Star Wars Resistance's executive producers have confirmed that Office of Acquisitions operators Orka and Flix are the franchise's first openly gay couple. Despite a lot of fan fiction about Poe and Finn, the Star Wars movies have yet to feature any characters who are openly gay, which means that the franchise's LGBT representation has so far been limited to the tie-in books.
Since the acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, the Star Wars franchise has been under the Disney umbrella. The studio is fiercely devoted to upholding its family-friendly branding, and for a long time has been reluctant to release movies and TV shows featuring gay characters. However, Disney finally seems to be loosening up on this issue, with Avengers: Endgame (briefly) featuring the first openly gay character in a Disney movie, and Eternals set to feature another gay character.
When it comes to the Star Wars franchise, the first openly gay couple aren't characters from a movie, but from a TV show. Disney Channel animated series Star Wars Resistance features a duo called Orka (voiced by Bobby Moynihan) and Flix (voiced by Jim Rash), who operate a shop called Office of Acquisitions on a refueling station called the Colossus. Their relationship was mostly ambiguous until a comment made by Orka in Star Wars Resistance season 1, episode 13, "Dangerous Business." The pair task Kazuda with watching the store for a while they're away, and when Kazuda asks where they're going, Flix laments, "It's a long story with a tragic ending: we're visiting my mother."
On the Coffee With Kenobi podcast, executive producers Athena Portillo, Justin Ridge and Brandon Auman asked whether the trip to see Flix's mother could correctly be interpreted as meaning that Orka and Flix are partners in life as well as business. The EPs were happy to confirm, with Ridge saying, "I think it’s safe to say they’re an item, absolutely. They’re absolutely a gay couple and we’re proud of that. We love Flix and Orka."
Orka and Flix might be a same-sex couple, but they're completely different species. Orka is a member of the bat-faced Chadra-Fan, while Flix is a Gozzo, a bird-like species. They have an odd couple dynamic in both appearance and personality, but both have a strong mind for business dealings and running their junk store. Unfortunately, following Star Wars Resistance's cancellation, we only have one season left of the show, which will take place concurrently with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Still, maybe Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will follow suit and make the Poe/Finn shipper dreams come true.
Source: Coffee With Kenobi
