'It’s about time that we had a woman come forward': Upcoming 'Star Wars' director promises female-focused Jedi movie

Disney's "Star Wars" franchise started off 2024 with the promise of more to come in terms of what ultimately turned audiences away from the studio in 2023.

After Disney was rated the worst major movie studio by Variety due to its poor performances from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and even staples like "Indiana Jones" and the Mickey Mouse brand, wasted no time letting people know it wasn't done yet.

Appearing on CNN's international New Year's Eve celebration, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy told host Kristie Lu that production on the new "Star Wars" film she is set to direct may start production "soon."

The Pakistani-Canadian director has typically produced documentary shorts, winning two Academy Awards. However, she recently directed two episodes of "Ms. Marvel," a female-centric superhero show starring Muslim actress Iman Vellani, who was also in Marvel's massively disappointing feature "The Marvels."

"I’m very thrilled about the project because I feel what we’re about to create is something very special. And we’re in 2024 now, and it’s about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away," she added, per Hollywood in Toto.

CNN's host noted that Obaid-Chinoy is the "first woman and person of color" to direct a "Star Wars" movie.

In an Instagram post, Obaid-Chinoy said that her work in "oppressive" countries had contributed to her attraction to the role as a director for "Star Wars."

"I've spent my life meeting real life heroes, who have overcome the most oppressive empires and battled impossible odds and that to me is the heart of Star Wars."

"Which is why I was attracted to the promise of a new Jedi Order …And why I'm particularly excited about being immersed inside a Jedi Academy with a powerful Jedi Master," she added.

In a video shared by IMDB, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said that the franchise has been "looking at everything we're doing now as being a kind of overarching look at the evolution of the Jedi."

Kennedy then seemed to imply that future iterations of "Star Wars" could be treated as one-offs, which would avoid potential long-term disasters.

"Everything's connected in a way that it's not something we're setting up where if one doesn't follow the next it makes a huge difference," she added.

When asked what she learned from the most recent "Star Wars" trilogy, Kennedy said that she believed people want to return to a "feeling" and that Disney has been working to find "passionate filmmakers that have something to say, [who] are going to give those stories meaning."

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