New Star Trek: Discovery TV series will have a gay character!

The Executive Producer of the new Star Trek TV series has confirmed that the show will boast a gay character.

Speaking at a panel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Bryan Fuller revealed a plethora of details about the upcoming series, titled Star Trek: Discovery.

After stating that the show would feature a female lead, he was asked if there would finally be a gay a character included in the cast.

“Absolutely we’re having a gay character,” he stated, reported Variety.

Fuller said that after his stint as a writer and co-producer on Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001) he had vowed to introduce a gay character if he ever worked on a new Trek series again.

“I think we’ve come a long way since then; gay rights have come a lot further in that time than racial issues and women’s issues.”

Fuller, who is himself gay, said that he aimed to continue the tradition of Star Trek having a “wonderful expression of diversity in its cast”.

The franchise recently broke new ground when it depicted the character of Sulu (John Cho) in the Star Trek Beyond feature film as a gay man raising a daughter with a male partner.

Star Trek: Discovery will première sometime next year and is likely to be available in South Africa on Netflix.

Meanwhile, Star Trek Beyond will be released in theatres on 26 August in South Africa.