So, good news and bad news internet! The good news is that the cast for the newest installment in the Star Wars franchise has been announced. Yay! The bad news is that it’s keeping alive the tradition of only having one token female character for every six male characters. From the official website …
Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film. Director J.J. Abrams says, “We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud.”
The funny thing is, between the prequel trilogy and Clone Wars, the most interesting character to come out of the whole thing was Ahsoka. Yes, she started off as annoying and overly peppy, but she eventually turned into one of the most well-rounded characters to come out of the new batch of movies. It’s weird having asking writers to work in female characters (we had to have that talk with the writers on a show I was working on, so I know it’s not fun) because I know it sounds naggy, but the truth is, when women are underrepresented like that in movies and TV shows, the audience does notice it. A 1:6 ratio of female to male roles is just way too low.