OK, let’s manage some expectations here: if you’re hoping this means Finn and Poe kiss in The Rise Of Skywalker, we’re sorry but that’s probably not going to happen. But the Star Wars universe does now have at least one confirmed gay couple, although you’d be forgiven for not having noticed.
It’s not Luke and Han. It’s not Leia and Mon Mothma. It’s not Ashoka Tano and Barriss Offee, despite the efforts of The Clone Wars shippers. And it’s definitely not C-3PO and R2-D2.
It’s Orka and Flix.
Chances are your response is “who?”, unless you’re a pretty solid fan who can reply “Ah yes, those characters from Star Wars: Resistance, the animated series which takes place in the period immediately before The Force Awakens and which is about to start its second season, totally across that.”
And while there’s nothing explicit about their relationship in the show, beyond the small point that they’re doing a fairly relationship-ish thing in taking flowers to Flix’s mum, executive producer Justin Ridge told the Coffee With Kenobi podcast (and the Guardian reported) that “I think it’s safe to say they’re an item. They’re absolutely a gay couple and we’re proud of that.”
It’s worth noting that there have been queer characters in what Star Wars used to call its Expanded Universe of publications, games and other non-movie media.
If you played as a female character in the still-amazing Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic game you could flirt with the warrior-dame Juhani, for example, and there were numerous queer and non-binary characters in the novels and comics.
And just quietly, we like to think that Moff Jejerrod was subtly coming out to Vader in Return of the Jedi.
However, this is the first canonical on-screen depiction of a same-gender couple in the Star Wars universe.
And sure, it would be nice if Disney had been game to show a queer couple that wasn’t a bat and an owl, but you know. Baby steps.