‘Star Wars Resistance' Confirms Franchise's First On-Screen Gay Couple

The makers of the animated series Star Wars Resistance have confirmed that the show contains a same-sex couple. They're the first confirmed same-sex couple to appear on screen, though not the first queer couple to appear in the Star Wars franchise.

Speaking to the Coffee with Kenobi podcast on September 30, executive producers Athena Portillo, Justin Ridge, and Brandon Auman confirmed that Orka and Flix are a couple. Set just before the events of The Force Awakens, the characters work in the Office of Acquisitions on the Colossus, a floating refueling station, and are voiced by Jim Rash and Bobby Moynihan, respectively..

"I think it's safe to say they're an item," Ridge said. "They're absolutely a gay couple and we're proud of that."

Fans had long suspected as much, with frequent speculation that they might be in a relationship circulating online. In the first season of the show, Flix and Orka mention that they're visiting Flix's mother together.

But if you're looking for any indication of their relationship beyond that, you won't find much. Despite the franchise depicting heterosexual relationships everywhere you look, two male-coded aliens visiting someone's mother is the extent of the queerness on Star Wars Resistance, and the show has yet to confirm the producers' statement.

Orka and Flix aren't the first queer characters to appear in Star Wars, and in fact, same-sex pairings have long been an option for players in Star Wars games.

For example, there's the deeply problematic Reess Kairn, an evil character who changed their gender in a 1999 comic. Meanwhile, the 2004 game Knights of the Old Republic includes a character named Juhani, the franchise's first lesbian, who speaks about her past romances with women. And in 2013's Star Wars: The Old Republic, we meet Lord Cytharat, a gay Sith, and the bisexual character Lemda. The game also includes Theron Shan, a spy who can be romanced by any gender, as well as Lana Beniko and Koth Vortena.

Turning to theStar Wars novels, former rebel Kareden Larte was confirmed as bisexual by author EK Johnston. Sinjir Rath Velus from the Aftermath trilogy is gay and in a relatioship with slicer (basically a hacker) Conder Kyl. That series also features a lesbian couple named Esmelle and Shirene Susser. Also in that series, Eleodie Maracavanya uses nonbinary pronouns.

TheStar Wars comic features two same-sex exes, Sana Starros and Dr. Aphra. The book Bloodline includes Ledaney, who is in a same-sex relationship. The Lando comics include Aleksin and Pavol, two gay mercenaries in love who planned to raise a child together.

The list goes on. And beyond those characters confirmed as queer, fans could make the case that all Star Wars characters are queer, since canonicity is simply an invention of capitalism.

There's no word on whether the upcoming Rise of Skywalker will include LGBTQ+ characters following speculation that Holdo, played by Laura Dern, was queer in The Last Jedi. That film hits theaters in December. Until then, LGBTQ+ fans of Star Wars can watch Orka and Flix discuss their in-laws on the Disney Channel following its second season premiere on October 6.

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