10 Star Trek Episodes That Never Got Made
3. Wesley Crusher's LGBT Storyline
At a 1986 convention, Gene Roddenberry responded to a fan question about LGBTQ representation in his upcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation. Roddenberry acknowledged that "it was time" to feature gay crewmembers on the Enterprise. As demonstrated by the rejection of Blood and Fire, this never transpired in any meaningful way.
Another rejected Next Generation episode was to push things further and explore themes of identity, gender fluidity and sexuality. Proposed by writer Rene Echevarria, the episode would focus on Wesley Crusher and his friend Los, from the Academy. The two are close friends, but Los decides to change genders in order to become closer to Crusher.
His species is able to biologically swap genders for a limited amount of time, so the episode would explore the prospect of what a romantic relationship for the pair would be like. It's a concept that feels quintessentially Star Trek, and would give Wil Wheaton some strong thematic material to work with as a returning guest star. Disappointingly, but unsurprisingly given the response to Blood and Fire, this story was not picked up and developed into a finished episode.