Elemental introduced Pixar's first-ever non-binary character.
Disney's Pixar division has taken great strides in representation over recent years, from debuting its first black lead in Soul's Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) to featuring its first same-sex kiss between Lightyear's Hawthorne and Kiko.
The famous animation studio is now preparing to debut its latest movie in Elemental, the story of a city inhabited by water, fire, air, and land residents where two polar opposites discover how much they actually have in common.
Pixar's First Non-Binary Character Revealed
Voice actor Ava Hauser has officially announced they will play the character of Lake Ripple in Pixar's new movie Elemental. In a historic move for the studio, Lake will mark the first non-binary character in Pixar history when they make their debut in the July theatrical release.
As confirmed by Elemental's junior novelization and Unlikely Friends tie-in book, Lake both be non-binary and have a girlfriend in the Pixar movie.
Lake Ripple has also been confirmed as the young sibling of Elemental's secondary protagonist Wade Ripple, with both coming from the water element.
Why Elemental Is So Important for Pixar
Pixar has clearly made a point of improving its representation over recent years, and introducing its first non-binary character is an important step in that. After all, Hollywood continues to have a massive lacking of non-binary characters with very few iconic ones out there to this day.
Although Lake does not play a major part in Elemental, their presence is a significant one, especially for members of the LGBTQIA+ community who will now be able to see themselves represented on the big screen.
Elemental is already an important movie for Pixar as it will mark the first non-franchise original from the studio to be released exclusively in theaters, and not as a straight-to-Disney+ release. That said, the movie is facing an uphill battle after becoming Pixar's lowest-rated original on Rotten Tomatoes.
The movie was once placed to tease an Elemental sequel and more stories with the watery Wade and fiery Ember, along with their new "steam baby," however, that was ultimately scrapped ahead of release.
Elemental is playing now in U.S. theaters.
