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George Lucas Actually Meant To Have Female Stormtroopers After A New Hope


Organizations like the First Order and the Empire might not have much in terms of diversity and representation, however, Star Wars creator George Lucas always wanted female stormtroopers in his galaxy far, far away, even as early as 1977.

This might come as a surprise to some. As much as we love the Star Wars franchise, the originals and prequels were pretty much dominated by men. Other than Leia (played by the late Carrie Fisher), the original trilogy didn't have that many female characters at all. The prequels didn't do much better either – Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) might have been a lead character like Leia was, however, the senator and queen of Naboo was nothing more than a plot device for Anakin (Hayden Christensen).

However, according to a report by Screen Rant, Lucas once revealed that he always wanted to have female stormtroopers marching around the franchise. Shortly after the release of A New Hope, Lucas wrote about these female Stormtroopers, saying that they could be found elsewhere in the galaxy.

"Some of the stormtroopers are women, but there weren't that many women assigned to the Death Star. We can assume that there are quite a few elsewhere," Lucas wrote.

Unfortunately, after writing what seems to be nothing more than wishful thinking, Lucas never really made an effort of having female stormtroopers in his next Star Wars entries.

It was Disney who made an effort to change things. The animated Star Wars series Rebels actually featured a unit of female stormtrooper cadets in one of its episodes. Some Star Wars novels even mentioned these illusive female stormtroopers.

The first one to actually make her way to the big screen was Captain Phasma, a chrome trooper brought to life by Game of Thrones actress Gwendolyn Christie.

Lucasfilm's next Star Wars film, Star Wars: Episode IX, premieres December 20, 2019.

Read:Star Wars: Episode IX Crew Merch Seems to Confirm Film Logo

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