Living without my husband, I am at last free to enjoy Star Wars!

I started with The Mandalorian (excellent!), although the big ending to season two was rather pointless when it was completely ignored for season 3. I guess, considering “The Farce Awakens”, Baby Yoda’s fate was going to a bit tragic otherwise. This was the first of the Star Wars spin of series, so it made sense to start here.

Then I watched Kenobi because that was the one I was most excited about – actors form the prequels reprising their now iconic roles! AWESOME! And Vader is BACK! And, in the final episode, so was the missing ingredient from The Mandalorian (and the same with other series I’ve watched): the music! Star Wars might all be space mythology, with light sabres and duels, and space battles, and sarcasm and lightening fast putdowns, but without the music it lands almost a little flat for me.

I’d not heard anything about Acolyte, so I entered into it with an open mind. I enjoyed it and was disappointed that Acolyte is being abandoned after only a single season – the easter egg at the end of the final episode promised good things!

I’m about halfway through The Book of Boba Fett, so the jury is out on that one.

I want to return to Acolyte though, which has a coven of Force sensitive witches raising a couple of twins – themselves created through the Force in the style of Anakin Skywalker. Terry Pratchett observed that some of them might have beards, but all of witches are women.

A YouTube presenter called Abigail Thorne, that I have followed for some time (and had a life-changing affect on my decision making) has a speaking part. Not a massive part in terms of the plot, but massive in what it signifies. Abigail hosts Philosophy Tube, which educates, informs, and eviscerates. I love her!

So why am I excited in a YouTube presenter getting a small part in Star Wars?

She’s trans.

In a coven of women only witches.

Significant?

I think so – if you didn’t know her, you wouldn’t know that she was trans.

And that is the point: she is a woman. Cast in a clearly coded female role. No ambiguity here: to those who cast Acolyte Abigail is a woman. If there’s a tragedy here its that this should even be something to comment on.

Her philosophy does more for feminism than all the millions of dollars pumped into prejudice of the TERF billionaires.

Her existence does more for trans than a whole coven of Force sensitive witches.