‘Ahsoka’ and ‘The Mandalorian’ Actresses on ‘Star Wars’ Bright Female-led Future
This past weekend in London, for the first time in history, three remarkable women were brought onstage as the main protagonists of a forthcoming Star Wars live-action series. We are talking about Rosario Dawson, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who are playing Ahsoka Tano, Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren, and ace pilot Hera Syndulla in Ahsoka, respectively. Two other ladies, Ivanna Sakhno and Diana Lee Inosanto, were also welcomed at a later point.
TheWrap caught up with all three actresses after the Ahsoka panel on Saturday to discuss this moment. Said Dawson:
“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.”
Mary Elizabeth Winstead spoke about how Star Wars started the trend of strong female leads with Princess Leia:
“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.’ So 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.”
Natasha Liu Bordizzo discussed how her character fits into the story as a strong Mandalorian warrior:
“I mean, gender is just such a non-existent thing for the portrayal of this warrior. What I loved about it was that I was in full body armor with sometimes short hair through the whole show, so there was just no pressure to look any kind of way or be aware of [gender roles]. I was just very in my body.”
The Wrap also caught up with Katee Sackhoff, who talked about how so many different Star Wars characters can inspire her daughter now:
“As the mother of a daughter, it is such a beautiful thing to know that she has so many different characters, women and men to look to. We don’t necessarily have to be inspired by somebody that’s just our gender. I wanted to be Bruce Willis when I was a little kid. And so as long as there’s good writing, good stories, and it’s a character that we can fall in love with and root for — that’s what inspires me.”
And finally, the President of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, had this to say regarding the ability to tell stories from so many diverse points of view:
“I think that we have created now not only some really great female characters, but we’ve got a lot of women working in front of the camera and behind the camera. And I think it’s created a kind of amazing balance to what’s going on. Because storytelling is all about point of view, and having the widest variety of points of view, whether it’s ethnicity or whether it’s gender, that shouldn’t be a deterrent. And the more the merrier.”
And there’s a lot more coming our way with female-led Star Wars stories, including The Acolyte, which is led by Amandla Stenberg and was created by Leslye Headland — main writer of the series as well as the director of at least one episode. Announced over the weekend, we also have a new film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy that will feature Daisy Ridley reprising the role of Rey Skywalker, the main protagonist of the sequel trilogy and a character that has already inspired an entire generation of fans regardless of gender.
It seems clear the franchise has a bright future ahead for its female leads.
Meet Julie Gray, a passionate pop culture writer from Aotearoa, New Zealand. A lifelong Star Wars fan, her love for the franchise runs deep, with Luke Skywalker being her all-time favourite character and Anakin Skywalker coming in as a close second. Her outlook on the Star Wars universe is simple yet powerful - "All Star Wars is good Star Wars", a true testament to her undying love for this iconic franchise.
