Raya and the Last Dragon's Kelly Marie Tran says she played Raya as a gay princess

11 March 2021, 11:41

Watch the Raya the Last Dragon trailer

By Sam Prance

Kelly Marie Tran revealed that she thinks Raya has romantic feelings for Namaari in the movie.

Raya and the Last Dragon star Kelly Marie Tran has opened up about Raya's sexuality in the film and whether or not Raya is gay.

Disney fans have long been asking the media company to include LGBTQ+ characters in their family films. Over the past few years, there have been a few minor strides with brief moments of LGBTQ+ representation in movies like Onward and Beauty and the Beast. However, Disney are still yet to release a feature-length project with an openly queer main character.

While that is still yet to happen, many viewers believe that Raya in Disney's new movie Raya and the Last Dragon is gay and now Kelly Marie Tran, who plays her, has revealed that she agrees with them. She even played Raya as a queer character.

In the movie, Raya appears to flirt with her nemesis Namaari (Gemma Chan) and it turns out that that was intentional. Vanity Fair asked Tran about the connection between the two characters and if she thinks that Raya is gay and she replied: "I’m obsessed with Namaari and I’m obsessed with Gemma Chan. So I’m really excited you brought this up.”

She then explained that she believes there were "some romantic feelings going on there" and played Raya that way. Tran added: "I think if you’re a person watching this movie and you see representation in a way that feels really real and authentic to you, then it is real and authentic. I think it might get me in trouble for saying that, but whatever.”

In other words, while it's not made explicit in the film, Raya is essentially Disney's first queer princess. We have no choice but to stan.