If you were an LGBT kid and a fan of sci-fi and fantasy growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, you basically knew that you’d never see yourself represented in any form in any of the media you loved and consumed—not in movies, TV, nor comics. Even Star Trek, a franchise that is all about “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations,” never got so infinitely diverse as to actually have an LGBT crew member on any of the modern series.
Obviously, things are much different now, with LGBT characters and themes becoming part of many different genre properties. One beloved property that has remained strictly hetero (on screen anyway) is Star Wars. Now, The Force Awakens made many giant steps towards inclusivity by making the three young leads a woman, a black man, and a Latino man, but there wasn’t an LGBT character in sight. Or was there? And has that character been a part of Star Wars since day one?A fan going by the name a(nakin)ddie on Twitter recently asked actor Mark Hamill about whether or not his character of Luke Skywalker is bisexual. Mark Hamill, super cool and classy guy that he is, gave a very thoughtful answer via DM, which the fan then took a screenshot of and tweeted out:
@amediumbear i asked if Luke was bisexual and!!! pic.twitter.com/SMzGxHZjDN
— a(nakin)ddie (@kynoren) January 13, 2016
Now, as cool (and correct) as Hamill’s answer is, it’s also pretty much applicable to almost any character in fiction that we only see as being defined by one sexual orientation. Despite the fact that we’ve only seen, say, Batman and Iron Man and Captain Kirk go from one woman to another, until any of those characters definitively says, “I’m also not interested in members of my own gender,” there’s really no way to know. Of course, since those previous characters have been around for decades and have only shown interest in the opposite sex, we can make an educated guess that they’re exclusively hetero.
Luke Skywalker, on the other hand, has shown almost zero sexual interest in anyone in any of the films… with the exception of a woman who turned out to be his sister. And even then, that interest seemed considerably mild. So Luke is a much stronger candidate for being a character that can go in any direction. That doesn’t mean Lucasfilm and Disney will ever bring it to the screen, of course, but it’s good to know that the man who brings the character to life would be completely cool with the notion if they did.
What do you think of Mark Hamill’s comments? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
IMAGE: Lucasfilm
