(LifeSiteNews) — A homosexual kiss is featured prominently in the latest episode of Disney’s Star Wars streaming series “Andor,” indicating that speculation about the entertainment giant’s retreat from woke themes in mainstream entertainment has been premature.
A prequel to the original trilogy and the 2016 film “Rogue One,” “Andor” follows multiple loosely-connected figures involved in the nascent Rebellion against the Galactic Empire and has won both praise and criticism for targeting an older audience than the space fantasy franchise’s traditional fare with its focus on more adult themes, such as the mental toll and moral compromises taken by spies and saboteurs living under fascism and a distinctly de-romanticized presentation of war.
TV Line reports that the sixth episode of the Disney Plus streaming series’s second season, which aired this week, features a kiss between two female rebels, Vel Sartha (played by Faye Marsay) and Cinta Kaz (played by Varada Sethu), who were mentioned in passing to be romantically involved in the first season. The scene ends before anything more explicit happens.
“I think it’s a mistake to try to underline everything and put a halo on things,” “Andor” showrunner Tony Gilroy told TV Line when asked about the moment, attempting to normalize homosexual relations. “I don’t think about it, it really doesn’t come up. We treat it like a regular thing.”
To him, Vel and Cinta merely present an “interesting relationship” that sheds light on “revolution and what it costs you to be involved in it, and the kind of courage it takes. I’m trying to really take attendance on all of the aspects of what a rebellion or a revolution or a commitment like that would do to people, and [theirs] is another relationship that has its own pressures.”
This is far from the first homosexual relationship in Star Wars, but TV Line notes it is the first on-screen kiss “between featured characters” of the same sex. 2019’s “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker” included a brief lesbian kiss in the background of the ending victory celebration.
Once a unifying cultural institution, over the past decade especially Disney has steadily infused left-wing politics into the army of entertainment properties it owns, such as appeasing LGBT “representation” demands in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, normalizing transgenderism and homosexual relationships in animation aimed at younger audiences, firing and publicly defaming conservative actress Gina Carano, selling LGBT “pride” merchandise, using films such as its recent failed “Snow White” remake as vehicles for feminism, and more.
In recent months there has been speculation about Disney finally backtracking from its woke turn, between the removal of a planned transgender storyline from its upcoming Pixar animated series “Win or Lose,” rumors of reshoots removing political content from February’s “Captain America: Brave New World,” and the conspicuous omission of two diversity initiatives from its latest U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. “Andor’s” latest episode, however, suggests the company still has far to go.
While much has been made of the financial toll taken by Disney’s “woke” approach to Star Wars and Marvel not resonating with fans, as well as its failed battle with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, as well as public lip service by CEO Bob Iger about toning down the company’s role in the culture war, shareholders rejected a bid by investor Nelson Peltz and former Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter last April to take over the board and shift the company back to its roots. Meanwhile, a defamation suit against Disney by Carano, financed by X owner Elon Musk, remains ongoing.
