Star Wars movies have started to do better with female characters ever since Daisy Ridley became the franchise’s newest star for the sequel trilogy. When you look back on past female Star Wars characters that deserved a standalone movie, we’re finally going to get that with Rey getting her own movie serving as a Jedi master. But with the franchise getting its first female director, there have been sexist remarks among the Star Wars fandom and Ridley has something to say about that.
There’s been some online havoc ever since it was announced that Oscar and Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy would be directing the new Rey movie. She’d be the first woman and person of color to take on a directorial position for a Star Wars movie. According to NBC News, Daisy Ridley has her own take on the sexist remarks taking place within the fandom. Here's what she said:
I think my take is things get blown out of proportion and the interactions I've ever had with people have been nothing but wonderful and supportive. I've only ever been embraced. And I think we're going to make a great film.
It's amazing that Daisy Ridley hasn’t had to deal with any haters ever since Star Wars movie plans announced her character would be coming back. According to The Direct, fans have been happy to see the British actress return in her breakout role. They love the idea of this female Jedi getting ready to build a New Order as long as it’s through the lessons she was taught by her mentor, Luke Skywalker.
The controversy stemming from the new Star Wars movie could be coming from when Rey’s director said “something very special” about her upcoming project was that it was “about time” a woman decided to take the reins on a story set “in a galaxy far, far away.” Based on SlashFilm, some fans were offended believing the documentary filmmaker will focus more on adding feminism to the space opera film than creating a great movie. Others accused Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy of hiring Obaid-Chinoy for the sake of “wokeness” and for feminist reasons.
As for the status of the new Rey movie, fears came pouring out that Daisy Ridley’s film was delayed indefinitely. It turns out that Lucasfilm is just waiting for a new draft of the script. We also know that other than Rey rebuilding the Jedi Order, the sci-fi film is supposed to take place 15 years later. This is a time setting I’m most curious about as it’s only been five years since Rise of the Skywalker and Ridley doesn’t look like she’s aged a day. We still don’t know yet if sequel characters like Finn will be in the latest epic space movie. With the standalone movie still in the development stages, it looks like we’ll have a long way to go before getting any kind of answers.
There have been many female heroes and villains that Star Wars should have used more of. With the famed franchise having a female lead headlining the upcoming Star Wars film and a female director presenting her vision, I would do what Daisy Ridley is doing in paying more attention to the positive feedback compared to the sexist noise coming from the fandom. Until we know more about Rey’s release date, you can watch the sequel trilogy and the rest of the Lucasfilm franchise on your Disney+ subscription.
