Star Wars' New Novel Shows How Bad The Movies Fail At LGBTQ+ Representation
The latest Star Wars novel by E.K. Johnston, Queen’s Hope, highlights how far the movies still need to come with executing positive LGBTQ+ representation. Beyond the movies, Star Wars has existed in various other forms of media long before Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012. With the company rebranding those installations as “Legends,” new books, comics, video games, and shows have emerged, becoming a part of the official canon within the galaxy from “far, far away.” These pieces have explored an entire cast of characters who identify and express themselves in a way that is starting to relate to the franchise’s diverse fanbase.
Johnston’s latest novel, the aforementioned Queen’s Hope, includes Tepoh, a character who goes by zhe/zher/zhem, and this isn’t even the first time a character in a Star Wars novel has gone by these specific pronouns. Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath: Life Debt features Eleodie Maracavanya, who also goes by zhe/zher/zhem as well. There are a plethora of other LGBTQ+ characters in the Star Wars universe as revealed in the books, comics, video games, and shows. While some of these characters can be seen in the movies and their backgrounds have simply been fleshed out in other forms of media, other LGBTQ+ characters have been introduced that have yet to be seen on the silver screen at all. With the franchise’s first and only live-action same-sex kiss happening in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the inclusion was a welcome one, but it was such a fleeting moment that it was easily removed from the cut many international audiences saw.
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While writers like Johnston have done a great service by including characters like Tepoh in their books, Star Wars
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