'Star Wars' franchise turns towards new steps to inclusion regarding the hiring of a female director
Star Wars has been a fan favourite ever since its inception, and with its rather rocky beginning, it is hard to imagine that the series was birthed as a ditch effort by, then-33-year-old George Lucas.
Now, Star Wars is one of the most highest grossing, multi billion-dollar industry, with its own TV series, novels, comics, toys, apparel and even theme park attractions.
Kathleen Kennedy, the head of Lucasfilm, during an interview reported by Refinery29, spoke at length about their plans to bring on board a female director.
She stated, "Politics is part of everything and, especially today, it should be. There's a genuine conversation going on inside entertainment and storytelling where inclusion is absolutely fundamental. And in Star Wars, absolutely."
Kennedy further added that one of the biggest reasons for this change is to change the non-male view points in the film.
She admitted that it is highly possible many fans might not be happy with the change taking place, due to the fact that they are used to seeing storylines unfolding in a particular way.
With the BAFTA 2020 under belt, Kathleen is confident that a female director will helm films “without a question.” She stated, "It's a natural thing that happens when women are empowered. When George asked me to step in and lead the company, I started looking at qualified people that I wanted to be surrounded by. It was no surprise that a number of those were really strong, wonderful, creative, talented women. It may look political, but it's not necessarily political. I am absolutely thrilled to be surrounded by more women and more voices of people of color — inclusion of people who can contribute to everything we do."
Not only that, they have already inducted new female talent in the directorial wing of The Mandalorian.
She went onto say, "What the legacy of this new series of movies has done is it's made it very clear that not only is Star Wars timeless, but it should look like all of us. And that's important to every single one of us that are telling these stories and making these films now. You'll see it in The Mandalorian, you'll see it in this movie, and you'll see it in everything we do in the future. A legacy we are most proud of is that we have a character like Rey. That's pretty fabulous. "
Deborah Chow has been brought onto the Obi-Wan series, she also made it clear that new talent is something that they are looking forward to introduce with time. The company’s objective will be to induct and nurture that talent.