Directors for the next five Star Wars films have already been announced, and even though none of them are female, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy is confident the franchise will one day have a woman director. Speaking to Fortune at the Most Powerful Women Summit, Kennedy, manager of the Star Wars franchise, expressed her desire to one day have a female at the helm of a Star Wars movie, but made it absolutely clear that it wouldn't just be a "token job."
"It is going to happen. We are going to hire a woman who’s going to direct a Star Wars movie. I have no doubt," Kennedy said. "On the other hand, I want to make sure we put someone in that position who’s set up for success."
"It’s not just a token job to look out and try to find a woman that we could put into a position of directing Star Wars … If we do want to bring a woman in to direct a Star Wars movie, we want to make sure that it’s somebody who’s passionate and really, really wants to do a Star Wars movie. We don’t want to talk somebody into it."
Elsewhere in the interview, Kennedy pointed out that Disney, who now owns the Star Wars franchise, has been very supportive with Lucasfilm's attempts to "grow in the workforce the number of women in executive positions." As it is now, "Fifty percent of our executive team are women," Kennedy revealed. "Six out of eight of the people in my Story Group are women. I think it's making a huge difference in the kind of stories we're trying to tell."
Although the future of Star Wars very much remain a mystery, female characters are seemingly taking on much more prominant roles in the stories. Daisy Ridley, for example, is one of the three leading newcomers being introduced in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. Looking further ahead, Felicity Jones is positioned as the lead character in the first official Rogue One photo, while Episode VIII is rumored to have two female leads.
It's easy to overreact to Kennedy's statements, but I think the biggest takeaway from her interview is that she's first and foremost looking for someone passionate about making a Star Wars film. The goal, and this is for movies and games alike, should always be to find the best candidate possible — regardless of gender or race. If that best candidate happens to be a woman, that's fine. It's when you shoehorn yourself into a specific move that you begin to create an inferior product.
