Female representation has rarely been featured in mainstream media in the past, and even when it has, they are constrained by the concept of being sidelined or soft in any way. But that gradually changed, and now women on screen are being represented as equals to men, both of whom can do heavy scenes and show badass skills on screen. Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia was the only key female character in the original Star Wars trilogy. Despite the pressure on her part for being a primal figure in the franchise, her portrayal opened opportunities for female characters to get featured in more Star Wars offerings.
Now that a slate of new Star Wars projects has been recently unveiled, it shows that it will showcase more women-centered stories because, for the first time in history, three exceptional women were introduced as the major characters of the upcoming Star Wars live-action series Ahsoka. The Wrap sat down with Rosario Dawson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Ahsoka Tano), and Natasha Liu Bordizzo to reflect on the bright future of women in the million-dollar intergalactic franchise.
“I think what’s so cool about this show is that these characters have existed for years now in animation. I definitely feel like there’s a breakup in the fandom from the movies to the live-action shows to the animation. And to now have that confluence I think is really special. And I think it’s going to mean a lot to this generation coming up. We’ve long since been waiting; we knew what Leia was capable of, and now we’re getting to see it even better realized and actualized with this leaderful moment of women on screen.” said Dawson.
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Meanwhile, Winstead commented on how Fisher’s portrayal of Princess Leia started the strong female lead trend in Star Wars to the point where it doesn’t seem to be a big deal now when an all-female leads a popular franchise’s show. “I was saying to Rosario that I really didn’t even notice until we had been shooting for a little while that it was such a female-led show because we never commented on it. It was just Star Wars. We’re just all here making Star Wars. So one day, I’m like, ‘Oh my God. Wait a second. This is really amazing.’ she said.
Winstead continued, “There’s something really revolutionary to me about the fact that we didn’t even need to talk about it. Star Wars started a trend starting with Princess Leia and has continued and it has grown and it’s grown to the point where now, that sort of doesn’t really matter, gender doesn’t matter. It’s Star Wars. We’re all in this together. So there’s something really special about being a part of something like that, that we don’t really need to call attention to it. Because these characters transcend gender in that way.”
On the other hand, Bordizzo said gender is a non-existent thing in the portrayal of her Mandalorian warrior, so she wasn't pressured to look like any gender in her armor. The Mandalorian's Katee Sackhoff also spoke on how different Star Wars characters can inspire her daughter now, may it be a man or woman. It's becoming extraordinary that genders are becoming just a word now and not a definition of how something should be approached or represented.
Ahsoka premieres on Disney+ in August, while The Mandalorian is currently streaming on the platform.
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