Writer Patrick Ness (of YA fame) has announced that his "Doctor Who" spinoff "Class" will feature a gay lead character. The series follows in the footsteps of fellow "Doctor Who" spinoff "Torchwood," which starred John Barrowman as the omni-sexual Captain Jack Harkness.
In the wake of the tragic mass shooting in Orlando, Ness revealed the "Class" news over Twitter:
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Been asked if Class will have LGBT representation in it. Will a lead character with a boyfriend who he kisses & sleeps with & loves do?— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) June 13, 2016
We were keeping that secret, but today that secret doesn't seem very important. #lovewins— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) June 13, 2016
Though Ness wasn't specific, we can infer the gay character will be someone played by Greg Austin or Fady Elsayed. The series also stars Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah in principal roles.
The upcoming series takes place in contemporary London and focuses on students at the Coal Hill Secondary School, where Doctor Who companion Clara Oswald teaches. However, Clara won't be a character on the new series.
Ness previously said of the series, "The idea is to take everything that I love about YA, which is the great breadth of it and the great depth of it and its fearlessness about the emotional stuff and its fearlessness about emotional truth, and the way that it takes teenage characters seriously as complex human beings, and just put that on television in the Doctor Who universe, and that sounded very, very exciting to me."
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“Class” is filming in Wales, and is set to air next year -- in eight 45-minute installments -- on BBC America.
(via io9)