Finding Dory may not feature Disney's first same-sex couple after all

Director Andrew Stanton has kept the sexualities of a female couple seen in the trailer ambiguous

Excitement over Finding Dory supposedly featuring Disney/Pixar’s first same-sex couple may have been premature.

Director Andrew Stanton was asked at the Finding Nemo sequel’s world premiere on Wednesday for confirmation that the animated film will feature lesbians after the recent trailer showed a female couple with a baby, but he remained cagey on the topic.

“They can be whatever you want them to be,” he told USA Today. “There’s no right or wrong answer.”

Critics who have seen the movie say that the shot in question appears only briefly during a key action scene in which octopus Hank pretends to be a human baby, meaning fans will not be given a definitive answer either way.

Disney has been under pressure for fans to improve its dire LGBT representation. The announcement of Frozen 2 sparked calls for writers to make Queen Elsa the studio’s first LGBT princess under the hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend, while the similar hashtag #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend has also built up a following.

There have been various hints at minor gay Disney characters recently, from antelopes Bucky and Pronk seen bickering like a married couple and sharing the same surname Oryx Antlerson in Zootopia to sauna owner Oaken in Frozen, who shows Kristoff a picture of his husband and children.

Disney is yet to confirm that any of its characters are lesbian or gay.

Finding Dory hits UK cinemas on 29 July