Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, of Ms. Marvel fame, is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime with a Star Wars movie focusing on Rey Skywalker, set as the character tries to rebuild the Jedi Order after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. However, it sounds like she’s just ignored several female directors who came before her.
Kicking off the year with Star Wars movie news is exciting even if it’s just a small update (via Variety) that basically says “yeah, this is still happening.”
While talking to CNN, two-time Oscar-winner Obaid-Chinoy offered a brief comment on where the Rey-centric Star Wars movie that will take us into the post-Skywalker Saga era is at. “I’m very thrilled about the project because I feel what we’re about to create is something very special,” she said, “We’re in 2024 now, and it’s about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away.”
Unsurprisingly, no plot details nor potential production start window shared here, but after so many Star Wars projects have fallen by the wayside in recent years, it’s refreshing to hear positive talk from the filmmakers outside of Star Wars Celebration and Disney events. The busy folks at Lucasfilm have traditionally kept most information close to their chests, so we never know if a live-action Star Wars project is happening for real until it’s shooting.
Also unsurprising is how the most rabid and negative Star Wars fans (who probably should invest into another franchise at this point) are responding to each bit of news about Rey getting to continue her story past the divisive sequel trilogy, which made Disney over $4 billion total at the box office alone. The filmmaker’s words about this project being the first one shaped by a woman are just plain wrong, however.
On the live-action side of things alone, Star Wars has put out some amazing TV episodes from directors such as Bryce Dallas Howard (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett) and Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi). Those are just two examples. Then, among other things, we have the upcoming series The Acolyte, which was created and spearheaded by Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland. As for Star Wars animation, Jennifer Corbett developed the notable The Bad Batch alongside Dave Filoni, when he went off to focus on live-action.
Obaid-Chinoy is right about her being the first female director captaining a big-screen Star Wars installment though. Patty Jenkins was once set to direct Rogue Squadron (which would’ve released last month), but that project was put on ice too.
Regardless, it’s true that the lack of female directors attached to Star Wars movies has been baffling, especially considering that legendary Hollywood producer Kathleen Kennedy has been the overlord of all things Lucasfilm for more than a decade now.