Claudia Christian, star of Babylon 5, has looked back on the beloved sci-fi’s “amazing” portrayal of her bisexual character, Susan Ivanova.
The actress appeared in Babylon 5 from 1994 to 1998, leaving the show after season 4. Throughout the series, she’s shown to have a romantic relationship with Talia Winters (Andrea Thompson), and at points she also has a connection with Marcus Cole (Jason Carter).
Speaking exclusively to Radio Times, Christian said she “never” received any pushback from audiences about Ivanova’s bisexuality after what she has described as a “beautiful” relationship between Talia and Ivanova.
“That’s the amazing thing,” she added. “Because the relationship between Talia and Ivanova was done in such a subtle way. If we have this utopian future, sexuality should not matter. So there was never attention brought to it. She just woke up in her bed, and nobody pointed it out.
“They didn’t have to kiss, they didn’t have to make it so obvious that they had slept in the same bed. It was just she just put a hand on her shoulder. That fluidity of her sexuality, and then being drawn to to Jason Carter’s character, and then also having an ex-boyfriend show up in the first season, it was just accepted, there was no fuss.”
While Christian, who recently also opened up about being “torn” over the idea of a Babylon 5 reboot, left after season 4, she still looks back on it with a huge amount of love.
“I see how it touched so many people, and that’s really the overwhelming feeling,” she said.
“No one’s ever come up to me and said ‘Babylon 5 ruined my life!’ They always say, ‘It was there for me at a very difficult time’, or, ‘I resonated with Susan Ivanova, because she was strong and gave me faith’ or ‘gave me hope, or ‘I saw Jewish character’, ‘I saw a bisexual character’, ‘I identified with these things’, ‘I saw substance use disorders’, race wars, religious wars, all of these things that touch people, and that’s overwhelmingly what I feel. I feel a nostalgic love for that show that continues.”
Babylon 5 is available to watch on LEGEND on weeknights at 7pm.
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Authors
Louise Griffin is the Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editor for Radio Times, covering everything from Doctor Who, Star Wars and Marvel to House of the Dragon and Good Omens. She previously worked at Metro as a Senior Entertainment Reporter and has a degree in English Literature.
