One day, aStar Warsmovie will be directed by a woman, it’s just not clear when that will happen or what the movie will be exactly. Be that as it may, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy assures that they will have a female director at the helm of a big screen adventure in a galaxy far, far away at some point in the future.
To date, no woman has been behind the camera for aStar Warsmovie, at least not in the main chair anyway. Victoria Mahoney served as the second unit director onThe Rise of Skywalkeralongside J.J. Abrams. That represented progress, but many still want to see a woman get a shot at tackling a story in the legendary sci-fi franchise. During the recent BAFTA Awards,Kathleen Kennedywas asked if this is something we’ll ever see during a red carpet interview. She seemed confident in her response.
“Oh, absolutely. Without question.”
The franchise has been making strides recently.The Mandalorian, the first ever live-actionStar WarsTV show, which debuted on Disney+ last year, saw a couple of female filmmakers in Deborah Chow and Bryce Dallas Howard directing installments. While it wasn’t a full movie, these did serve as important, and not to mention beloved, entries in theStar Warscanon. This is something Kathleen Kennedy addressed when initially confronted withbringing female filmmakers into the fold at Lucasfilm.
“Oh, we’ve already got ‘em. We’re doing Mandalorian, we’ve got two or three fantastic women working with Star Wars. We just brought in Deborah Chow, who is doing the Obi-Wan series. We’re cultivating a lot of great talent.”
Deborah Chow is directing the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series, which will see Ewan McGregor reprising his role as the iconic Jedi. Again, that’s a big step but directing aStar Warsmovie is on another level. For now, the franchise will be taking a break from the movies for a few years to give fans a breather following the release ofThe Rise of Skywalker. Little is known about the future of the series, as no specific titles have been announced by the studio. Originally,Game of Thronescreators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were on deck to helm a trilogy, but they left last year.
Beyond that, we knowKevin Feige is producing a Star Wars movie. There are reports suggesting that the High Republic and Old Republic eras will be explored in future movies, but that has yet to be confirmed. There is also the mysterious Project Luminous, which is set to be revealed later this month. Currently, the next release is dated for December 2022. Whatever the projects end up being, there is certainly room for female directors in the future of the franchise and, if Kathleen Kennedy is good to her word, we’ll see it happen. This news comes to us via theBBC.
