In the continued efforts of the Star Trek franchise to be inclusive and representative of the LGBTQ+ community, the spinoff Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has announced the onboarding of Jesse James Keitel, a trans woman, for a guest role in an upcoming episode. Keitel will portray the non-binary Dr. Aspen, Variety reports, for the show's seventh episode, airing June 16.
In the episode, Dr. Aspen, previously a Starfleet counselor, is a humanitarian aid worker after their time on the Federation border altered their perspective. Not much else is known about Keitel's role other than that there may be a surprising connection between them and Spock, played by Ethan Peck (Star Trek: Discovery).
The casting of Keitel is an intentional effort to continue the expansion of representation in the massive Star Trek universe. After all, there is no exclusivity in the final frontier. In recent years the LGBTQ+ community has made strides in pop culture, but it's the meaningful rep that counts (looking at you, The Rise of Skywalker). For the MCU, most recently, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness saw its first queer Latina superhero on the big screen in America Chavez, portrayed by Xochitl Gomez, and her gay parents. Prior to that, we saw Negasonic Teenage Warhead and her girlfriend Yukio in Deadpool 2and a bisexual Loki, as confirmed by the God of Mischief himself in the Disney+'s series Loki. Elsewhere, in Stranger Things Season 3, Maya Hawke's character Robin Buckley comes out as a lesbian, and the speculation over Will Byers sexuality has turned the internet Upside Down following the recently released fourth season.
As for Star Trek, the universe included their first regularly appearing same-sex couple in 2017 for Star Trek: Discovery. Lieutenant Commander Paul Stamets and Dr. Hugh Culber are portrayed as a gay couple, played by openly queer actors Anthony Rapp (A Beautiful Mind) and Wilson Cruz (13 Reasons Why). Then again, in 2020, Discovery introduced Ian Alexander and non-binary actor Blu del Barrio as the first explicitly trans and non-binary characters in Star Trekhistory. Discovery also features lesbian Tig Notaro as the recurring character Jett Reno.
For Keitel, this isn't the first time she's made history. In 2020, she became the first openly trans series regular on a primetime television show for ABC's crime thriller Big Sky. You can also catch her on Peacock's serial drama revival of Queer as Folk on June 9 as Ruthie alongside Juliette Lewis and Kim Cattrall.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently streaming on Paramount+. Keitel will guest-star as Dr. Aspen on the June 16 episode, directed by trans filmmaker Sydney Freeland (Reservation Dogs).
