In an interview with Fortune magazine Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy stated that one of the new upcoming Star Wars films will have a female director. It’s almost a guarantee. While it’s unclear who and which film, Kennedy is confident it will happen, and has the support of Disney. For now, we know it will not be for one of the upcoming films of the new sequel trilogy. Rian Johnson is scheduled to direct Star Wars: Episode VIII, due out in May 2017. Colin Trevorrow will direct Star Wars: Episode IX, which is due out in 2019.
“They [Disney] very much support the fact that we are trying to grow in the workforce the number of women in executive positions,” said Kennedy on the subject, “and in all positions inside the company, and with the movies we’re making, and with the protagonists that we’re putting in the stories.”
She even went on to note that much of her story team at Lucasfilm are women. “Fifty percent of our executive team are women,” said Kennedy.” 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.”
She added: “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. 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.”
The first of the new Star Wars films, The Force Awakens, arrives on December 19.
