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Netflix’s New Dark Crystal Prequel Has Gay Dads and Is Glorious
There’s also reportedly a lesbian couple.
To say we've ever seen the original 1982 Dark Crystal would be a lie. And we don't lie to our readers at Out magazine. But when the prequel launched as a 10-episode series on Netflix this weekend, we binged it. What we found nestled in the fantastical, and at times, bewildering world of Thra, is a pair of gay dads, without whom, we wouldn't have a film.
It's a bit confusing to describe Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, but to put it succinctly: it's set in this world called Thra, which is populated by a variety of creatures. Among them are the Gelfling, who are divided into seven clans. Another type of creature, the Skeksis, are causing discord on Thra and essentially, our main characters are out to rectify this. Among the most important is Deet, voiced by Nathalie Emmanuel, who you may remember as Missandei from Game of Thrones.
Deet, as we find, is a Grottan -- one of the seven clans of Gelfling. This means she lives in the tunnels of Grot. And though glimpses of her family are brief, one in the first episode but a longer, more involved look in episode 8, it becomes explicitly clear to viewers that she has not one but two dads. And no, there's no "we're gay" scene, Deet just refers to them simply as dads. The normalcy we crave.
But in addition, according to reports, there's a lesbian couple. We didn't catch this one in our binge of the show, but apparently Onica and Tavra are in a relationship. Tavra, is a royal in that she is a princess. Her mother, the All-Maudra, is played by Helena Bonham Carter and rules over all the Gelfling. Ornica, by contrast is a part of the Sifa clan, is played by Natalie Dormer -- there's a lot of Thrones actors in the project -- and proves a small, beut important aspect of the plot.
To be fair, there's a lot of "big lesbian" energy on the show, as Twitter pointed out. In addition, there's tons of women just in charge. The Maudra, who are the leaders of the Gelfling clans, are all women. That's certainly a future we would like to see.
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Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.
Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.
