Warning: This story contains minor spoilers for the new Disney Pixar animated film Onward.

It’s been a long wait, but a Disney heroine finally has a girlfriend… and it’s not Elsa. Months after The Rise of Skywalker featured the first same-sex kiss in the Star Wars galaxy, the new animated film Onward introduces the first self-identified lesbian character into the Disney-Pixar universe. Her name is Officer Specter, and she’s a Cyclops cop voiced by openly gay screenwriter and actress Lena Waithe. While Specter’s inclusion in Onward is a major first for Disney, it’s treated almost matter-of-factly in the movie itself, which the filmmakers say is by design. “It just kind of happened,” Onward producer Kori Rae tells Yahoo Entertainment. “The scene, when we wrote it, was kind of fitting and it opens up the world a little bit, and that’s what we wanted.” Adds director Dan Scanlon, “It’s a modern fantasy world and we want to represent the modern world.”

Specter only appears in one scene in Onward, which opens in theaters on March 6, but her role is vital to the emotional arc of the story. Written by Scanlon, Jason Headley and Keith Bunin, the film takes places in a magical universe whose fantastical citizens — think elves, dragons and manticores — have lost their connection to the magical arts. Onward’s heroes are two elven brothers, Ian and Barley (Tom Holland and Chris Pratt), who lost their father at a young age before either had a chance to properly say goodbye. On Ian’s 16th birthday, their mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) hands them a present left behind by dearly departed dad, which turns out to be a 24-hour resurrection spell. Due to their limited experience with magic, the spell immediately goes haywire, forcing the duo to embark on a ticking-clock quest to find a replacement element before their father vanishes again. Meanwhile, Mom and her new boyfriend, centaur cop Colt Bronco (Mel Rodriguez), try to catch up with the boys to protect them from a curse that their mission threatens to unleash.

View photos From the top: Officer Specter (Lena Waithe), Colt Bronco (Mel Rodriguez) and Officer Gore (Ali Wong) in a poster for Onward. (Photo: Disney Pixar) More

Officer Specter enters the narrative in mid-quest as Ian and Barley are en route to the magical mountains outside of their otherwise ordinary town. The brothers’ reckless piloting of Barley’s beloved van, Guinevere, brings them to the attention of one-eyed Specter and her faun sidekick, Officer Gore (Ali Wong), who pull the boys over. Not wanting to be escorted home, Ian casts a masking spell that temporarily disguises him and Barley as Colt. The ruse fools Specter, who listens as “Officer Bronco” complains about his girlfriend’s kids and the difficulty of being the new guy in their mom’s life. She immediately sympathizes with him, saying: “My girlfriend’s daughter got me pulling my hair out," but suggests that the best thing they can do is try to be there for them. In that moment, both Ian and Barley start to understand that their family’s new arrangement is as difficult for Colt as it is for them. As Ian’s illusion starts to break down, the brothers make a quick exit… but not quick enough to avert Specter’s suspicions. She gets a message to the real Colt through the police switchboard and the chase resumes.