Could Laura Dern Play the First Queer Character in the Star Wars Cinematic Universe?

Amid the holiday madness this year, we can look forward to another epic installment to the Star Wars film franchise with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. So many questions are left to be answered.

What’s Luke been up to on that island since 1983? Will Rey defeat Kylo Ren? And most importantly, are Poe and Finn finally gonna hit it?

When The Force Awakens was released in 2015, plenty of fans were shipping the first potential gay couple of the Star Wars cinematic universe. With plenty of gay characters having appeared in the books and some hints that they might be the highly-anticipated first queer characters, it was looking likely.

Now, there’s a new candidate for the title. In the upcoming installment, Laura Dern joins the franchise as the purple-haired eccentric, Admiral Amilyn Holdo. In a recently released Star Wars novel entitled Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray, the resistance leader was introduced.

As pointed out byNewNowNext, one particular discussion of sexual attraction alluded to the fact that the new character might be a bit more fluid:

“A pair of pretty dark eyes.” Then Amilyn thought about that for a moment. “Or more than a pair, if you’re into Grans. Or Aqualish, or Talz. Or even–“

“That’s all right!” Leia said through laughter. “It’s just humanoid males for me.”

“Really? That feels so limiting.”

“Thank goodness it’s a big galaxy.”

It’s been an epic year for Dern, with her solid performances in Big Little Lies and the return of Twin Peaks. Portraying the first queer character in the Star Wars cinematic universe only seems like a natural next step and one hell of a way to wrap up 2017.

Photography:Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic