The next Star Wars movie isn’t set to be released until 2026, but it’s already igniting controversy online.
The as-yet-untitled film is centered on Rey Skywalker, the Jedi protagonist played by Daisy Ridley in the franchise’s sequel series, and picks up with Rey following the events of 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Plot details are still scarce, but a director has already been named: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who will become the first woman and first person of color to direct a Star Wars feature film.
That fact alone would probably be enough to rile up conservatives dubious about a women-led, women-directed Star Wars, but Obaid-Chinoy’s recent comments about the film have added fuel to the fire.
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“You know, I’m very thrilled about the project because I think what we are about to create is something very special. And we’re in 2024 now, and I think it’s about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away,” she recently told CNN.
The Pakistan-born Canadian filmmaker’s comments soon spread across social media, where conservative fans accused Disney of “ruining” Star Wars by “going woke.”
Right-wing political commentator Matt Walsh further provoked matters by sharing an eight-year-old clip from Tina Brown’s annual Women in the World summit, where Obaid-Chinoy appeared alongside Meryl Streep and Ava DuVernay for a panel moderated by Jon Stewart. During the panel, Obaid-Chinoy said that she “enjoys” making men uncomfortable with her art if it leads to a call for action.
“I like to make men uncomfortable. I enjoy making men uncomfortable,” the director, who had won an Oscar for her 2012 documentary about acid attacks on women in Pakistan, said as the crowd laughed and cheered in response. “It is important to be able to look into the eyes of a man and say, I am here, and recognize that, and recognize that I am working to bring something that makes you uncomfortable, and it should make you uncomfortable.”
In sharing the clip from 2015, Walsh wrote on X: “Here’s the feminist director of the next Star Wars film saying that her goal is to ‘make men uncomfortable.’ This movie is destined to be Disney’s biggest flop yet.”
While there’s no way for Walsh or anyone else to know whether Obaid-Chinoy’s 2026 film will be a box office hit or not, it appears some Star Wars fans (or so-called fans) have already made up their minds. And we’ll presumably be hearing all about it for the next two-plus years.
