Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy rang in the New Year of 2024 by declaring it’s time that Star Wars finally “had a woman come forward to shape the story in a galaxy far, far away.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: (L-R) Daisy Ridley, Kathleen Kennedy and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy attend the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)
Speaking with CNN just after the New Year rang in, Obaid-Chinoy was introduced by CNN’s Kristie Lu Stout saying, “Filmmaker and activist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is the only female directo to have won two Academy awards by the age of 37. She’s also the first woman and the first person of color to direct a Star Wars film. And it’s set to be released in 2026.”
Lu Stout must have completely memory-holed Patty Jenkins and her Rogue Squadron film that was supposed to be released this winter. The film never came to fruition and has seemingly been scrapped. Time will tell if Obaid-Chinoy’s planned film following Rey rebuilding the Jedi Order will suffer the same fate.
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy onstage during the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)
Nevertheless, Obaid-Chinoy decided to confirm that The Walt Disney Company, Lucasfilm, and Star Wars are not changing the Force is Female messaging they have routinely pushed since Disney purchased Lucasfilm.
Obaid-Chinoy stated, “I am very thrilled about the project because I think what we are about to create is something very special. And we are in 2024 now and I think it’s about time we had a woman come forward to shape the story in a galaxy far, far away.”
(L-R): Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan on the set of Marvel Studios’ MS. MARVEL, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
These comments are not out of the ordinary for Obaid-Chinoy. Speaking with Vice News on TikTok back in May 2023, the director said, “My name is Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and I’m directing the next Star Wars film. I’m excited about bringing Daisy Ridley back into the Star Wars galaxy, and in telling her story, I am excited to be immersed in the Jedi Academy, and I think there is so much excitement around the new Jedi order.”
She continued, “I’ve always kicked open doors that were previously closed, and I think my feeling is that there is a critical mass of women who have begun to move forward in places that were previously closed to them.”
@vicenews Pakistan-born Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will be the first woman and person of colour to direct one of three new Star Wars films. She’s Muslim, brown, an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker and this is her first major Hollywood feature. #StarWars #womenoftiktok #Pakistan #southasian #director #movie #film #msmarvel #daisyridley #jedi ♬ original sound – VICE News
As for Obaid-Chinoy’s insinuation that a women have been steering Star Wars, it’s an utter joke given Kathleen Kennedy has been President of Lucasfilm since The Walt Disney Company purchased the company from George Lucas.
In fact, Kennedy made it abundantly clear they were going to inject a feminist perspective into the franchise from the very get go. She told Forbes at The Most Powerful Women Summit in 2015, “I think the interesting path we’ve had is the conversation that took place around consumer products. Because there were a lot of companies that were in place who frankly didn’t initially feel that Star Wars was for girls.”
She continued, “And when you have a company situation where between Lucasfilm and Disney, we were all looking at this situation saying, ‘No, with Star Wars we have to change this. We have to make sure that we create products that are in a sense appealing to both boys and girls.’ What’s wrong with that?”
Kennedy would go on to detail, “The fact that the company was bought by The Walt Disney Company has been amazing because they very much support the fact that we are trying to grow in the work force a number of women in executive positions and in all positions inside the company. And with the movies that we are making and with the protagonists that we are putting in the stories. So I get a huge amount of support with that.”
She added, “But we have 50% of our executive team are women. And six out of eight of the people in my story group are women. And I’m sure there’s a lot of people that would be surprised that we’re making Star Wars movies and the majority of the people involved in the development of those stories are women. And I think it’s making a huge difference in the stories that we’re trying to tell.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: Kathleen Kennedy onstage during the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)
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Not only has the current disastrous direction for Star Wars been ushered in by Kathleen Kennedy, the idea that a women were not shaping the Star Wars story previously is also another lie. George Lucas’ first wife Marcia Lucas was integral to the process of creating what we now know as Star Wars: A New Hope. She even won an Academy Award for her work in the editing process of the film.
Ironically, she’s been critical of Kennedy and her handling of Star Wars telling Star Wars J.W. Rinzler in his book Howard Kazanjian: A Producer’s Life, “Now that [Kathleen Kennedy’s] running Lucasfilm and making movies, it seems to me that Kathy Kennedy and J.J. Abrams don’t have a clue about Star Wars. They don’t get it.”
She relayed, “And J.J. Abrams is writing these stories– when I saw that movie where they kill Han Solo, I was furious. I was furious when they killed Han Solo. Absolutely, positively there was no rhyme or reason to it.”
Lucas added, “I thought, ‘You don’t get the Jedi story. You don’t get the magic of Star Wars. You’re getting rid of Han Solo?’”
She also lampooned The Last Jedi as well, “And then at the end of this last one, The Last Jedi, they have Luke disintegrate. They killed Han Solo. They killed Luke Skywalker. And they don’t have Princess Leia anymore. And they’re spitting out movies every year.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: (L-R) Daisy Ridley, Kathleen Kennedy and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy attend the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)
Ironically, she also called out the feminism the films have injected since Kennedy’s takeover, “And they think it’s important to appeal to a woman’s audience, so now their main character is this female, who’s supposed to have Jedi powers, but we don’t know how she got Jedi powers, or who she is. It sucks. The storylines are terrible. Just terrible. Awful.”
Lucas then added, “You can quote me–’J.J. Abrams, Kathy Kennedy–talk to me.”
Daisy Ridley as Rey in The Last Jedi (2017), Lucasfilm
The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm do not appear to be changing their tune any time will soon and will continue with the Force is Female message with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey sequel film.
One can only predict it will have just as disastrous a box office as the most recently released The Marvels film.
Daisy Ridley as Rey and Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa in The Last Jedi (2017), Lucasfilm
What do you make of Obaid-Chinoy’s comments?
NEXT: Adam Driver Confirms He Will Not Reprise Role As Kylo Ren In Future Star Wars Films
Jonah Chapter 2 Verse 8. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.