Lucasfilm boss warns women in ‘Star Wars’ film and TV franchise are trolled more than its male stars
Women in the ‘Star Wars’ film and TV franchises are trolled more than its male stars, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy is warning.
The film studio boss, 70, spoke out about the abuse ahead of the release of the ‘The Acolyte’ – a female-led spin-off TV series of the
sci-fi film favourite that has been slammed by male keyboard warriors for featuring “too many” women.
She told The New York Times she is convinced females are bigger targets for the toxic outpourings of troll ‘Star Wars’ fans as its followers are mainly male.
Kathleen added: “Operating within these giant franchises now, with social media and the level of expectation – it’s terrifying.
“I think (‘The Acolyte’ creator) Leslye (Headland) has struggled a little bit with it.
“I think a lot of the women who step into ‘Star Wars’ struggle with this a bit more.
“Because of the fan base being so male dominated, they sometimes get attacked in ways that can be quite personal.”
‘The Acolyte’ is an original story created by Leslye , 44, set before the events of ‘The Phantom Menace’.
Some fans have dubbed it ‘The Wokelyte’ due to amount of women in the series.
One troll said online: “Why are there so many women, girls and minority characters increasingly dominating the ranks of Jedi?”
But Kathleen said: “My belief is that storytelling does need to be representative of all people.
“That’s an easy decision for me.”
Leslye is renowned for directing films including ‘Sleeping With Other People’ and co-creating Netflix’s popular comedy drama ‘Russian Doll’, and is the first woman to serve as showrunner of a ‘Star Wars’ series.
Her ‘Acolyte’ take on the franchise includes new ‘Star Wars’ characters played by actresses including Amandla Stenberg, Carrie Ann-Moss, Jodie Turner-Smith and others.
Kathleen’s comments come after female ‘Star Wars’ actresses Daisy Ridley, 32, and Kelly Marie Tran, 35, faced online harassment from fans when the most recent ‘Star Wars’ film trilogy was released – with Daisy recently using an interview with Variety to tell fellow women stars involved in the franchise to “tune out” of the criticism and “find the good in it all”.
