Star Wars studio cast trans actress Talisa Garcia in epic new series
Actress Talisa Garcia (Getty/Mike Marsland)
Talisa Garcia has become the first out trans actress to be cast by Disney in a Lucasfilm production.
The Baptiste star has been cast in the upcoming Willow series, which will see her star alongside Warwick Davies as he reprises his role from the 1980s fantasy hit.
It’s the first non-Star Wars-related production Lucasfilm has worked on in the last five years and also boasts The Falcon And The Winter Soldier star Erin Kellyman, The Serpent actor Ellie Bamber and Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Tony Revolori in the line-up.
According to Deadline, Talisa Garcia will play a queen and mother to Tony Revolori’s character, who participates in a quest to help the princess rescue her twin brother.
Talisa Garcia celebrates landing a role in Willow (Instagram)
Celebrating the news on Instagram, the British actress shared a heartfelt statement.
“I feel so blessed and honoured to be part of the Willow family; this is quite literally the definition of ‘a dream come true’,” Garcia wrote,
“When I was at school I used to drive my teachers crazy, they were always trying to get me to concentrate in class and stop looking out the window daydreaming. It must have been so frustrating for them but there was a reason I was unfocused.”
Garcia continued: “I was in so much pain from growing up in the wrong body that I spent hours living in a fantasy world where I was a princess or, in my more daring flights of fancy, even a queen, in a magical Disney production. I would never have dared to tell anyone of these ideas back then as they seemed so impossible, so ridiculously out of reach but regardless, I never stopped dreaming.
“Here I am, all these years later, an actual queen in a magical Lucasfilm & Disney production. That wild fantasy land that I used to disappear in to for escape and comfort is now reality… so, from one daydreamer to all the others out there… don’t stop! Dreams do come true.”
Talisa Garcia at the Everybody Flies premiere (Phil Lewis/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
She concluded: “Reach for those stars and eventually you’ll find yourself flying higher than you ever thought you could.”
The Girlfriend Experience star also thanked Lucasfilm, Disney, Willow and Disney Plus for “making it all come true”.
Per Deadline, Garcia’s role is a small speaking part and she may only appear in one episode.
The move comes after Disney insisted that it was committed to fighting the reviled ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill after the controversial legislation – known as the Parental Rights in Education bill – was written into law by US politicians in Florida.
Meanwhile, leaked meeting notes revealed that the company is aiming for 50 per cent of its TV character to be from underrepresented groups such as the LGBT+ community and people of colour.
