A Star Wars animated series features the franchise’s first openly gay couple, its producers have confirmed.
The friendship between Orka and Flix, two aliens who supply characters with starship parts on Star Wars Resistance, had previously been subject to speculation among Star Wars fans.
In an interview with the podcast Coffee with Kenobi, executive producers Athena Portillo, Justin Ridge, and Brandon Auman confirmed that Orka and Flix are a romantic couple.
“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.”
Voiced by actors Bobby Moynihan and Jim Rash, Orka and Flix are officially the franchise’s first openly queer characters.
Donald Glover previously stated that Lando Calrissian, who he played in Solo: A Star Wars Story, was “pansexual”, adding: “How can you not be pansexual in space? There are so many things to have sex with.”
But Calrissian’s sexuality was underplayed on-screen and only spoken about during press for the film. Orka and Flix, however, have been depicted visiting Flix’s mother together as a couple and bringing her a gift of flowers.
“I have had a sentence prepared for a year and a half,” Moynihan said on Coffee and Kenobi, after expressing relief that he could finally talk about the pair’s sexuality. “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.”
