‘Star Wars: Resistance’ Has Revealed The Franchise’s First Gay Couple
Despite taking place a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away, theStar Warsuniverse has been sorely lacking in LGBT representation on the screen. But amidst the dozens ofStar WarsTV shows there has to at least one canonically gay couple. TheStar Wars: Resistanceexecutive producers confirmed that there is, and they’ve been hiding in plain sight.
We’ve finally found theStar Warsgay representation we’ve been looking for. But we didn’t have to look far, according toStar Wars: Resistanceexecutive producersJustin RidgeandBrandon Auman. They were there from the start of the Disney Channel animated series in Orka and Flix, the “partners” who own the Office of Acquisitions on the Colossus, the ship where the show takes place.
“I think it’s safe to say they’re an item,” Ridge said on theCoffee With Kenobi podcast(viaio9). “They’re absolutely a gay couple and we’re proud of that,” added Auman.
The characters are played by Bobby Moynihan and Jim Rash, who confirmed that they have been playing the duo as a gay couple since the show premiered last year. Moynihan in particular was excited for the news to get out. “Oh, I’m so happy we’re allowed to say it,” Moynihan said. “I have had a sentence prepared for a year and a half if someone would finally ask me. I would say, ‘All I can say is when Flix says ‘I love you,’ Orca says ‘I know.'”
The couple have been a source of speculation for a year, and Ridge and Auman have said they have certainly been seeding in hints. A clip from the show, titled “Pay Attention,” in particular may have clued fans into the relationship, the producers said.
This is a big step in the right direction for representation inStar Wars. There have been other characters in canon whose orientation has been confirmed to be LGBTQ, though they’ve mostly appeared in books, and not in a major TV series watched by thousands of kids. It may be better than Disney’s last “exclusively gay” gestures at representation, which have beendissatisfactory to say the least. ButStar Warsstill has a long way to go. io9 points out that Flix and Orca notably aren’t human — Orka is aChadra-Fanand Flix doesn’t have an official species — though they are both presumably male. But hopefully the day comes that we get a canonically gay human couple inStar Wars, and it won’t require investigative skills to find them.
Star Wars: Resistancereturns for its second and final season onOctober 6, 2019.
