George Lucas, the creator of «Star Wars», responded to critics who accused the director of lacking diversity in the first six films of the franchise.
«They say “only white people”. Most people are aliens!», — Lucas said during a speech at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday (via Variety). «The idea is that they should accept people as they are — regardless of whether they are big, or fluffy, or green».
Lucas also added that the only people who could face discrimination in the «Star Wars» universe were robots.
«It was a way of saying that humans are always discriminating against something, and sooner or later it will happen,» he said. «I mean, we’re already starting to do that with AI, saying we can’t trust these robots».
The director also gave examples of diversity in his films:
«In the first one, there were a few Tunisians who were dark, in the second one I had Billy Williams, and in the [prequels], which were also criticized, I had Sam Jackson. He wasn’t a villain like Lando… He was one of the best Jedi».
In 2012, George Lucas sold Lucasfilm (the production company behind «Star Wars») to Disney for $4 billion, and now the franchise is preparing to enter a new era — one of the upcoming films will be directed by Pakistani Canadian filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
«We’re in 2024, and it’s time for women to make history in a galaxy far, far away», — stated formerly Obeid-Chinoy.
During his talk in Cannes, Lucas also touched upon the issue of gender equality, noting that many women played heroic roles in his franchise, including the late Carrie Fisher.
«Who do you think are the characters in these stories? Who do you think Princess Leia was?», — he said.
Lucasfilm and Disney have announced several films of the «Star Wars» franchise, which have no release dates, titles, or any real plot details yet. For example, the director of «Thor: Ragnarok» Taika Waititi «is still working» on the movie announced in 2020, and the director of «Star Wars: Episode 8 — The Last Jedi» Rian Johnson announced a whole trilogy, but as of April 2023, it was not actively developed. The trilogy was announced even before «The Last Jedi» was released in theaters in November 2017 and will include completely new characters and stories.
The three most likely films that have been announced areat the Star Wars Celebration 2023 event— are the aforementioned work by Charmaine Obeid-Chinois; James Mangold’s film dedicated to «The First Jedi»; and the work of animation director Dave Filoni, which will focus on the New Republic and will be linked to the series «Ahsoka», «The Mandalorian» and «The Book of Boba Fett».
Last year in November, Marvel boss Kevin Feige officially confirmedcanceling your own movie based on the universe «Star Wars», rumors of which have been circulating since 2019.