WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Raya and the Last Dragon, now playing in theaters and on Disney+.
Disney has become infamous for delivering half-hearted queer representation, from the live-action Beauty and the Beast remake's brief suggestion LeFou is gay to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker's blink-and-you'll-miss it kiss between two women. However, thanks to its new animated film Raya and the Last Dragon, the studio now has a chance to deliver something truly ground-breaking: an openly queer Disney princess.
Raya and the Last Dragon takes place in Kumandra, a fantasy world that split into five separate tribes following a power struggle 500 years before the film's story starts. The people's inability to trust one another puts them all in grave danger when an ancient force of evil is unleashed upon the land. Trust is also at the heart of the conflict between Raya and Namaari, two young women from different tribes who inadvertently helped create this crisis after befriending one another as children, only for Namaari to betray Raya. Their relationship not only forms the movie's emotional core, it ultimately proves to be the key to saving the world. But could there be more than friendship between the pair?
Although Disney has yet to take an official stance on the issue, Raya voice actor Kelly Marie Tran has made it crystal-clear she's rooting for a Raya/Namaari romance to become canon. “I love their relationship,” Tran told Decider, adding “I was probably the first person to ship those characters!” Tran repeated her support for the idea in a separate interview with Vanity Fair, saying "I’m obsessed with Namaari and I’m obsessed with [Namaari voice actor] Gemma Chan."
A romance between Raya and Namaari would make for an organic continuation of their relationship in Raya and the Last Dragon. The pair are not only quick to hit it off in their first meeting, they're just as obsessed with one another when they reunite six years later, this time as enemies. There's also something different about the way Raya treats Namaari; she seems to view Namaari's betrayal in a very personal light, despite having barely gotten to know her before it happened. This could be attributed to Raya being so young when Namaari (literally) hit her in the back, yet it doesn't take a huge stretch to argue it's because Namaari broke her heart in ways Raya doesn't fully understand yet.
If anything, Raya and the Last Dragon supports this interpretation of Raya and Namaari's feelings through its subtext -- from Namaari's queer-coded appearance to the way the duo banter, arguably flirtatiously, before battling each other. What's more, the pair are reminiscent of Asami Sato and Korra from Avatar: The Last Airbender's sequel series The Legend of Korra, a queer couple whose relationship started out antagonistic before the two became friends and, over time, lovers. Raya and the Last Dragon's East Asian-inspired fantasy world, which is similar to the A:TLA universe, begs for additional exploration in a movie sequel or spinoff show on Disney+, either of which would be the perfect place to examine Raya and Namaari's unspoken attraction.
Of course, it's hard not to be skeptical of the idea of a Raya/Namaari romance becoming official. A vocal fan campaign wasn't enough to inspire Disney to embrace Frozen's queer subtext by giving Elsa a girlfriend in Frozen II (not canonically, anyway), and The Legend of Korra only alluded to Korra and Asami's feelings for one another before making them an explicitly romantic couple in the show's subsequent comic-book series. On the other hand, that's all the more reason for Disney Animation to finally take the next step forward and give audiences the out and proud queer princess they've been calling for.
Directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada from a script by Adele Lim and Qui Nguyen, Raya and the Last Dragon stars Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Sandra Oh, Benedict Wong, Izaac Wang, Thalia Tran, Alan Tudyk, Lucille Soong, Patti Harrison and Ross Butler. The film is now playing in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access.