
In 2019, Victoria Mahoney made history as the first Black female filmmaker to get behind the camera on a Star Wars film. Her work on Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker was as affirming for fans as it was for Mahoney, a Star Wars mega fan who’d also been fighting for years to break into the blockbuster big leagues.
“I was embraced on Star Wars with incredible respect and regard by J.J. [Abrams] and Kathleen [Kennedy],” Mahoney tells Inverse. “They knew that this was a chance to allow someone who loved Star Wars, and loves action and drama, to come in and swing it back in a way that had not happened historically.”