Cooper: SGU has gay characters

Beware of minor SPOILERS for the upcoming episode “Life” in the report below.

The third Stargate series will go where Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis didn’t: It will have gay characters. Stargate Universe series creators Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright told fans during their stage panel at Creation Entertainment’s official Vancouver Stargate convention earlier this month.

“There are at least one and potentially more gay characters on Universe,” Cooper said in answer to a fan’s question.

Wright added, “There’s actually two.”

One of those characters is Camille Wray, the I.O.A. representative on board the Destiny, new casting documents reveal. The character is played by actress Ming-Na.

In the show’s seventh episode, “Life,” viewers will meet Wray’s long-time partner back on Earth, Sharon. The character is listed as a lead guest, and possibly recurring. Camille uses the Destiny‘s long-range communications device to return home to Sharon for a brief respite.

Stargate Atlantis did have a few gay characters itself, at least in the minds of the producers — though it never made it onto the screen. Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi has stated that character of Alicia Vega was written to be a lesbian (story). But after her introduction in the Season Five premiere, she was quickly killed off in just her second appearance (“Whispers”).

Mallozzi also said that there was another character on Atlantis he always thought was gay, though the right time (read: not forced) to reveal it on screen never materialized.

The decision to include gay characters on Universe was born from the desire to focus the show on its characters and their relationships with one another.

“This goes towards our goal to make the characters on Universe as complex and complicated and realistic and identifiable as we can, to as many people as we can,” Cooper said. “And that’s not just a desire for ratings. That’s the desire to portray humanity, and make a show that is saying something about who we are.”

Stargate Universe premieres this fall on SCI FI Channel in the U.S., Sky1 in the U.K. and SPACE in Canada! Keep your browser locked on GateWorld’s own SGU Launch Center for more in the weeks ahead.

(Thanks to Morjana for the contributing)