On Tuesday, news broke that Colin Trevorrow would no longer direct Star Wars: Episode IX, with subsequent reports that persistent script issues influenced the decision. Speculation currently places Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson as a likely candidate to take over the 2019-scheduled film -- but, nothing against him or his work, he shouldn't. Trevorrow's departure gives Lucasfilm a new opportunity to finally hire a female director for a Star Wars film, a chance it needs to take.
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No woman has ever directed a Star Wars film, though around the time of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story many expressed their hope to finally see the galaxy far, far away's glass ceiling shattered. Women have influenced the production of Star Wars for the better since the original trilogy. Marcia Lucas edited the first three Star Wars films, although she was uncredited on Empire Strikes Back. For her work on A New Hope, Marcia Lucas took home an Oscar for Best Film Editing at the 50th Academy Awards.
Marcia Lucas did more than just edit the original trilogy. She also helped make key changes to the first film's script that affected the series as a whole. In the first movie alone, she's said to have suggested killing Obi-Wan Kenobi, keeping the kiss between Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia before they swung across the chasm inside the Death Star, and heavily revised the trench scene at the end. Without Marcia Lucas' input, the original trilogy wouldn't be the same.
As representation has become more prominent on-screen in the last few years, so has Star Wars increasingly put women at the forefront. According to the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, the number of female protagonists in the top 100 domestic-grossing films of 2016 was up 7 percent from 2015, but it's noteworthy that women only comprised 32 percent of speaking characters.
Rey (Daisy Ridley) is at the center of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and, presumably, Episode IX. The character plays much the same role that Luke Skywalker played in the original trilogy, and as he was a role model for young fans, Rey is a role model for young girls and young boys.
And it's not just Rey. Rogue One introduced fans to Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), the film's lead character, who led a group of Rebels to steal the plans for the Death Star. The Last Jedi will introduce Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), a Resistance maintenance worker. Each of these characters plays an important role at the center of the action, much like Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia did in the original trilogy.
It's so important for girls and women to see themselves reflected in the media they consume, and Star Wars has begun to do an admirable job of representing them -- but there's so much more than can be done. A different report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film noted that, in 2016, women directed only 7 percent of the top 250 domestic-grossing films, down from 9 percent in 2015. Representation is increasing on-screen, but not behind it. Women need to be represented behind the camera, too.
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Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy made some comments in November about bringing a female director in to do Star Wars, remarking, "they're gigantic films, and you can't come into them with essentially no experience." While Kennedy took criticism for her statements, she did later clarify that Lucasfilm was certainly going to consider placing a woman in the directorial chair.
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The issue with Kennedy's remarks goes back to that statistic on the lack of female directors represented in big budget films and the double-bind placed on them. Female directors don't get experience directing blockbusters because they don't have experience directing them. The solution to that is pretty obvious: start hiring them to direct blockbusters so they can have the experience.
Studios often take a chance on inexperienced directors. Prior to directing The Amazing Spider-Man, Marc Webb had only directed one other feature film, 2009 romantic dramedy 500 Days of Summer. James Gunn's biggest-budget movie prior to Guardians of the Galaxy was 2006's Slither, which he made for $15 million. Big-budget experience is, seemingly, not that major of an issue.
Then, of course, there's Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman, the ultimate proof that a studio can give a big budget film to a director relatively inexperienced in that territory and succeed. Wonder Woman has become one of the highest grossing superhero films of all time and helped Warner Bros. top the summer box office. Prior to Wonder Woman, Jenkins had only directed one other feature film, 2003's acclaimed drama Monster, which had a reported production budget of $8 million. Warner Bros. trusted Jenkins' ability, and it paid off.
Jenkins is likely directing Wonder Woman 2, so she probably isn't going to jump ship from Warner Bros. to Disney. That's OK -- there are so many other female directors that deserve a shot at bringing the Star Wars universe to the big screen. While it's certainly not a complete list of all of the women who could do a phenomenal job on Episode IX, Michelle MacLaren, Kathryn Bigelow or Ava DuVernay should be at the top of the studio's list.
MacLaren was set to helm the Wonder Woman film before creative differences caused her to split from the project. She's worked on such popular TV series as Westworld, X-Files, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad, so she's no stranger to action or sci-fi. Her work has earned her two Emmys and, while she's less experienced in feature-length films, she's proven that she knows how to create great TV shows. The fact that Warner Bros. was already prepared to entrust her with one of DC Comics' flagship characters is a ringing endorsement.
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Another great contender is DuVernay, the first woman of color and second woman ever (right after Jenkins) to direct a film with a budget over $100 million; Disney's film adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's immensely popular sci-fi book A Wrinkle in Time. Although the movie isn't out yet, the trailer has met with positive early reception. DeVernay, an Academy Award nominee for 13th, already contributed to The Force Awakens. According to director J.J. Abrams, DeVernay helped design the battle between Kylo Ren and Rey at the film's climax. Additionally, she was at one point in the running to direct Marvel Studios' Black Panther.
While both DeVernay and MacLaren have experience working in sci-fi, the franchise might benefit from a director from outside the genre. That's where a director like Bigelow factors in. One of the most critically acclaimed directors of the contemporary era, she won an Academy Award for Best Director her work on The Hurt Locker in 2009, becoming the first -- and currently only -- female director to have won the honor. While Bigelow may not be known for science fiction outside of 1995's Strange Days, she knows her way around big movies, and especially movies about war. As the plot of the new trilogy revolves around the war between the Resistance and the First Order, Bigelow could bring a unique style to the series that looks at the human side of the galactic conflict.
It's entirely possible, and maybe likely, that Disney won't hire a female director for Episode IX. That won't necessarily make the film good or bad in and of itself, but Lucasfilm has a major opportunity to bring a woman director into the production of one of the highest-grossing franchises of all-time. It's an opportunity Lucasfilm should take.