New Star Trek Will Be Captained By A Woman

In an unsurprising, but no less awesome bit of Bryan Fuller news, word is out that the new Star Trek will be captained by a woman.

Star Trek has always been hailed as a progressive franchise, and Bryan Fuller has a strong reputation for featuring representation in his shows.  It’s a match made in heaven.  So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the new Star Trek will be captained by a woman, but it’s no less awesome.  I’m squeeing loudly and proudly!  According to the Hollywood Reporter, that and other details about the series will be formally announced on Wednesday at the TCA summer press tour.

While this unnamed character won’t be the first woman to captain a Starship (thank you Captain Janeway), it’s the perfect time for this franchise to flex its progressive muscles and include a diverse cast.  With the recent all female Ghostbusters, the protagonists of both Star Wars episode VII and Rogue One being women, and the recent announcement of an all female Ocean’s Eleven reboot (starring Rihanna! No, I’m not joking), I think it’s become startlingly clear to Hollywood that women can be protagonists of blockbuster genre franchises.

I had the honor of being at the Star Trek 50th anniversary panel at San Diego Comic-Con just a few weeks ago where we got a glimpse of the new starship.  While the clip of the new series and getting to hear anecdotes from cast members of various other Star Trek series was amazing, it was Fuller’s message of hope that left an impression on me.  He stressed that Roddenberry’s original vision was one of hope and love.  In this political climate where identity politics has become a central focus to so many people, having a diverse cast is probably one of the strongest messages of hope and love this show could possibly achieve.

Thank you, Bryan Fuller.  Thank you so much.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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