I saw a couple of posts about "Tales of the Empire" from people who remain inexplicably hopeful that Dave Felony will canonize their ship (in this case, Barriss/Ahsoka and Eli/Thrawn, although at this point I think it's unlikely Eli will ever even show up in Star Wars outside of Zahn's books).
I'm going to say this again, and keep saying it, as gently as possible: Dave Filoni is not your gay champion. He likes to say he doesn't listen to the fandom, but that's 100% unadulterated bullshit. He knows about the ships, but you're never going to get what you want and I'm really sorry about that.
I don't know what his deal is with this. I can't figure out what's behind it. But he's easily the most sexless "creator" in the IP. I would argue that he even tries to downplay the natural chemistry between characters- even when they clearly have a meaningful relationship that HE established in his own story. He also enjoys queerbaiting, and he's the only one who enjoys that shit.
Now, I just want to make clear that I'm not interested in Star Wars turning into Game of Thrones or something, with copious tits on display and gratuitous sex. But it's also weird and frustrating to see a creator actively deny his own characters even the most basic love and affection (yes, I'm still pissed about the missing Hera and Ezra hug). Love and affection, whether platonic or romantic, are an integral part of the human experience. And queer people exist! The High Republic has provided a resounding "fuck you" to the folks at LFL who continue to deny the existence of queer folks, which is great, but some people aren't getting the message and may likely never get the message for reasons that are unclear.
I just hate to see people get their hopes up over and over again, only for those hopes to be crushed again and again. I learned this lesson back in 2018 when season 4 of Rebels gave us the weirdest and most fucked up romantic resolution to the completely unnecessary will-they-won't-they between Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus. He couldn't even do right by a straight couple, do you think he's really going to make your queer ship canon? And then refrain from killing one of them off?
