Onward is set to arrive in theatres on March 6th. The upcoming animated film is directed by Dan Scanlon (Monsters University) and stars Tom Holland (
Spider-Man: Far From Home) and Chris Pratt (
Avengers: Endgame) as a pair of elvish brothers who embark on a magical quest to resurrect their late father. The cast also includes Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Mel Rodriguez, and Ali Wong.
Also a part of the voice cast is openly LGBTQ actress Lena Waithe. She will be serving as the voice of Disney's first ever openly gay animated character — and therefore Pixar's too — but not quite the first in all of their cinematic history.
Waithe plays Officer Specter who will appear briefly in the film. During a scene that features the character, she discusses her girlfriend with some other characters. Therefore, there's no question that the character is a member of the LGBTQ community but only whether she represents the lesbian portion or bisexual portion.
Onward producer Kori Rae and director Dan Scanlon told
Yahoo Entertainment that the inclusion came about naturally while they were writing the scene.
“It’s a modern fantasy world and we want to represent the modern world," said Scanlon. Below you can see one of the previously released character posters that features Officer Specter (she is the purple cyclops on the right):
Set in a suburban fantasy world, two teenage elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, go on a journey to discover if there is still a little magic left out there in order to spend one last day with their father, who died when they were too young to remember him.
Onward will arrive in theaters on March 6th, 2020.