【Hard Soap Hard Soap (1977)】

Lucasfilm had the internet buzzing Thursday night when it dropped the first official picture from The Hard Soap Hard Soap (1977)Mandalorian, the first Star Wars live action TV show, coming sometime in 2019.

And to the delight of many fans, the company announced something else: the first ever women and people of color to direct live-action Star Wars. TV veteran Deborah Chow, Dopedirector Rick Famuyiwa, actor-director Bryce Dallas Howard, and Taika Waititi (of Thor: Ragnorakfame) are all directing episodes in the show's first season.

The globally popular Star Wars franchise has an extremely diverse range of fans. But up until now, the director's chair in live-action Star Wars has been exclusively occupied by white men (in order from 1977 onwards: George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand, Lucas again, J.J. Abrams, Gareth Edwards, Rian Johnson and Ron Howard).

Nearly all credited screenwriters on Star Wars films have been white men too -- save for Leigh Brackett, who sadly died of cancer before she could contribute more than a first draft of The Empire Strikes Back.(Lucas abandoned her draft.)

We still don't have a woman or a person of color tapped to direct a full-length Star Wars film. Abrams is currently filming the next Star Wars movie, the still-untitled Episode IX. Two future movie trilogies have been announced, one produced by Johnson, one produced by Game of Thronesshowrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss. Johnson will direct the first of his trilogy, but that leaves five movies where no director has been announced yet.

Such a diverse slate of directors for The Mandaloriansuggests that the company is sensitive to criticism that it is obsessed with white male filmmakers. It may also be a way to have these directors effectively audition for the helm of future movies. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has claimed in the past that she can't hire more women to direct her blockbusters because there isn't a large enough pool of female blockbuster directors.

(This was before Kennedy fired a spate of troublesome men who'd supposedly proven themselves on other movies: Josh Trank, Chris Miller and Phil Lord, and Colin Trevorrow.)

Also on the slate is Dave Filoni, supervising director on the animated shows Clone Warsand Rebels. Filoni, a fan favorite, has been tapped to direct the first episode of The Mandalorian. Rumors have circulated for years that he's about to make the jump to live-action Star Wars directing, and this is certainly an indication that he's in good standing with Kennedy.

Fear not, white dudes -- your level of representation in a galaxy far, far away is in no way compromised.