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Star Wars may have just introduced its first trans on-screen character

Star Wars The Bad Batch Omega

Star Wars may have just included its first on-screen transgender character, Omega, in its newest Disney Plus series, The Bad Batch. (Disney Plus/Lucasfilm)

Star Wars may have just introduced a trans character in its newest Disney Plus series, The Bad Batch.

The Bad Batch, which premiered Tuesday (4 May) on Disney Plus, is both a sequel and spin-off from the critically acclaimed animated series The Clone Wars.

It follows Clone Force 99, also known as the Bad Batch – a group of elite clone troopers with genetic modifications who take on daring missions in the aftermath of the Clone Wars.

The 70-minute Bad Batch premiere, “Aftermath”, re-introduced fans to Clone Force 99 and also an entirely new character who might bring some much needed LGBT+ representation to a galaxy far, far away. By the end of the first episode, fans learned that Omega is a young, female clone who is ‘enhanced’ like the rest of the Bad Batch.

Like the millions of clones, her generic source material would have been taken from Jango Fett – a Mandalorian human male bounty hunter and the clone template of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Omega, who is voiced by New Zealand actor Michelle Ang, has sparked a lot of debate among Star Wars fans because it stands to reason that part of her ‘enhancement’ is the fact that she is a girl.

She would be the only known living female clone of Jango, and fans say her source material means she could be considered trans.

If this is made canon, Omega would represent Star Wars’ first trans character to appear on-screen.

There are still many mysteries surrounding Omega, and Inverse reported that there is a possibility that Omega may have been cloned from another character besides Jango Fett. However, Inverse said many of the main contenders besides Jango – including Palpatine, Count Dooku and Obi-Wan Kenobi – are all male.

This is speculation, and The Bad Batch has yet to explore Omega’s backstory, so there is a possibility that she might not be trans. Jennifer Corbett, executive producer and head writer of Bad Batch, told Inverse that Omega is hiding a backstory that will be explored later in the series.

“Who Omega is and how her backstory is relevant to the series is something that we definitely explore,” Corbett said.

In another interview with Digital Spy, Corbett added part of the inspiration behind Omega was an idea about how to throw a group of “elite soldiers” like the Bad Batch “off their game”. She explained the group understands their missions and how to “do something tactically”, but the writers wondered how the soldiers would fare “taking care of a child” or having to fend for themselves for the first time.

But Star Wars fans are here for trans representation – even if it’s just a theory so far. Even if she isn’t confirmed to be trans, many said they loved the idea that Omega is transgender, and some joked the rest of the Bad Batch were her “dads”.

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