The New Mutants director Josh Boone says the same-sex kiss in The Rise of Skywalker is embarrassing as far as representation is concerned. Before the Star Wars movie hit theaters, people were buzzing about some same-sex representation in the movie, much like people were buzzing when they heard that Avengers: Endgame was going to do the same. However, neither movie made it a point to have representation at the forefront. Instead, it was all in the background, which is something Boone decided to rectify with The New Mutants.

In a new interview about the release of The New Mutants, Josh Boone spoke about LGBTQ representation within his movie. Rahne Sinclair (Maise Williams) and Danielle Moonstar (Blu Hunt) are openly gay in the movie and the director says that their story is "sort of the spine and focus of some of the character-driven stuff in the film." The director then noted that The Rise of Skywalker same-sex kiss was the "most embarrassing" type of representation. He explains.

"It was just somebody in the background and [the filmmakers] were like, 'We'll put out articles as if this is something you should pay attention to.'"

Josh Boone is not the first to point out that The Rise of Skywalker was lacking in representation when compared to what was hyped up before the movie hit theaters. On the other side of the spectrum, The New Mutants has representation as a focus. "It has a gay love story, probably the first one at Disney for sure and like one of the first superhero movies that really has one that's an integral part of the plot and story and the whole thing hangs on it," says Boone. He had this to say about why he chose to have to main gay characters in the story.

"I'm a big Joss Whedon fan, I'm a big Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. They did this in the '90s already, but they did it on television. We didn't put this in to be confrontational or really even in a calculated way, it just happened naturally. We wrote it because the characters in the comic have like an intimate telepathic connection and it just sort of felt like the right thing to do, and it was more of a gentle thing and a coming of age thing than it was a sexual thing."

In conclusion, Josh Boone hopes that The New Mutants will be a positive force within the LGBTQ community. "I hope this would reach some people and for young women out there who are gay and don't see representation in a big movie, it's like, you guys can dress up at Halloween and hold hands and be them and that's awesome." As to whether or not Boone was able to pull off his goal, we'll just have to wait and see.

The New Mutants is out in select theaters today after a long wait. Fans will have to brave going to theaters to see what Josh Boone has been hyping since the movie is not available to be streamed at the moment. As for more representation in comic book movies, Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie will reportedly be looking for her queen in Thor: Love and Thunder, after having her sexuality storyline cut out of Ragnarok. Marvel's Eternals will also be featuring an openly gay superhero. You can check out the rest of the interview with Josh Boone over at Too Fab.