Animated series Star Wars Resistance returns to the Disney Channel for its second and final season this Sunday (October, 6th). Ahead of the first episode, its creators have confirmed something fans already suspected from the first season: Recurring characters Flix and Orka are a gay couple.
Executive producers Athena Portillo, Justin Ridge, and Brandon Auman guested on the Coffee with Kenobi podcast, where Ridge confirmed the fan speculation.
“I think it’s safe to say they’re an item, absolutely. They’re absolutely a gay couple and we’re proud of that. We love Flix and Orka,” he said.
Orka and Flix are voiced by actors Bobby Moynihan and Jim Rash respectively.
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Auman singled the men out for praise, describing them as “wonderful”, and having “the same chemistry” as the characters they play.
Moynihan also featured on the podcast and was happy to expand on his character’s love life. He joined the show, which made its debut last October, 18 months ago.
“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 that when Flix says I love you, Orka says I know.’ They’re the cutest.”
This is a reference to a line Han Solo (Harrison Ford) says to Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) in 1980 movie, The Empire Strikes Back.
To see a clip of the pair, check out the video below. In the 12th episode of the first season, the couple took time out to visit Flix’s mother. They appear at the 1.30-minute mark. The characters operate the Office of Acquisitions in the aircraft refuelling station, the Colossus.
Star Wars Resistance is produced by LucasFilm, which is now owned by Disney. The series is focussed on Kazuda Xiono, a New Republic pilot recruited by the Resistance shortly before and during the events of the franchise’s most recent sequel trilogy.
Fans have previously speculated about the sexuality of characters in Star Wars, with some queer viewers wishing the bromance between Finn (John Boyega) and Po (Oscar Isaac) in the recent movie trilogy bloomed into something more. However, Boyega has previously indicated that’s highly unlikely.
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For now, we’ll have to make do with animated characters Orka and Flix – a small but significant step by Disney. The entertainment giant also owns Marvel Studios, which revealed in the summer that Tess Thompson’s Valkyrie will be its first LGBTQ superhero when she appears in the fourth Thor movie, due 2021.
bonbon
No show is compete these days without some token minorities.
starri
Amending that to “token queer characters who will never actually be acknowledged as such onscreen.”
OzJosh
It hardly matters if they’re weird aliens and comic relief characters. That’s about as radical as having an arch Paul Lynde-type actor playing and “eccentric” uncle. It wasn’t representation in the 50s or 60s and it’s not now.
curiobi
Right so Star Wars is a universe of straight people? Earth is one planet with millions of gay people, but the whole Star Wars universe is hetro? This is lazy at best and insulting at worst.
Do phucking better Hollywood! It is bad enough that you ruined Star Wars for generations to come with sell out BS like Solo and Force One or whatever it was called, but this is just making it worse!
Grow a damn pair and have functioning gay people and couples as normal in your universe or just keep pushing that supremacist trash crowd you keep attracting, you know the ones that wanted Finn and all female characters and non white characters removed from the movies.
In fact I’ll do you one better, any more of this token queer baiting BS and the frigging neo Nazis can have you!
Gandalf The Grey
Does anyone really care about Star Wars cartoons anymore? I don’t.
Davidsas
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gavo92
And they turn them into an owl and a pig/hog. WTF