Kate Mulgrew wanted a gay character on the bridge on Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager begin in 1995, the first of the Star Trek series to feature a woman as a captain, which was a big deal back then. But series star Kate Mulgrew, who spoke at FanExpo Boston [via Collider], wanted to include a gay character on the bridge as well, breaking even more ground. Unfortunately, that wasn't approved.

According to Mulgrew, she approached producer Rick Berman with the idea, telling him it was a good cast, but they needed a gay character, adding "I want this known, that this is my preference and my choice. But there wasn't any room, they felt at that time."

It took a long while before an openly gay character actually appeared on Star Trek and that was in J.J. Abrams' 2016's Star Trek Beyond when it was revealed that Sulu, played by John Cho, was gay. Prior to that, writer David Gerrold, who wrote "The Trouble with Tribbles," wrote an episode, "Blood and Fire" for The Next Generation that was about a gay couple on board the Enterprise. It was dealing with the AIDS crisis, but that was outright rejected as it was too controversial.

In The Next Generation episode "The Outcast," Jonathan Frakes' character, Wil Riker, falls in love with an androgynous alien named Soren, and Frakes wanted a male in the role. A woman was cast instead. Once again, probably too controversial, especially considering there was a kiss involved.

Star Trek has come a long way since the eighties and nineties and has introduced a diverse group of actors from all walks of life. Mulgrew talked about how the franchise has "come and gone all the way towards advancing representation." And for a world that is about Infinite diversity in Infinite combinations, that's a good thing, especially when there are so many more stories left to be told.