Will Delenn be Transgender in the B5 Reboot?

[Winter]

One of the advantages of rebooting stories is that ideas that either couldn't be done or had to be stopped for whatever reason, can be applied to a reboot. On another post I made asking if Dorothy and Ozma would be made an official couple today given the huge amount of Les Yay between them in the original books given how more open people are becoming today and JMS having written Sense8 which is REALLY gay will what will this mean for B5?

As pointed out in his reviews Chuck pointed out that Delenn was suppose to be a male Minbari who would become a woman once she transformed. This was changed because they couldn't get the voice effects right to change her pitch to "male", so they decided to just make her female from the start, e.g re-dubbing one line to change a "he" to "she". Another issue was that Mira Furlan, not knowing about the story arc, was understandably confused and uncomfortable about why they even hired her if they were going to cover her face and modulate her voice. They changed the female Minbari makeup to appear more feminine after the pilot movie.

But today, with shows being more open I wonder if Delenn will be made trans with the actor playing her being made aware of this and if said actor (the term actor is gender neutral BTW) would be trans herself?

[McAvoy]

Assuming JMS is doing a reboot with the same characters but with younger actors, I assume this time around he will do it.

Or he could do it with another Minbari not named Delenn with his or her own unique story.

[Winter]

Assuming JMS is doing a reboot with the same characters but with younger actors, I assume this time around he will do it.

Or he could do it with another Minbari not named Delenn with his or her own unique story.

You know, thinking about it, I would actually like to see Nicole Maines in the role of Delenn as she is a good actor and seeing her as Dreamer on Supergirl I think she has what it takes as she can be calm and reasonable while still being able to be intimating when she needs to be.

[McAvoy]

Assuming JMS is doing a reboot with the same characters but with younger actors, I assume this time around he will do it.

Or he could do it with another Minbari not named Delenn with his or her own unique story.

You know, thinking about it, I would actually like to see Nicole Maines in the role of Delenn as she is a good actor and seeing her as Dreamer on Supergirl I think she has what it takes as she can be calm and reasonable while still being able to be intimating when she needs to be.

Mining actors from CW shows wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility.

[Winter]

Mining actors from CW shows wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility.

So, assuming that the show goes for actors they can get a hold of from their own studio who would they cast as everyone else? I don't know that many CW shows and most of the ones I do know are from the Arrowverse so I'm sadly drawing a blank here. I think out of the entire cast Garibaldi will be the hardest as Jerry Doyle was such a perfect fit for the role I can't really see anyone else playing him.

If I was casting this I think the best option would be Oscar Isaac as the man is seriously talented. For Sheridan, I would personally want to cast Idris Elba though I would cast Elba in ANYTHING I could get my hands on. Ivanova, odd as this may sound I think Janet Varney would be right for the role cause Ivanova has to hit the right balance of short tempered and calm and Varney has shown she is good at that. Talia Winters and or Lyta Alexander my personal pick would be Seychelle Gabriel as either one though I think she would be better suited for Talia (admittedly part of this is me wanting more Varney and Gabriel working together but the two would be good fit for the roles).

Think one thing that could be improved upon in a reboot is the villains, while characters like Londo were interesting and compelling characters none of the actual villains like Mr. Morden stood out to me so it would be nice to have more engaging antagonists instead of more mustache twirling villains or characters we hardly ever see.

[clearspira]

I would prefer it if that applied to their whole race tbh. As in, ''every Minbari can voluntarily or involuntarily change sex Iain Banks Culture style''. I feel as if there are more story opportunities that way. Single transpeople are a dime-a-dozen in sci-fi now, but a whole race of people not confined by sexual or gender binaries is rarer. I realise that I have historically not been the greatest advocate of such things on here, but I am an advocate of good stories. And if done well that could be one. Especially if they make the humans a creeping fascist dystopia again - sounds like good fuel for conflict.

As i was saying in the other thread, this reboot will work best if they don't blindly follow what the previous show did. BSG Classic vs BSG Reboot.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Single transpeople are a dime-a-dozen in sci-fi now,

What examples spring to mind? Honestly I'd like to see more of them and I can think of less than five. I'm not exactly an expert in the field but I'm always looking for more good science fiction TV to watch.

As far as Delen, that sounds fine to me. I'm more interested in what transness means for future humans than aliens, though.

[clearspira]

Single transpeople are a dime-a-dozen in sci-fi now,

What examples spring to mind? Honestly I'd like to see more of them and I can think of less than five. I'm not exactly an expert in the field but I'm always looking for more good science fiction TV to watch.

As far as Delen, that sounds fine to me. I'm more interested in what transness means for future humans than aliens, though.

Aliens in these sorts of shows are basically humans with nobbly foreheads. Either way, makes me wonder why no one has copied that aspect of the Culture before.

[hammerofglass]

I'm honestly glad they didn't do it as planned. Without a lot of setup to establish the character and/or culture would be cool with it you walk right into the "gender identity always matches the body" trope. Which if the goal is trans representation is just... no.

It would definitely be cool if they did something with it in the new show, I just hope they handle it well.

[Nealithi]

I would prefer it if that applied to their whole race tbh. As in, ''every Minbari can voluntarily or involuntarily change sex Iain Banks Culture style''. I feel as if there are more story opportunities that way. Single transpeople are a dime-a-dozen in sci-fi now, but a whole race of people not confined by sexual or gender binaries is rarer. I realise that I have historically not been the greatest advocate of such things on here, but I am an advocate of good stories. And if done well that could be one. Especially if they make the humans a creeping fascist dystopia again - sounds like good fuel for conflict.

As i was saying in the other thread, this reboot will work best if they don't blindly follow what the previous show did. BSG Classic vs BSG Reboot.

My concern here is Delenn originally looked a bit androgynous. Not terrible sure. But some of the later minbari were obviously male and done by some great actors. I am not sure they could tone down some of them to a universally neutral effect. So would they cast people they could get to seem gender neutral? How many of them can act well?