‘Star Trek: Discovery’ to Introduce Franchise’s First Non-Binary and Transgender Characters

Star Trek has always been progressive in its casting and characters — that’s something built into the DNA of the franchise by Gene Roddenberry from its very beginning. But there are still barriers to be broken, and two of those will be shattered when Star Trek: Discovery returns to CBS All Access next month. As announced by the streamer, Season 3 of Discovery will introduce the first non-binary and transgender characters into the Star Trek universe.

The non-binary character is Adira, played by Blu del Barrio. Described as “highly intelligent with a confidence and self-assurance well beyond their years,” they will form an “unexpected” bond with Lt. Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz). Of note, Stamets and Culber have also been a large part of Star Trek‘s push for inclusion, as the first openly gay characters on a Star Trek TV series, as well as the first characters in a same-sex marriage. That came hot on the heels of John Cho’s Sulu being revealed as gay — and married — in 2016’s Star Trek Beyond (though that’s a different continuity, but let’s not get into it).

The transgender character is named Gray, played by Ian Alexander. Gray is described as “empathetic, warm and eager to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a Trill host, but he will have to adapt when his life takes an unexpected turn.” The Trills are symbiotic beings who join with another in order to share their experiences — with the best known Trill probably being Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Not to speculate too heavily, but the idea that you are something else inside other than how you openly appear seems like a pretty potent metaphor for a transgender character and actor, one of the sort Star Trek has mined responsibly time and again.

“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,” said Michelle Paradise, co-showrunner and executive producer via press release provided to Decider. “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.”

Though Blu del Barrio (who uses they/them pronouns) is fresh out of their final year at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and will be making their TV debut in Star Trek: Discovery, fans of The OA might recognize Ian Alexander as Buck Vu from the Netflix series. Or if you’re a gamer, Lev from The Last of Us Part II. Alexander is, according to the release, the first out transgender Asian-American person to act on television, and “is also an advocate for transgender equality, racial justice and mental health awareness for LGBTQ+ youth.”

If you want to learn more about Blu, though, you can check out an interview they did over at GLAAD about the groundbreaking role.

The other little twist here is that Adira and Gray exist far in the future of the Star Trek universe. In the Season 2 finale, Commander Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) dragged her crew — with their permission — through a wormhole, in order to protect vital information from a villainous AI threat. Now, lost centuries from home, the crew of the Discovery will have to work together to get back; but first, they have to fix a broken, hopeless Federation. How Adira and Gray tie into all this, remains to be seen.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 also stars Doug Jones (Commander Saru), Mary Wiseman (Ensign Sylvia Tilly), David Ajala (Cleveland “Book” Booker) and Michelle Yeoh (Philippa Georgiou). The new season debuts on October 15 on CBS All Access, with each episode of the 13 episode season airing Thursdays after that.

Where to stream Star Trek: Discovery