Diversity is still not great in the film industry, especially for LGBTQ+ movie characters, but Disney is continuing its efforts to change that. Recently, the company announced that the upcoming animated Pixar film Onward would feature its first LGBTQ+ character, and it will be voiced by a gay person, Lena Waithe. The character is described as a cyclops police officer named Officer Specter, who openly mentions that she has a girlfriend in the film, according to People.
Onward producer Kori Rae explained to Yahoo Entertainment that the inclusion of the character felt organic to the story.“It just kind of happened. The scene, when we wrote it, was kind of fitting and it opens up the world a little bit, and that’s what we wanted,” she said.
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The director, Dan Scanlon, seconded the inclusion as representative of the world they were building with the film.“It’s a modern fantasy world and we want to represent the modern world,” he said.
The inclusion of Officer Specter is the latest in a push by Disney to include more queer characters in its properties. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker featured the first same-sex kiss in the franchise and Marvel confirmed that the character Valkyrie will be looking for her queen as the King of Asgard in the upcoming installment Thor: Love and Thunder. Marvel’s president, Kevin Feige, recently hinted that there may soon be a trans character joining the MCU.
Although Officer Specter is not a main character in Onward, Rae and Scanlon credit Waithe with giving the character a major presence in the film, even going as far as to say that after working with her, they want to make a full movie starring Waithe. Officer Specter spinoff, anyone?
Onward will be released in the UK on 6th March.