The past few years have seen the entertainment world engage conversations about representation both behind and in front of the camera. There have been calls for diversity, with plenty of franchises taking significant steps forward. While the Star Wars franchise featured more women and people of color, some fans took umbrage with an obligatory blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kiss in The Rise of Skywalker between two same-sex background characters. The New Mutants director Josh Boone recently spoke to this subtle nod in Episode IX, calling it the “most embarrassing” version of representation. As he explained,
