Star Wars universe confirms its first black female director

Ben Arnold
·Contributor
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Victoria Mahoney with J.J. Abrams (Credit: Twitter)
Victoria Mahoney with J.J. Abrams (Credit: Twitter)

In an important step in the right direction towards more diversity in the movies, Lucasfilm has hired director Victoria Mahoney for Star Wars: Episode IX.

Mahoney will be J.J. Abrams’ second unit director, a key role in the film’s production, and is the first black female director to get behind the camera in the long-running franchise.

Ava DuVernay, director of A Wrinkle In Time for Disney, appears to have had some influence on the matter too.

She tweeted the news first, posting a pic of Mahoney and J.J. Abrams along with her sincerest congratulations.

“Happy to share this historic news. A black woman directing stories in a galaxy far, far away. First unit director #JJAbrams. Second unit director @VictoriaMahoney,” she wrote.

Mahoney then added: “Catt’s outta the bag. Thank you @ava for putting my name in the #StarWars #LucasFilm hat. Thank you #JJAbrams for inviting me on your ferocious ride. *This one’s for the outliers, dreaming big–in small corners of the Earth.”

Lucasfilm has not been without criticism for its apparent propensity towards hiring almost exclusively middle-aged white men to make its movies.

It received flack for both its recent announcements; that the Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will be behind a new trilogy of movies, while Jon Favreau was recently signed up to make the franchise’s first live-action TV series.

They joined previous helmsmen including Rian Johnson on The Last Jedi, Gareth Edwards on Rogue One, and Phil Lord and Chris Miller – then Ron Howard – on Solo.

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