One of Star Trek’s most popular characters has finally been depicted as attracted to her own sex. The season one finale of Star Trek Picard confirmed in a brief but groundbreaking scene that the character ‘Seven of Nine’ played by actress Jeri Ryan is in a lesbian relationship. The brief encounter sees Seven hold and caress the hand of Raffi played by Michelle Hurd.
Ryan appeared to confirm her character’s queer identity on Twitter by posting the emoji of the Rainbow flag in response to queer Trekkies probing her on social media for answers.
Fans were giddy with excitement as hitherto, the franchise which boasts a massive LGBTQ following has failed to feature any openly queer characters. Fan Alice Smith Tweeted “Can you believe Star Trek Picard gave us a queer Seven of Nine?? I wish I could go back in time and tell my Baby Gay teenage self who watched Voyager all day on the couch while skipping school. Sometimes dreams do come true! Anyway she’s beautiful and I love her!”
The move to introduce more LGBTQ representation into the iconic series comes after online pressure from fans to see a more diverse range of sexual identities. Australian actor Evan Evagora who plays the androgynous character Elnor in the series has also muted further developments in his character’s sexuality.
In answer to the swathe of social media questions on the subject of queer representation in the show, series creator Michael Chabon has promised that “sexuality and identity will come more fully into play”. Fans eagerly await critically-acclaimed Star Trek Picard’s second season due soon.
