Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm and the most powerful person at Star Wars HQ, says queer characters and storylines will be a “real focus” for films and TV shows moving forward.
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However, don’t get your hopes up for a Finn / Poe Dameron hook-up in the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker film: director J.J. Abrams has already confirmed it ain’t gonna happen.
When asked if there was room for LGBTQIA representation in the Star Wars canon, Kennedy replied: “Oh, absolutely.”
“Oh I think it absolutely is, whether or not it eventually finds its way with Finn and Poe, or some other characters that we’re able to move beyond the saga and start to create new stories,” she told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“I think that very much, across the board, I think there’s opportunities for inclusion in many different ways. That will be a real focus.”
Disney and Lucasfilm have come under criticism for not making Stormpilot (the fan name for a Finn / Poe relationship) a reality. Abrams recently said their relationship was “far deeper than a romantic one”, which is a nice thought but isn’t quite the answer fans wanted.
Actors John Boyega and Oscar Isaac – who play the rogue Stormtrooper Finn and rebel fighter pilot Dameron respectively – said they would have been 100% down for their characters to fall in love.
“I’d hoped that there was a possibility there, because it would mean a lot to a large number of fans,” Isaac told P.TV.
“You hadn’t seen that [in a major Star Wars film] yet, so it felt like there was space for that. But you know – we still don’t have that representation.”
Boyega – who replied “hell yeah” to the question of their characters getting together – added that he thought it was always going to happen.
“I mean, that’s what we were playing to,” Boyega said.
Oh yeah, I believe it:
This whole Stormpilot thing started with that lip bite, according to Isaac. Be still my beating heart.
It should be worth noting that even if these stupidly hot pair do hook up in The Rise of Skywalker, it won’t technically be Star Wars’ first same-sex couple. That honour goes to Orka (Jim Rash) and Flix (Bobby Moynihan), two characters in the animated series Star Wars Resistance. It’s not exactly over-the-top stuff though; after fan speculated the characters were a couple due to heavy queer coding, executive producer Justin Ridge confirmed it: “I think it’s safe to say they’re an item. They’re absolutely a gay couple and we’re proud of that.”
Given Star Wars gave us incest for no reason at all (yes, I’m referring to the infamous Luke and Leia kiss), it’s safe to say it’s well past time for the series to become just a little bit gayer.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday 19 December.
