Battlefield 2042 Specialist Emma “Sundance” Rosier has been confirmed as Electronic Arts’ long-running franchise’s first non-binary character.
According to an Electronic Arts Community Manager, Battlefield 2042 Specialist Emma “Sundance” Rosier is officially the franchise’s first non-binary character. Battlefield 2042 will debut with ten Specialists, who represent a significant departure from the franchise’s traditional class system. Almost a dozen characters have their special ability or attribute, which should make picking a favourite hero a little easier.
Sundance, in particular, is an Assault class Specialist with a preference for Smart Explosives as a weapon. Meanwhile, their unique ability is based on the wingsuit shown in several of Battlefield 2042‘s promotional images. While Sundance’s wingsuit allows players to fly long distances, someone like Navin Rao, a Recon class hero, is equipped with hacking tools thanks to the Cyber Warfare Suite gadget and Trojan Network attribute.
According to Adam Freeman, battlefield 2042 Specialist Sundance is a non-binary character, Lead Community Manager at EA Studios Europe, who verified it in response to fan inquiries. Sundance’s character page on the EA website uses the gender-neutral they/them pronouns, according to PC Gamer. Hopefully, this same level of attention to detail will be represented in-game when it launches in a few weeks. The following is Freeman’s confirmation of Sundance’s gender identity:
Yep. Sundance is non-binary and uses the Pronouns They/Them.
— Freeman 🇸🇪 (@PartWelsh) October 21, 2021
Sundance is the first non-binary character in Battlefield’s nearly 20-year history, and she represents a significant step forward for the franchise. However, due to the lack of a campaign mode in Battlefield, it’s unclear how the Specialist’s backstory and personality will be explored beyond the tweet above and EA.com character bio.
Only one of EA’s major shooters, Battlefield, has LGBTQ characters on the roster. Respawn Entertainment has led the charge in many ways, with Apex Legends characters like Bloodhound and Gibraltar, the former identifying as non-binary and the latter as gay. Respawn verified this information shortly after the free-to-play shooter launched in February 2019 on consoles and PC. Several other LGBTQ Legends have joined the ever-growing roster in the two years since then. For example, Valkyrie is a lesbian hero. Last year, Respawn writer Tom Casiello revealed that Loba is bisexual in a Twitter post.
On November 19, Battlefield 2042 will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
Source: Adam Freeman/Twitter via PC Gamer
