A woman will “absolutely” direct a Star Wars movie, “without question”
By Dan Selcke
The Star Wars movies are going on “hiatus” for a while, which is part of Disney’s strategy to give people a break after several years of non-stop adventures in that galaxy far far away that culminated with the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which divided fans and critics alike.
This could be a good opportunity for Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and company to rethink what people want out of a Star Wars movie, and to consider some of the criticisms they’ve gotten since The Force Awakens came out in 2015. For example, although the franchise has been around for over 40 years, there has yet to be a Star Wars movie directed by a woman. Asked whether that would change at the BAFTA Awards yesterday, Kennedy sounded certain. “Oh absolutely,” she said. “Without question.”
"We’ve already got [women directors]. On The Mandalorian we’ve got two or three fantastic women working with Star Wars. And we just brought in Deborah Chow who is doing the Obi-Wan series. We’re cultivating a lot of great talent."
Indeed, directors Bryce Dallas Howard and Deborah Chow did indeed work on the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, a Star Wars show that’s been met with the kind of universal praise The Rise of Skywalker wishes it had. And Chow is the main creative force behind Disney’s upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, although that one’s been put on hold for a while, allegedly because the scripts weren’t up to snuff. We’ll see how that goes.
But yes, it’s true that Disney is cultivating female directing talent, and I can easily see a woman behind the camera when Star Wars inevitably returns to the big screen. Although I’m not a Disney employee, it all seems to be part of a wider reorganization of the Star Wars cinematic universe in the wake of the divisive reactions to both Rise of Skywalker and The Last Jedi, the film before it. Originally, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss were signed on to produce a new trilogy of Star Wars movies, but they departed to focus on their deal with Netflix. Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is also on board for a new trilogy, but we haven’t heard anything solid about that in a while and I wouldn’t be shocked if it quietly died and was eventually replaced by something new. Possibly whatever Star Wars movie Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is working on?
If you ask me, the Star Wars sequel trilogy felt divided against itself, with the movies directed by J.J. Abrams slavishly adhering to the blueprint set up by the original trilogy and The Last Jedi pushing into the future, perhaps too aggressively. New perspectives can only be a good thing.
Next. Yet more behind-the-scenes photos from The Mandalorian set. dark
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