Disney+ has cast an openly transgender actress to star in the highly anticipated fantasy series “Willow.”
Chilean-born British actress Talisa Garcia will play a queen in the Lucasfilm adaptation of the 1998 film of the same name, according to the series’ IMDb page.
Garcia, best known for the BBC thriller “Baptiste,” is the first openly trans actor cast in a production by Lucasfilm, the Disney-owned film and TV production company, which was founded by George Lucas and is best known for the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises.
The series, which is set to premiere on Disney+ later this year, is set decades after Ron Howard’s 1988 movie, and it will follow a princess who assembles a group to join her on a quest to rescue her twin brother.
According to Deadline, which first reported the news, Garcia will play a queen and the mother to Tony Revolori’s character who takes part in the quest.
She will not play a transgender character, according to the outlet, which also noted that her role is reported to be small and that she might appear in only one episode. However, the series’ IMDb page lists her as taking part in eight episodes.
Lucasfilm and Disney didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Daily News for comment.
“I feel so blessed and honored to be part of the Willow family; this is quite literally the definition of ‘a dream come true,’” Garcia wrote on Instagram Thursday.
In her lengthy message — which she used to thank Lucasfilm, Disney+ and “Willow” for “making it all come true” — the actress wrote that her journey to get where she is now was tough but worth it.
“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,” Garcia wrote.
“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 into for escape and comfort is now reality,” she added. “So, from one daydreamer to all the others out there... don’t stop! Dreams do come true.”
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