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Things We Saw Today: Lucasfilm Hires a Woman for a Crucial Role, How About Female Directors Next?

Carrie Fisher as Leia in Star Wars: The Last Jedi poster

As Lucasfilm gears up for their post-The Rise of Skywalker slate of film and television, they’ve brought on The Rise of Skywalker producer Michelle Rejwan as the senior vice president of live action development and production. Rejwan worked with JJ Abrams on several projects, including serving as a producer on The Rise of Skywalker.

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Naturally, this has led to some fanbros on the Internet crying that she’s under-qualified for the position. However, now that she’s worked on two separate Star Wars projects (she also served as a co-producer on The Force Awakens), I’d like to think she has the chops, and more importantly the understanding of what makes Star Wars tick, to handle the coming projects that Lucasfilm has in the pipeline.

IndieWire’s Kate Erbland wisely pointed out in a piece titled “Star Wars Continues to Embrace Female Leadership, As Long As They’re Not Directing Films” that Lucasfilm hires women into leadership positions in the company, but that women are not often seen behind the camera. So far, no Star Wars film has been directed by a woman, though the upcoming series The Mandalorian will feature episodes directed by women. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has said she wants to hire a woman, but so far none have been brought on board.

While I’m glad to see Rejwan take on a leadership role behind the camera, I’m also hoping that the hiring of women behind the scenes means that women will be hired into director positions sooner rather than later. It’s beyond time for a woman to take over directing a Star Wars film.

(via Variety, image: Lucasfilm)

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Kate Gardner
Kate (they/them) says sorry a lot for someone who is not sorry about the amount of strongly held opinions they have. Raised on a steady diet of The West Wing and classic film, they are now a cosplayer who will fight you over issues of inclusion in media while also writing coffee shop AU fanfic for their favorite rare pairs.

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