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Carol is openly lesbian, and her wife Helen is part of the early story before Helen dies during the Joining. Carol says her mother sent her to conversion therapy, and she links that forced change to the hive mind's demand that everyone become the same. Carol later enters a major romantic relationship with Zosia, a woman designed to match her ideal partner. Carol's new love also changes her fantasy novel, making the love interest a woman, so queer identity shapes her grief, writing, choices, and view of the central conflict.

Some small anti-woke accounts called the show “lesbian drama” or said its lead was a “strong independent” woman with no need for a man. TheQuartering called the show mildly woke and later criticized the lead's attitude. On X, found no major culture-war campaign, boycott, or clear organized review-bomb effort against the show. Most negative public reaction focused on the slow pace or Carol's difficult personality, not woke politics.

The main writers and producers have little public record of activist or identity-focused work. Vince Gilligan said the show was not planned as a female-empowerment story and that he writes Carol as a flawed person. Zetna Fuentes is the main exception because her public work includes diversity and inclusion roles in the directors' guild. The team therefore adds modest context, while the title's strong queer material comes from the story itself.