It’s been a long wait, but a Disney heroine finally has a girlfriend… and it’s not Elsa. Months after The Rise of Skywalker featured the first same-sex kiss in the Star Wars galaxy, the new animated film Onward
introduces the first self-identified lesbian character into the
Disney-Pixar universe. Her name is Officer Specter, and she’s a Cyclops
cop voiced by openly gay screenwriter and actress Lena Waithe. While
Specter’s inclusion in Onward is a major first for Disney, it’s
treated almost matter-of-factly in the movie itself, which the
filmmakers say is by design. “It just kind of happened,” Onward producer
Kori Rae tells Yahoo Entertainment. “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.” Adds director Dan Scanlon, “It’s a modern fantasy world and
we want to represent the modern world.”
Specter only appears in one scene in Onward,
which opens in theaters on March 6, but her role is vital to the
emotional arc of the story. Written by Scanlon, Jason Headley and Keith
Bunin, the film takes places in a magical universe whose fantastical
citizens — think elves, dragons and manticores — have lost their
connection to the magical arts. Onward’s heroes are two elven
brothers, Ian and Barley (Tom Holland and Chris Pratt), who lost their
father at a young age before either had a chance to properly say
goodbye. On Ian’s 16th birthday, their mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)
hands them a present left behind by dearly departed dad, which turns out
to be a 24-hour resurrection spell. Due to their limited experience
with magic, the spell immediately goes haywire, forcing the duo to
embark on a ticking-clock quest to find a replacement element before
their father vanishes again. Meanwhile, Mom and her new boyfriend,
centaur cop Colt Bronco (Mel Rodriguez), try to catch up with the boys
to protect them from a curse that their mission threatens to unleash.
