The future of theStar Warsfranchise is female, according to LucasfilmKathleen Kennedy. While on the red carpet at the 2020 BAFTAs on Sunday, Kennedy re-affirmed Lucasfilm’s plans to bring in a female director to helm aStar Warsfeature film in the future. Sure, the decision may ruffle the feathers of staunch, old guard fans who are used to things being done a certain way in this fictional universe but hey, all bets are off now that the Skywalker saga has wrapped. It’s about time theStar Warsuniverse got injected with new, non-male viewpoints, don’t you think?
Kennedy seemingly thinks so if her comments during a red carpet interviewwith the BBCon Sunday are anything to go by. The Lucasfilm head, who was at the BAFTAs receiving the 2020 BAFTA Fellowship, opened up about the future of theStar Warsuniverse. When asked if a female director would be coming to a galaxy far, far away, Kennedy dutifully reminded the BBC:
“We’ve already got [women directors]. OnThe Mandalorian, we’ve got two or three fantastic women working withStarWars. And we just brought in Deborah Chow who is doing the Obi-Wan series. We’re cultivating a lot of great talent.”
When pressed for answers on whether this means a female director will finally be coming on board for aStar Warsfeature film, Kennedy confirmed, “Oh absolutely. Without question.”
For a franchise as old asStar Wars, it has admittedly been a breath of fresh air to have directors Chow and Howard on deck to steerThe Mandalorianin the right direction. Fans have reacted especially well to Chow’s work onThe Mandalorianand reviews have been especially positive for her episodes. It wouldn’t be entirely unthinkable to see Chow, in particular, make the jump fromworking onThe Mandalorianand the currently-paused-but-still-happeningObi-Wan Kenobi seriesto the next, non-Skywalker sagaStar Warsfeature film. For the time being, we’ll have to content ourselves with the female directors working on Disney+/Star Warsoriginal series since there are currently no known plans for the nextStar Warsfeature film.
You can watchThe MandalorianSeason 1 and manyStar Warsfeatures films on Disney+ right now. Get even more updates about the franchisehere. Watch Kennedy’s BAFTAs interview below:
