At the annual Oscar Wilde Awards this Thursday where he hosted, the prospect of adding an LGBT character to the Star Wars films was brought up, and Abrams had this to say:
Of course! When I talk about inclusivity it’s not excluding gay characters. It’s about inclusivity. So of course … I would love it. To me, the fun of Star Wars is the glory of possibility. So it seems insanely narrow-minded and counterintuitive to say that there wouldn’t be a homosexual character in that world.
LGBT characters aren’t exactly new to the Star Wars universe, as they have been included numerous times in canon – from hints of characters in “The Clone Wars” to more blatant examples in recent book titles “Lords of the Sith” and “Aftermath” – and also in video games such as “The Old Republic.” So does this mean we’ll be seeing an LGBT character in the upcoming Episode VIII or the anthology films?
Hopefully, but it would be a leap of logic to confirm that was exactly what he was implying. As a producer, Abrams will have a lot of creative input on the upcoming films, and it does seem like this is something he wants to do, but that’s not to say it will definitely happen.
What we can count on is that Abrams sees the value and relevance of including characters from all walks and journeys of life, and that he understands that audiences will more strongly relate to characters they have something in common with. Whether this means a character we’ve already met is LGBT, or that one will be introduced in future movies is hard to say. But what’s fantastic is that “Star Wars” is broadening its horizons and looking for ways to make everyone enjoy and identify with the films as much as possible, and that is definitely a good thing.
Source: The Daily Beast