, Gray is textually confirmed to be trans.

For trans Star Trek fans of a certain age, such as myself, Jadzia Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was something of a stand-in for trans rep before textual trans rep existed. Because of the Dax symbiote, Jadzia remembered a “previous life,” that of Curzon Dax. Further, her commanding officer, Commander Benjamin Sisko, had been close with Curzon. For this reason, the fact that Jadzia had “transitioned” not just from between hosts but also into a different gender was frequently foregrounded.

It’s evident why trans readings of the character became so popular, particularly when you recall scenes like the one in the DS9 Season 2 episode “Blood Oath,” in which Klingon warrior Kor reunites with Dax and accepts his old friend’s new name without hesitation. And in scenes that I found especially affecting as a queer, trans woman, both Jadzia and the subsequent host of the symbiote, Ezri Dax, shared on-screen kisses with other women (even if Ezri’s was undertaken by her Mirror Universe counterpart).

But in “Anomaly,” Discovery distinguished itself by confirming that Gray being trans was distinct from both the fact that he is Trill and that he has a synth body. As Dr. Culber prepares Gray’s synth body in that episode, the topic of a mole on Gray’s hand is brought up. Gray notes that while it used to bother him when he was young, he was too focused on his transition to deal with it. (While the DS9 episode “Profit and Lace” may not be the best example of transgender representation, it does confirm that gender transition is as accessible and technologically advanced as any other medical procedure in the 24th Century).

While Gray’s “transition” into the synth body does offer plenty of thematic parallels to undergoing gender transition, dialogue clarifies that neither the synth body nor the fact that he is Trill is a stand-in for Gray being trans — this is simply another distinct facet of his character.

Visible Spectrum

While I was not literally invisible, I deeply relate to Gray’s narrative arc. Before I came out as a trans woman, I often felt as though no one could see me; in hindsight, for obvious reasons, I was hiding my authentic self from everyone around me. This not only hindered my ability to connect with others, whether they were already close to me or were people I had never met before. It also had a devastating effect on my writing; without being honest about who I was, my words were consistently little more than hollow echoes of what I thought the person I was supposed to be would say.

When I came out to my spouse, though no one else, my experiences could be compared to Gray’s situation after “Forget Me Not,” where Adira can perceive him, but he is invisible to everyone else. While my partner’s support was essential, just like Gray, I soon realized that I wasn’t satisfied with only being visible to one person.

Once I began to engage with the world as my authentic self, all that changed — just like Gray is suddenly able to be perceived by his crewmates thanks to the fact that the holographic environment can detect his presence in “That Hope Is You, Part 2,” coming out of the closet finally allowed me to connect with my writing. Suddenly, I was actually being seen. This led to the publication of several articles I’d written, followed by the opportunity to interview for a position with Heidi MacDonald, the editor-in-chief of the long-running blog Comics Beat.

During the interview, Heidi explained to me that she was assembling her “ Next Generation crew.” As a long-time Trekkie, I immediately connected to the reference and understood the intentions she conveyed. As we spoke more, she told me that my perspective was important and needed to be heard.

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned from my transition is that it helps others if you speak from an authentic place. It makes me think of Gray’s role in “Stormy Weather.” Having recovered from the golem procedure, Gray now has a body and can fully interact with the rest of the crew, including Zora, the developing sentient personality of Discovery ’s computer. Over the course of the episode, Gray helps Zora by sharing a Trill method that helps with sensory confusion when assimilating into a new body and helps calm him in uncertain situations. Zora then applies this knowledge at a key moment, enabling her to save the crew.

While the knowledge Gray shares with Zora may not be directly related to his trans experience, he can only share it with her because he has undertaken the golem transition procedure, enabling him to truly be seen and communicate with those around him. It’s a perfect example of how Discovery ’s crew is more than willing to go out of the way to address the unique needs of one crew member can affect the needs of all the crew, and how that investment can prove invaluable for every crew member on board.

We Enter the Future Together

In the 1998 Star Trek: The Next Generation/X-Men crossover novel Planet X by Michael Jan Friedman, several of the Marvel Comics mutants travel to the 24th Century and end up aboard the Enterprise-D . In one particularly affecting line, Ororo Munroe addresses Jean-Luc Picard.

“Being accepted for what we are… it has always been a dream to us, a goal we could hold up but never realistically hope to attain,” Storm tells Picard. “I hope you understand the wonder of a society that judges each being on [their] merits … This is the true miracle of your Federation, Captain. This is your greatest achievement.”

Having a visible trans character like Gray included in the cast of Discovery sends an important message — trans people are an integral part of the future utopia depicted by Star Trek . In an era where being trans is met with prejudice, Discovery gives us hope for a world where we can be assured that we will be accepted for who we are. Furthermore, the value of seeing trans characters who are empathetically depicted and whose perspective is given value in a franchise with the staggering cultural impact Star Trek possesses cannot be understated.

In an interview conducted for Forbes , Dawn Ennis asked Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise to consider including a trans woman character (noting correctly that we’d be pleased to see her in any spinoff). Hopefully, it won’t be long before we’re seeing more trans characters follow where Gray has boldly gone before — into the visible galaxy of Star Trek !

This article was originally published on March 31, 2022.

Avery Kaplan (she/her) is the Features Editor at Comics Beat. You can also find her writing on NeoText, Geek Girl Authority, Comics Bookcase, and in many issues of the Eisner Award-winning PanelxPanel. She is the co-host of the Matrix 404 podcast and the Comm Officer at Prism Comics. Find her on Twitter @averykaplan6

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are currently streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the U.K., Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 are also available on the Pluto TV Star Trek channel in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Discovery is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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Jadzia Dax, Deep Space Nine, and an early sci-fi trans allegory handled with respect

Credit: Paramount

Back when Star Trek: Deep Space Nine initially aired on TV back in the early to mid-'90s, I never really got too deeply invested in the show. In part that was probably because I was too young at the time to understand some of the more politically driven storylines, and in no small part because I only ever watched isolated episodes of a series that relied on long-running, overarching plots. However, from the few episodes I did watch and enjoy as a child, one character always stuck with me as deeply interesting: Jadzia Dax.

The series, a spinoff of Star Trek: The Next Generation , is set on a space station where a stable wormhole has been discovered. The wormhole allows for our crew to leap to parts of space previously inaccessible, and the station serves as a hub for diplomacy regarding species living near and through the wormhole. One of the species living close to the space station is the Trill, who play a role in a great number of plot threads throughout DS9 .

The Trill are a humanoid species, distinguished from humans by two rows of spots across the sides of their bodies and faces. They're able to merge themselves with a species known as the symbiont, gaining the memories and abilities of previous host Trill, with their personality becoming a combination of the host and the symbiotic creature.

Jadzia is a Trill and host to a symbiont named Dax. While Jadzia herself had always been driven, smart, adventurous, and caring, becoming host to Dax caused her to develop a fierce sense of loyalty, a more developed sense of anger, and a greater understanding of species she hadn't interacted with herself while alive. The Dax symbiont had been hosted by seven previous Trill prior to Jadzia, a mix of men and women, and many of her episodes on DS9 focus on how she chooses to deal with the existence of the previous lives she has rattling around in her head. However, to me as a child, as well as rewatching the show now as an adult, the most interesting aspect of her character is her very recent memories of existing as Curzon, a male Trill.

While Jadzia can, to varying degrees, remember her life as each of her past host existences, the host we hear most about in the show is Curzon, and that very much makes sense. Curzon was the most recent host of the Dax symbiont, lived a long and full life, accomplished many things, and because of how long he lived is the only host who most of the characters alive on the show personally met. Curzon is a very recent memory for Jadzia as well as the rest of the station's crew, and as far as the show is concerned Curzon is the only previous host to really be frequently relevant to the plot.

I mention all this because while rewatching the show in its entirety, I have increasingly been viewing the character through the lens of being an early allegory for someone living life as a trans woman, with all the struggles and changes that come with it. While the reading of the character only really works if we focus on the past life as Curzon as primary previous existence, it does make several parts of DS9 carry additional fascinating weight.

Jadzia Dax is a character who's carrying on the life of Curzon Dax, a man who was known far and wide and lived his whole life as male. For many characters we encounter throughout the series, the connection between who Jadzia Dax is and who she was is hard to shake. The station's captain, Sisko, spends the vast majority of the show's run misgendering Jadzia, referring to her as "old man" frequently, a reference to who she once was rather than who she is now. It's not until the show's final season, when a new host takes over the Dax symbiont , that he is finally called out over this and corrected on the fact that "old man" isn't really appropriate as a term.

However, Jadzia's plot threads throughout Deep Space Nine are largely not about people treating her as her old identity. Most characters respect who she is now, and a few key episodes really tackle her as a trans metaphor quite positively head-on. In the Season 2 episode "Blood Oath," Jadzia comes face to face with a group of Klingons who Curzon had been close friends with. Kor, the leader of the Klingon group, initially opens with a greeting: "Curzon, my beloved old friend," while pulling Jadzia into a big deep hug. Jadzia simply says, "I'm Jadzia now," and without a second thought, Kor continues the hug and smiles, saying, "Jadzia, my beloved old friend" instead.

Kor, from this point on in the episode, always refers to Jadzia by her new name, uses female pronouns for her, and doesn't treat her any differently. She's still the friend he remembers, he doesn't feel any awkwardness, he simply listens to Jadzia's correction on her new identity and instantly takes it to heart.

This episode is one that supports the reading of Jadzia as a trans woman metaphor. It directly addresses the fact that some of her friends previously knew her as male and under a different name, but that the right way to deal with your friend coming out is simply to listen, embrace them as you otherwise would, and make the effort to correct yourself going forward. It's a beautiful template for how to embrace a friend who has come out as trans, aired on TV decades before trans characters in media were becoming a mainstream conversation.

Beyond the fact that the rest of the show is littered with references to Jadzia having to adjust to presenting as female with decades lived and socializing as male in her head, there's another episode worth noting when read as a trans metaphor: Season 4's "Rejoined." Jadzia comes face to face with Lenara Kahn, another Trill, and wife to Dax host Torias prior to Jadzia's inheritance of the Dax symbiont.

If joined Trill enter relationships, they are forbidden from returning to those same relationships once the symbiont moves to a new host. This is very much just a plot device thrown in to cause conflict in this specific episode, but it does so very effectively by creating a situation where a trans woman metaphor character is drawn toward a forbidden lesbian relationship that could lead to exile and their symbionts being refused future hosts.

Lenara and Torias had been married during his merging with the Dax symbiont in a straight-presenting relationship. After Torias, and then Curzon is replaced by Jadzia as host, the relationship becomes taboo, with society ready to shun both if the relationship continues. The episode is a real highlight of the series, with the back-and-forth of these two women navigating if they are willing to face the consequences of societal expulsion for loving each other feeling considerably forward-thinking and relevant. Jadzia's ex-wife never dismisses that she's now female, or that she still loves her; they just openly deal with the fact their relationship is different now and they have to decide if they're comfortable with how society would view them together. For an episode of TV written in the mid-'90s, it really does a great job of feeling relevant decades later.

While Jadzia Dax doesn't survive the whole series of Deep Space Nine , replaced in the final season by a new female host when actor Terry Farrell decided to leave the show, Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer) continues the trans metaphor by being more assertive and proactive in ensuring that people respect her female identity. She's a woman, and unlike Jadzia, who feels more like an early transition metaphor in the ways she sometimes stays quiet when misgendered, Ezri feels more like someone deeper into transition, more confidently ensuring she's respected as who she is, not who she was.

Deep Space Nine certainly isn't perfect as a trans positive allegorical show, with the episode "Profit and Lace" in particular using gender transition as a punchline quite tastelessly, but overall I have been loving rewatching it. As a trans woman, getting to watch Jadzia Dax navigate the world, remembered by those around her to have been previously male but still being accepted as one of the most badass yet caring women on the ship, has been really comforting. I love Jadzia, and getting to watch her story through a trans-positive lens only serves to make me enjoy her more.

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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Star Trek: Discovery Casts First Trans, Nonbinary Roles in Franchise's History

Nonbinary actor Blu del Barrio and transgender actor Ian Alexander will be beaming up on October 15. 

Today the producers of Star Trek: Discovery announced that next season they will be introducing the first nonbinary and trans characters in the history of the Star Trek franchise.

Nonbinary character Adira, played by Blu del Barrio, and transgender character Gray, played by trans actor Ian Alexander, will be beamed up when Star Trek: Discovery kicks off season 3 on CBS All Access on October 15.

\u201cWelcome Blu del Barrio and @ianaIexander to the #StarTrekFamily! They will be playing Adira, Star Trek's first non-binary character, and Gray, Star Trek's first transgender character in #StarTrekDiscovery Season 3. Learn more about Blu in this @glaad Q&A: https://t.co/gd54tVl8p0\u201d — Star Trek on Paramount+ (@Star Trek on Paramount+) 1599069926

"Adira is a wonderfully complex character," del Barrio, who is making their screen debut in the role, told GLAAD . "Mainly because of this duality they have within them: They're astonishingly intelligent and yet they're still a kid. They experience their emotions at a heightened level, like most teenagers. That's what makes them so fun to play. I like to describe them as cerebrally brilliant and emotionally a puppy. Adira is an introvert, but they keep a few people close to the chest, which I definitely resonate with. I don't want to say too much and get in trouble, but all in all, Adira is a uniquely strange and beautiful character."

Alexander (they/them and he/him) is best known for their roles as Buck Vu on Netflix's The OA, where he made history for being the first out trans Asian-American person to act on television.

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Star Trek: Discovery has had several firsts. In 2017, Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz became the first gay characters in a same-sex marriage in the franchise's history. Additionally, Sonequa Martin-Green made history as the first woman of color to lead a show in the history of the franchise.

" Star Trek has always made a mission of giving visibility to underrepresented communities because it believes in showing people that a future without division on the basis of race, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation is entirely within our reach," Michelle Paradise, co-showrunner and executive producer, said in a statement. "We take pride in working closely with Blu del Barrio, Ian Alexander and Nick Adams at GLAAD to create the extraordinary characters of Adira and Gray, and bring their stories to life with empathy, understanding, empowerment and joy."

Del Barrio told GLAAD that they were cast as Adira while in their final year at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

"When I got the call that I'd been cast as Adira, I hadn't yet told the majority of my friends and family that I was nonbinary," they said. "I had only recently discovered the word and realized that it described how I'd felt for a long time. I knew I wanted to tell my friends and family, so when this happened, it felt like the universe saying 'go ahead.'"

When asked why it's important to speak about nonbinary issues, del Barrio responded, "Nonbinary people have always existed. People's immediate response is often that they've never heard the word 'nonbinary' and therefore question its validity. Most people don't personally know someone who is transgender, so they don't know much about gender diversity. This is where I believe the problem starts -- the problem that leads to discrimination and violence against trans people."

They continued, "Our education system in the U.S. is severely lacking LGBTQ + subject matter in the curriculum as well as resources for LGBTQ+ youth. I knew I was different at 8 years old, but there wasn't one person who knew how to help me. I was struggling with terrible dysphoria, and every single day I wished someone would understand and help me. No one ever did. That led me to change everything about myself so I could survive, but it would have been so much better if my gender had been affirmed by those around me. Many trans kids don't make it. This is not something we can put on a to-do list. It requires immediate action. Forty percent of trans people attempt suicide, compared to 4.6 percent of the general population. If that doesn't scream urgency, I don't know what does."

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Star Trek To Introduce Writer Magdalene Visaggio As Franchise’s First Canon Trans Woman Character 

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With the upcoming release of the newest Star Trek novel, Marvel and DC Comics writer Magdalene Visaggio is set to be introduced to the long-running sci-fi franchise as its first canonical trans woman character.

Source: Star Trek: Coda: Oblivion’s Gate (2021)

Related: DC Comics Writer Magdalene Visaggio Accuses Sean Gordon Murphy Of “Lovebombing”

Visaggio will make her Star Trek debut on November 30th in David Mack’s Star Trek: Coda: Book 3: Oblivion’s Gate, the third and final entry in the The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine Coda crossover trilogy, appearing briefly as a chief petty officer serving in Engineering aboard the USS Enterprise-E.

Though the book has yet to be released to the public, Visaggio shared the passage featuring her cameo to her personal Twitter account on November 24th, exclaiming, “No big deal I’m just in STAR TREK NOW. Thanks @DavidAlanMack!”

Archive Link Source: Magdalene Visaggio Twitter

In a follow-up tweet sent to both Star Trek Discovery actor Wilson Cruz ( Dr. Hugh Culber) and IDW and Image editor Heather Antos, Visaggio noted that she was now “ the first canonical trans woman in Star Trek”.

Related: Star Trek Host Wil Wheaton Claims Kyle Rittenhouse’s Judge Schroeder Has A “Racist Little White Nationalist Heart”

The passage, which sees Worf ask the Engineer for an estimated time as to when the ship’s main computer would be back online before telling her to get some rest, can be read below:

“I will ask Commander La Forge if he can spare anyone.” Worf pivoted to the chief petty officer who was coiling endless lines of optical cable over her left shoulder. “Visaggio? When will the main computer be back online?” “Above my pay grade, sir. Tonight I’m just a spool with legs.” She nodded toward the gangway. “Lieutenant Scardas is in charge of core repair on deck two.” “Understood. Good work, both of you. When you finish, get some water, and some rest.” Chief Visaggio looped more cable around her shoulder. “Copy that, sir.”

Source: Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Season 4 Episode 1 and 2 “The Way of the Warrior” (1995), CBS

The intentional reference was also confirmed by Mack himself, who tweeted, “Heroic members of our Starfleet crews in OBLIVION’S GATE include personnel named in honor of LETTERKENNY co-creator Jared Keeso, VAGRANT QUEEN creator @MagsVisaggs, and fellow fantasy author @drslayton” amidst an ongoing thread identifying the characters in the book he had named after real people.

Archive Link Source: David Mack Twitter

As noted above, Star Trek: Coda: Book 3: Oblivion’s Gate releases tomorrow, November 30th.

What do you make of Visaggio’s canonization within Star Trek lore? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!

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Rebecca Romijn: ‘I wanted to do my trans character justice – and make her as hot as possible’

The supermodel turned actor, who has gone to space for ‘star trek: strange new worlds’, speaks to adam white about playing persecuted women, why she’d not reprise her trans ‘ugly betty’ role today, and her difficulties with brett ratner on the set of ‘x-men 3’, article bookmarked.

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I n 2006, the creators of the then fledgling comedy series Ugly Betty proposed a wild plot twist for the show’s first season: the mysterious villain covered in bandages and living in the basement of a fashion magazine publishing house would be revealed as the transgender scion of a media dynasty, who’d faked their death before undergoing gender reassignment surgery. “Alex” would emerge as Alexis Meade, a campy bombshell who’d try to take over the company.

But the creators weren’t stupid. This was 2006, and such a risky storyline required a trojan horse. Enter supermodel turned actor Rebecca Romijn , then best known for being the bluest, nudest mutant in the X-Men franchise.

“The executives at the time didn’t love the idea of the character,” the 50-year-old remembers today. “There was a real boys’ club running the show behind the scenes at that point. So to try and make it palatable to the boys’ club... they pitched me. And I jumped at the chance.” She knew it was a big deal. “I never would be cast in that role today, but I do feel like it helped open doors for the trans community. I’d like to think that, anyway. I don’t want to pat myself on the back too much.”

I tell her that, regardless of the odd line of bad-taste dialogue about transition, the show’s treatment of Alexis has aged relatively well for its era – plus Romijn was a cisgender woman playing a transgender woman (we’re not talking Eddie Redmayne in a shoddy wig), and Alexis was just as outrageous and sexy as every other fashionista on that show. “I really wanted to do that character justice – and make her as hot as possible.” She erupts into a laugh.

Romijn (it’s pronounced like the lettuce, if you were wondering) is nursing an iced water in a London hotel. Dressed in a leather jacket, her hair cut to a dirty-blonde bob, she has a regal if punky energy, plus the height and bone structure of someone who spent much of the Nineties gracing magazine covers. In 1998, Maxim slapped a single word next to a picture of her on the beach: “Goddess”.

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Back then, you wouldn’t necessarily have guessed that Romijn, who’d just taken her first steps into acting, would soon become synonymous with the oppressed and the persecuted on screen, human and inhuman alike. Unusually – and totally coincidentally, she says – her three most high-profile roles swim in similar waters.

In the Paramount+ series Star Trek : Strange New Worlds , a fun, thematically rich new chapter of the long-running franchise, she is Una, lieutenant commander of the USS Enterprise , who has kept secret that she is an alien with augmented (and therefore illegal) genes. “She felt she had no other choice but to hide,” a space lawyer argues in a second-season episode, in which Una is placed on trial for concealing her true identity. “Just like the millions before her who had to hide who they worshipped, who they loved, what they truly looked like – all because it made others uncomfortable or afraid.”

I haven’t spoken up about anything with regard to #MeToo, because I had two major issues with two directors I’ve worked with – and both of them already got theirs

It’s a line, Romijn notes, that echoes one spoken by her X-Men character Mystique, a shapeshifter covered in hundreds of scales. “Why not stay in disguise all the time? [And] look like everyone else?” she’s asked in 2003’s X2 . “Because we shouldn’t have to,” Mystique replies.

One of the powerful aspects of Star Trek , Romijn says, is that its allegories can be read however you choose to read them. “Una’s story is about prejudice and persecution, but it could be religious, it could be racial, it could be about immigrants, it could be about the trans community and trans rights. It very much depends on who you are in the audience and how you receive it.”

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I have been informed – by people far Trekkier than I – that Strange New Worlds is the best Star Trek series in years, as buoyant and colourful as it is moving. It takes place a decade before the events of the original show, with Anson Mount playing Captain Christopher Pike, the immediate predecessor to Captain Kirk. There is intergalactic intrigue, a young Spock and Uhura, and a seemingly endless supply of distress calls from far-off planets.

For Romijn, the show marks a dream come true: she was a teenage sci-fi nerd who once counted The Empire Strikes Back as her favourite movie, and whose mother introduced her early to the Star Trek universe.

“It sparked my curiosity about the world and about whether we’re alone in the universe – which of course we’re not!” She rolls her eyes. “That would be so egotistical of us to think.” When she was cast in Strange New Worlds , and tried on her gold uniform for the first time, she began to cry. “I lost my mom about six years ago, and I feel like she somehow led me here. When I walked onto the Enterprise set, I just...” She drops her voice to a whisper. “‘Mom, look where we are!’”

Lost in space: Romijn as Una aka Number One in ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’

Romijn grew up in California, a self-described “musical theatre geek” who never intended to model. But when you’re 5ft 11in and blessed with a face that can stop traffic, it’s sort of inevitable. By the mid-Nineties she was one of the busiest models in the industry, covering everything from Allure to GQ and walking runways for Victoria’s Secret. Acting, though, was her real passion. “There hadn’t been many success stories of models with big names who’d tried to make that leap,” she says. “I knew I had to work hard to be better, to always take chances and always dare to suck and take big swings. I’ve tried never to play it safe.”

She gravitated towards parts that upended expectations. She was a bearded lady in the 1998 comedy Dirty Work , flirted with Austin Powers in 1999’s The Spy Who Shagged Me , and memorably played Ross’s beautiful but grotesquely messy palaeontologist girlfriend in Friends . “I said no to a lot of arm candy stuff. That was a waste of my time. But the pretty slob? I’m there!” She does, however, regret not fighting for the Bond girl role ultimately played by Denise Richards in The World Is Not Enough . “They brought me in to audition for... what was her name? Christmas Jones? I would have loved that. But it never happened.”

There were a few missteps – absolutely don’t watch John McTiernan’s ghastly remake of the James Caan vehicle Rollerball , for instance – but she otherwise held out for quality work. She’s brilliant as a Catwoman-esque jewel thief in Brian De Palma’s underrated noir caper Femme Fatale , which still ranks among her personal favourites. “That was a spectacular experience – even though it tanked at the box office,” she laughs. “Brian is truly a visionary and a genius. We shot it in Paris, and having modelled in Paris back when I was poor, then going back there to be in a movie – it was like, ‘Wahoo!’”

At the same time, Romijn was imbuing Mystique, the right-hand woman to Ian McKellen’s Magneto, with other-worldly menace. But the X-Men movies barely skimmed the surface of her character’s complex lore. That, she says, was down to the expense of merely having her on set. “The costume took nine hours to apply, so there were only so many hours I could work,” she recalls. Every day she had a set of blue, scaly prosthetics applied to her body, which she believes cost $15,000 (£12,000) a pop. “They used a fresh set each time, so we were sort of limited.”

Campy bombshell: Romijn as Alexis Meade in the comedy series ‘Ugly Betty’

Since the original X-Men trilogy came to a close (a prequel franchise that recast Mystique with Jennifer Lawrence launched in 2011), many of its cast have discussed its troubled production history – and off-camera difficulties with Bryan Singer , who directed the first two movies in the series. Alan Cumming and Halle Berry have both spoken of an attempted intervention with Singer over the director’s alleged drug use on the set of X2 . (In recent years, Singer has also denied repeated allegations of sexual misconduct.)

Romijn is aware that Singer has “had his fair share of stuff” in the years since – “stuff” admittedly doing quite a bit of heavy lifting – and that she’s grappled with how to approach her positive memories of him. “He’s a fantastic filmmaker, you know? It was amazing watching him work. And you have to decide if you want to try and separate those two things. I know that the other cast confronted him about things. But I was not a part of that. I wasn’t there for it, so I can’t really speak to it.

“There was drama on set, and I witnessed it and I heard a lot about it. And he sometimes didn’t come in prepared. But he would show up and, without any preparation whatsoever, direct the most awesome scene that he was able to put together because he’s such a good filmmaker.” She adds that she doesn’t “want to throw anyone under the bus...” She pauses. “Except for Brett Ratner .”

Ratner, the director of films including Rush Hour and Red Dragon , replaced Singer for 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand , which marked Romijn’s final substantial turn as Mystique. In 2017, six women – including actors Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge – accused Ratner of sexual assault and harassment, claims Ratner at the time “categorically” disputed through his attorney. Elliot Page, who played Shadowcat in X-Men: The Last Stand , also accused Ratner of sexual harassment on the set of the film.

“I was not happy working with him,” Romijn continues. “But he’s been cancelled. I haven’t spoken up about anything with regard to #MeToo, because I had two major issues with two directors I’ve worked with – and both of them already got theirs, one of them being Brett Ratner.” I tell her that I always imagine it’s a heavy burden to decide whether to go public with a bad experience on a film set. “Yeah, I kind of just...” She shakes her head. “I didn’t feel like I needed to say anything. I know the two people that I worked with had it coming, and they got theirs.” She doesn’t want to reveal more details. “I’m not gonna... I don’t need to say anything else,” she insists.

Blue lady: Romijn’s Mystique strangles actor Anthony Heald in ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’

Regardless of how her time as Mystique ended, though, she’d still love to one day reprise the role, as well as that of Alexis in an Ugly Betty reboot. Even if she guesses the latter is unlikely. “I do think Alexis should be cast with a trans actress,” she says. “That would be the correct thing to do.”

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ streams on Paramount+, with season two dropping weekly on Thursdays

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First trans, non-binary characters to debut on 'Star Trek' franchise

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‘star trek’s’ latest baddie says we need trans villains too, jesse james keitel joins 'star trek: strange new worlds' as dr. aspen..

Jesse James Keitel ( Queer as Folk ) has joined Paramount+’s ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ as new nonbinary character Dr. Aspen. The trans actress joined the series this week as a former Starfleet counselor whose experiences on the Federation border prompted them to shift careers and work as a humanitarian aid worker. Dr. Aspen also forms a connection to Spock (Ethan Peck). Keitel’s first episode, “The Serene Squall”, was helmed by trans director Sydney Freeland ( Reservation Dogs ). Keitel previously broke ground as the first openly trans series regular on primetime network TV in the ABC series  Big Sky . 

So shook to be part of the @StarTrek family! An ACTUAL life long dream come true ??? #StrangeNewWorlds https://t.co/kjnm22o2Ly — Jesse James Keitel ? (@JesseJKeitel) June 7, 2022

The Star Trek franchise is no stranger to LGBTQ+ representation, featuring queer characters and relationships across several series. Star Trek: Discovery won Outstanding Drama Series at last year’s GLAAD Awards . The series featured the first openly gay couple in  Star Trek  history in Lt. Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz). And  Discovery  made history yet again  by casting  their first non-binary actor Blu del Barrio, who plays human/joined Trill hybrid Adira, and the first openly trans actor Ian Alexander, who plays Adira’s former partner Gray. They play the first non-binary and trans characters in  Star Trek  history. We’ve also seen queer couples in  Picard , which saw a romance between Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan).

***Spoilers for Episode 7 of ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’***

But Dr. Aspen isn’t all that they seem, as they reveal themselves to be Captain Angel, who is married to Sybok, Spock’s Vulcan half-brother. Captain Angel hijacks the USS Enterprise and reveals themselves to be, as Keitel describes,  “ fifty shades of chaos .”  Keitel discussed her character’s turn in an interview with Screen Rant, saying “It was so fun. I felt like I got to play two different characters with them. I got to play someone who was really sweet and getting to know them. I was welcomed onto the ship as a crew member. And then I got to turn it all around and really take control. [Angel] was the chaotic dom that we all wanna see in the world. [Laughs]”.

On Twitter, Keitel discussed playing a non-binary villain and the importance of trans and NB characters playing a range of roles. She tweeted, “Trans people have a complicated history with tv/ film — but at a time when trans women are constantly vilified, mocked & legislated against IRL, I take pride in flipping the script. Cis actors get to play every shade of good & evil — let us do the same!”

Trans people have a complicated history with tv/ film — but at a time when trans women are constantly vilified, mocked & legislated against IRL, I take pride in flipping the script. Cis actors get to play every shade of good & evil — let us do the same! ??️‍⚧️☠️?‍☠️ #StrangeNewWorlds pic.twitter.com/UUbAlP37zT — Jesse James Keitel ? (@JesseJKeitel) June 17, 2022

Many fans responded by celebrating Keitel’s role and the expanding world of trans representation:

After decades of trans women finding themselves relegated to playing hookers, dead bodies, and the dead bodies of hookers, I relish Captain Angel. She knows who she is, what she wants, and is uncompromising in her aspirations. Also, have you seen those costumes? I mean GOD DAMN! https://t.co/xzChFrL46B — Lina Morgan Roth (@AlinaIsYou) June 17, 2022

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ is currently streaming on Paramount+.

(featured image: Paramount+)

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Ds9 actor nana visitor's book about women in star trek releases first look images.

The amazing women of Star Trek are explored in Open A Channel, a new, upcoming book by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Nana Visitor.

• Nana Visitor's new book celebrates women of Star Trek, inspired by Lt. Uhura, features interviews with numerous female stars.
• Open A Channel: A Woman's Trek showcases luminous women who portray iconic Star Trek characters, now available for pre-order.
• The book includes interviews with stars like Kate Mulgrew, Terry Farrell, Denise Crosby, Rebecca Romijn, and others from Star Trek.

Open A Channel: A Woman's Trek , a new book celebrating the women of Star Trek by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actor Nana Visitor has released first-look images. Inspired by Nichelle Nichols' Lt. Nyota Uhura of Star Trek: The Original Series , Nana Visitor, who plays Colonel Kira Nerys on DS9 , interviewed almost every woman who has starred in Star Trek , including Star Trek: Voyager 's Kate Mulgrew, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's Terry Farrell, Star Trek: The Next Generation 's Denise Crosby, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' Rebecca Romijn, Melissa Navia, and Christina Chong.

Now available for pre-order, new images of Nana Visitor's book, Open A Channel: A Woman's Trek , showcases many of the luminous women who portray some of Star Trek 's greatest characters . Open A Channel: A Woman's Trek releases on October 1, 2024. Check out the preview images below:

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Cast & Character Guide

Star trek boasts amazing female characters, there is no lack of great women in the final frontier.

Starting with Nichelle Nichols' Lt. Uhura, the Star Trek franchise boasts one of the greatest rosters of female characters in pop culture . Today, Star Trek features Starfleet admirals like Kate Mulgrew's Kathryn Janeway , starship captains like Sonequa Martin-Green's Michael Burnham and Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine, doctors like Gates McFadden's Dr. Beverly Crusher, and nurses like Jess Bush's Christine Chapel, pilots like Melissa Navia's Erica Ortegas, scientists like Terry Farrell's Jadzia Dax, and heroic survivors like Christina Chong's La'an Noonien-Singh.

Star Trek 's iconic female characters have inspired countless women to pursue careers in science, medicine, engineering, technology, and the arts. Beyond the actors and creative visionaries of Star Trek , in Open A Channel, Nana Visitor also interviews many real-life women who have been inspired by Star Trek to become soldiers, doctors, scientists, and astronauts, including astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti while she was in orbit around Earth on the International Space Station. Open A Channel: A Women's Trek is a celebration of Star Trek 's women whose time has come.

Open A Channel: A Woman's Trek is available for pre-order at Amazon.com

Source: Amazon.com

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Hunter Schafer Has Turned Down ‘Tons of Trans Roles’ Beyond ‘Euphoria’: I ‘Just Don’t Want to Do It’

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Hunter Schafer doesn’t want to be identified solely by her transition story.

The actress, who made her acting debut as trans character Jules in “ Euphoria ,” told GQ that she has turned down playing “tons” of other trans roles, and even tries not to use the term “trans” in interviews.

“I’ve gotten offered tons of trans roles, and I just don’t want to do it. I don’t want to talk about it,” Schafer said. “It’s a privilege, but it’s been very intentional.”

“If I let it happen, it would still be giving ‘Transsexual Actress’ before every article ever,” Schafer said. “As soon as I say it, it gets blastoff. It took a while to learn that and it also took a while to learn that I don’t want to be [reduced to] that, and I find it ultimately demeaning to me and what I want to do. Especially after high school, I was sick of talking about it. I worked so hard to get to where I am, past these really hard points in my transition, and now I just want to be a girl and finally move on.” Related Stories Anna Paquin Recalls Husband Stephen Moyer Directing Her ‘Explicit’ ‘True Blood’ Sex Scenes: ‘The Bar for Awkward Is Set Terribly High’ ‘Mary and George’ Is Rife with Orgies, Queer Affairs, and ‘Sizzling’ Seduction: It’s a ‘Very Punk’ Take on Royal Sex

Schafer continued, “I know for a fact that I’m one of the most famous trans people in media right now, and I do feel a sense of responsibility, and maybe a little bit of guilt, for not being more of a spokesperson. But ultimately, I really do believe that not making it the centerpiece to what I’m doing will allow me to get further. And I think getting further and doing awesome shit, in the interest of ‘the movement,’ will be way more helpful than talking about it all the time.”

Schafer co-wrote “Euphoria” episode “Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob” that focused on her character Jules’ backstory. She also co-executive produced the episode and called it “one of the most artistically fulfilling things I’ve ever done.”

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Zoe Saldaña Says It’d Be a ‘Huge Loss for Marvel if They Didn’t Find a Way to Bring Back’ the Guardians of the Galaxy, Even if She’s Done Playing Gamora

By Zack Sharf

Digital News Director

• Minnie Driver Claims ‘Hard Rain’ Producers Said She ‘Couldn’t’ Wear a Wetsuit ‘Because They Wanted to See My Nipples’: ‘I Was So Punished’ for ‘Saying This Is Wrong’ 13 hours ago
• Michael Keaton Admits His ‘Batman’ Casting ‘Was a Ballsy Move’ but Backlash Was ‘Baffling,’ Says Jack Nicholson Questioned Him for Working Out on Set 15 hours ago
• Hunter Schafer Has ‘Gotten Offered Tons of Trans Roles’ but ‘I Just Don’t Want to Do It’ or ‘Talk About It’: ‘I Just Want to Be a Girl and Move On’ 16 hours ago

Zoe Saldaña was asked on an upcoming episode of The Playlist’s “Discourse” podcast  if she was “done” playing Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe now that James Gunn’s “ Guardians of the Galaxy ” trilogy has ended. Gunn has moved on to DC, and some of Saldaña’s co-stars like Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer) have vowed that “Vol. 3” was their last “Guardians” movie.

“I would think it would be a huge loss for Marvel if they didn’t find a way to bring back the Guardians of the Galaxy,” Saldaña said. “It’s just such a fan-favorite group of misfits, you know? And then at the helm, they had a voice like James Gunn’s writing — which is just so marvelous for and very specific for this genre. And it’s so great for this genre as well. So, I would be the first one in the first row to sort of celebrate when the Guardians of the Galaxy come back.” 

Saldaña played Gamora in three “Guardians” movies and other Marvel films, including “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.” Gunn ended “Vol. 3” with the creation of a new “Guardians” team that included the likes of Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Cosmo (voiced by Maria Bakalova) and Adam Warlock (Will Poulter). Marvel hasn’t announced a new “Guardians” film starring this group.

“I still have hope,” Saldaña told “The Discourse” podcast about making a fourth “Stark Trek” movie. “I had a wonderful experience through and through and through the three times that I was a part of that team. I know that they’re always trying to sort of aim to wrangle everybody together, but I also know that Paramount is working on a new sort of fresh take on ‘Star Trek,’ which I think is such a wonderful franchise that should live for a very long time, whether or not us as the original remake cast can come back. I don’t know, but I certainly hope so.”

Saldaña is currently making the press rounds in support of her new immigration drama “The Absence of Eden,” co-starring Garrett Hedlund and Adria Arjona and directed by Marco Perego.

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Lynn loring, ‘search for tomorrow’ actress turned producer and top television executive, dies at 80.

She produced ‘Mr. Mom’ at Aaron Spelling’s company and while at MGM/UA thought ‘In the Heat of the Night’ would make a great series and that Carroll O’Connor should star in it. 

By Mike Barnes

Mike Barnes

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Lynn Loring, who appeared as a young actress on Search for Tomorrow , The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and The F.B.I. before becoming one of the highest-ranking female executives in Hollywood at the time, has died. She was 80.

Loring died Dec. 23 at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center after a series of chronic illnesses, her son, Chris Thinnes, told The Hollywood Reporter . Her family chose not to make public her death until now.

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When she was 7, Loring joined the new CBS soap opera Search for Tomorrow in September 1951 for the first of its 35 seasons. She would portray Patti Barron, daughter of Mary Stuart’s Joanne Gardner, for a decade until she graduated from the Calhoun School for Girls and entered Barnard College when she was 14.

She starred on the 1962-63 CBS/Desilu sitcom Fair Exchange , which revolved around American and English families who trade daughters for a year (Loring’s Patty Walker moves to London, while her counterpart, played by Judy Carne, comes to New York). It started out as a one-hour comedy, was canceled and then renewed as a half-hour show — all in the same season.

Loring portrayed the girl beatnik Edwina “Eddie” Kegel, a romantic interest of male beatnik Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver), on two episodes of CBS’ The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis in 1962 and was the daughter of Efrem Zimbalist Jr. ’s Inspector Lewis Erskine on the first season (1965-66) of ABC’s The F.B.I.

After leaving acting in 1975 to raise her family, Loring returned to show business four years later as a casting director on the NBC telefilm The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang and on the network’s big-budget flop, Supertrain .

She then joined Aaron Spelling Productions, first as a producer on telefilms including 1979’s The Return of Mod Squad and 1981’s The Best Little Girl in the World — a film about anorexia — then as a vice president of development and talent, motion pictures and television.

Loring exited in 1985 to become a development executive at MGM-UA Television, and she came up with the idea to turn the Oscar best picture winner In the Heat of the Night into a TV series, according to Carroll O’Connor, who starred as Chief Bill Gillespie on the show.

“She said to Fred Silverman one day, ‘I think In the Heat of the Night would make a good series, I would like to see you produce it for us, and I would like you to get Carroll O’Connor to play the chief,” the actor recalled in 1999.

Loring was named president of the division — second in command to MGM/UA Television Productions chairman and CEO David Gerber — in 1989, becoming one of the highest-ranking female execs in Hollywood at the time.

“I don’t look at it as something I’ve accomplished for all womanhood,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1990. “But in my position, I have an obligation to stand up and be counted. I’m not looking to be a spokesperson for women, but I find what I say matters, and that excites me.”

Lynn Eileen Zimring was born in Manhattan on July 14, 1943. Her father, Charles Zimring, was a New York shipyard owner, and her mother, Barbara Loring, a publicist.

After Search , Loring was an in-demand guest star, showing up on such shows as Wagon Train , The Eleventh Hour , Gunsmoke , The Defenders , Daniel Boone , Perry Mason , The Alfred Hitchcock Hour , The Big Valley , Burke’s Law , The Wild Wild West , Bonanza , The Man From U.N.C.L.E. , Mod Squad and Police Woman .

She left MGM/UA in the mid-1990s and became an independent producer.

Loring married Thinnes in 1967 and appeared with him on his ABC sci-fi series The Invaders and in a couple of telefilms before they divorced in 1984. She then wed late attorney Michael Bergman in 1988.

Survivors also include her daughter, Casey-Leigh.

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