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I made a post on Tumblr about this, I'll be briefer here.
Authors of tie-in novels and novelisations of movies have less ability to define and determine the sexuality of canon characters than fans think they do. Kindly don't bitch them out for being 'wishy washy' on character sexuality.
When an organisation (like MGM or LucasArts) hires an author to write a novel based on characters they own, they may be extremely picky about how those characters are depicted. And if the author steps out of the company line on this front, then the company will shear off the author's toes to keep their right to define the characters as they please.
Major characters - particularly those from movies and TV shows - are prone to heternormalisation, even if dynamics suggest otherwise to fans.
Yes, it would really great to have confirmed representation of the things we see in canon that aren't heteronormative; but in tie-ins and novelisations in particular, that decision is very frequently not up to the individual author.
Authors of tie-in novels and novelisations of movies have less ability to define and determine the sexuality of canon characters than fans think they do. Kindly don't bitch them out for being 'wishy washy' on character sexuality.
When an organisation (like MGM or LucasArts) hires an author to write a novel based on characters they own, they may be extremely picky about how those characters are depicted. And if the author steps out of the company line on this front, then the company will shear off the author's toes to keep their right to define the characters as they please.
Major characters - particularly those from movies and TV shows - are prone to heternormalisation, even if dynamics suggest otherwise to fans.
Yes, it would really great to have confirmed representation of the things we see in canon that aren't heteronormative; but in tie-ins and novelisations in particular, that decision is very frequently not up to the individual author.