People may have several things to say about the Star Wars sequel trilogy but there is little doubt that the new films handled representation properly. Interestingly, J.J. Abrams wanted to make sure that diversity was presented properly in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Abrams and production partner Katie McGrath were recently in attendance at the 2020 Upfront Summit where they discussed how they approached The Force Awakens (via Variety).
"In the earliest stages, we talked about, ‘If we have this moment, this privilege, what do we want to do with it?'" McGrath said of the first film in the sequel trilogy. "And not from a place of being preachy or feeding people spinach, just from a place of — any time you have a privilege, you have an obligation, period. That's just how we try to live our lives."
McGrath also pointed out that Abrams came up with the idea of "building this story with the female protagonist, a set of four main characters: One of whom was Latinx, one of whom was a Nigerian Londoner, one of whom was a woman — a white woman — and one of whom was a white guy... How can we find a way to have every kid who's going to go see that movie see a version of themselves, in a way that isn't often considered at scale?"
It's great to know that Abrams took time to consider what would be shown in the sequel trilogy. Unfortunately, fans were not able to see his full vision for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
It was previously reported that the final cut was missing several key sequences in an effort to please investors. Hopefully, we'll be able to see this when the director's cut of Episode IX is released.
Related: Star Wars Fans Freak Out Over Han Is Alive Trending on Twitter But It's Not Han Solo
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