Vel and Cinta have captured the hearts of Andor fans (Picture: Lucasfilm Ltd/Disney Plus)
Warning: spoilers ahead for Andor episode 8.
Andor fans have fallen in love with a certain couple in the series, seemingly marking the first time an LGBT storyline has been explored through two main characters in the Star Wars franchise.
In episode 8 of the show, which stars Diego Luna as the titular lead, Cassian finds himself trapped in a prison, having been handed a six-year sentence.
With several people wondering where he could be, Vel (Faye Marsay) and Cinta (Varada Sethu) – who were part of the heist mission he helped to complete on Aldhani – are keeping an eye out for him on Ferrix, where he lives with his adoptive mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw).
While it’s been heavily hinted that there’s a romance between Vel and Cinta, in the latest episode on Disney Plus, the pair confirmed their relationship while watching Cassian’s allies Bix (Adria Arjona) and Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) chatting from afar.
Cinta tells Vel that she’s planning on renting a room nearby on her own, while Vel takes issue with the fact that they’d be separated yet again.
After a tense conversation in which Cinta calls out Vel’s rich upbringing, she tells her partner: ‘I told you upfront. The struggle will always come first. We take what’s left. I’m a mirror, Vel. You love me because I show you what you need to see.’
Cinta takes Vel’s hand as they witness Bix say bye to Brasso, wondering whether they’ll see Cassian return to Ferrix at some point in the near future.
While this isn’t the first time an LGBT relationship has been depicted in Star Wars, it does appear to mark the first time two characters who are specifically significant to the plot are shown to be in an openly LGBT relationship in a live-action production.
In the 2019 film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, two women were shown sharing a kiss, although the minor characters were only briefly seen in the movie and the moment was cut from the release in Singapore.
Two female characters were shown kissing in Rise of Skywalker in a brief moment that was cut from the movie in Singapore (Picture: Twtter/LCommiewalker/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
It was previously confirmed that Orka and Flix, characters from the animated TV series Star Wars Resistance, were in the first openly same-sex relationship in Star Wars.
A Star Wars writer stated that Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian from the 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story (a character first played by Billy Dee Williams in the original trilogy) is pansexual, although his sexual orentiation was never confirmed explicity in the movie.
Meanwhile, Oscar Isaac admitted that he would have liked his sequel trilogy character Poe Dameron to have explored a romance with John Boyega’s Finn, telling IGN in 2019: ‘The Disney overlords were not ready to do that.’
The first LGBT character in the Star Wars media franchise was Juhani, a lesbian who appeared in the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
In Andor, it’s been made very clear that Vel and Cinta are in love with one another, and fans are loving watching their romance play out on screen.
Oscar Isaac said there was ‘subtle romance’ between Finn and Poe in the sequel trilogy (Picture: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
However, some are devastated to think that the couple are going their separate ways, remaining hopeful that they’ll come together again in further episodes.
‘I’m gonna get emotional and I wish more people would talk about it but Vel and Cinta is what a lot of Star Wars fans have been waiting for, myself included. Like these are actual characters that love one another not just lesbian a and lesbian b that are cut out,’ one person tweeted.
‘Cinta and Vel’s dialogue, specifically Cinta’s line where she says “I’m a mirror, Vel. You love me because I show you what you need to see” is such a moving line about love and I cannot believe it belongs to two women,’ another person wrote.
Someone else highlighted the beauty of the characters’ dialogue, and how Cinta makes a dig at Vel to remind her that ‘they aren’t fighting the Empire for the same reasons’.
‘She shows her what she needs to see, which is that the fight comes first and even if that saddens her, it’s the reason she loves her,’ they said.
Another fan urged the creators of Andor to make sure Vel and Cinta find their way back to one another, tweeting: ‘Pls stop separating Velcinta I need a couple with a happy ending I can’t take this anymore.’
With four episodes left to go of the series, we hope their wish comes true.
Andor is available to watch on Disney Plus with new episodes released on Wednesdays.
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Vel and Cinta have captured the hearts of Andor fans.