With more than nine excruciating months left until Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters this December, fans will be introduced to the first LBGT character in the Star Wars canon with an upcoming novel entitled Lords of the Sith, written by Paul S. Kemp. The novel, set for release on April 28, will feature a character named Moff Mors, a lesbian Imperial leader who has made several very serious mistakes and spends a majority of the book trying to "prevent absolute failure." Shelley Shapiro, the editor of the Star Wars novels at Del Rey, offered the following statement about diversity in the Star Wars canon.

"This is certainly the first character in canon. But there was a gay Mandalorian couple, so it's not brand new. It's not something I really think about, it just makes sense. There's a lot of diversity-there should be diversity in Star Wars. You have all these different species and it would be silly to not also recognize that there's a lot of diversity in humans. If there's any message at all, it's simply that Star Wars is as diverse (or more so because they have alien species) as humanity is in real life and we don't want to pretend it's not. It just felt perfectly natural."

The "gay Mandalorian couple" referenced by Shelley Shapiro was featured in the Expanded Universe novels Legacy of the Force by Karen Travis. There was also a lesbian character in the 2003 video game nights of the Old Republic, and the MMORPG game Star Wars: The Old Republic also allows for same-sex relationships, but these games and Expanded Universe novels are not considered part of the Star Wars canon.

It isn't known how large a role Moff Mors has in the Lords of the Sith novel, or if there are any plans to introduce LGBT characters in future Star Wars movies. What do you think about the first LGBT Star Wars character? Let us know what you think below, and stay tuned for more details on the Star Wars movies and novels. In the meantime, you can check out the novel cover for Lords of the Sith below, before it debuts on April 28.