J.J. Abrams, the creative force behind
the 2009 Star Trek reboot, says he would “love” to include
a gay character in the next film.
The 45-year-old Abrams produced and
directed the eleventh film based on the Star Trek franchise.
The film featured the main characters from the original Star Trek
television series, portrayed by a new cast.
A follow up film is in development with
Abrams again at the helm.
At the Television Critics Association
Press Tour, Abrams told
gay entertainment website AfterElton.com that he was shocked to
learn that the television series and its various spin offs did not
include an openly gay character.
“As someone who was never a huge Star
Trek fan and I didn't watch the shows. And my experiences with
the movie was the first series and then watching and re-watching some
of the movies that I've seen. I'm frankly shocked that in the
history of Star Trek there have never been gay characters in
all the series. In Deep Space Nine and all the Enterprises
that that's never come up,” Abrams said.
Abrams added that he would explore the
possibility in the next film: “I think it should be done and I'd
love to be able to do it.”
“[H]onestly this was not in the list
of priorities to try to figure out how to make this movie in the best
possible way,” he added. “But it will now be in the hopper. And
it's one of those things I'll bring up with the writers next time we
meet.”