Why is it that Star Wars is constantly bringing on men with little to no experience in writing anything related to these characters?
The Obi-Wan Kenobi series that fans of the prequels have been waiting for seems to be getting the rough end of the deal. From delays because of the scripts to now … well, *gestures to the world,* the show keeps getting hit with one thing after the other. And now, they’ve brought on a new writer to take a look at the scripts, and it’s not me or any other fellow Obi-Wan Kenobi fangirl I know—so already, a mistake.
Hossein Amini was originally working on the show (you might recognize his name from the incredible film Drive), but now Joby Harold has joined—you know, the man who executive produced the bad Robin Hood movie and My Blind Brother and wrote the bad King Arthur movie. If I write a bad action movie, does that mean I can write for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, then? He also may or may not have written some of what turned into the mess that was Robin Hood, so … great.
I’m sorry, this probably isn’t fair to Mr. Harold. I’m sure he’s a lovely man, and he was also an EP on things people liked, like Edge of Tomorrow and John Wick: Chapter 3, but do you know how many women want to write for Star Wars who are beyond talented, qualified, and have some connection to this specific character? And yet each new addition to Star Wars brings more men to the table, regardless of their level of experience.
I love The Mandalorian with my whole heart, but it is almost a boys’ club. There were directors like Deborah Chow and Bryce Dallas Howard, but then there were countless men taking on the Star Wars franchise. Look at Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. When Colin Trevorrow left, the option was to go back to a director they already used instead of … I don’t know, looking at any woman for the job.
And look, I’m aware that a woman could also do a bad job at writing a Star Wars. I’m not naive, but it’d be nice to see one even get the chance to do so. Instead, they give writing for Obi-Wan to the man who forced me to watch a bad Robin Hood movie starring Taron Egerton. (I only watched it for Taron, and I’m still mad about it.)
This series, in particular, hurts because I personally know so many female writers who are beyond talented who would be brilliant at writing for Obi-Wan, especially because so many of us have been waiting for this since 2005.
Again, I don’t want to be too unfair to Joby Harold, but … look at his track-record. How is that fair? How is that even fair to Colin Trevorrow, who was fired from his Star Wars movie possibly because The Book of Henry was so bad? It’s beyond frustrating, as a fan of Star Wars, to see that they have clearly learned nothing from The Rise of Skywalker.
I would say “do better,” but what’s the point? I’m sure they’ll somehow get Kurt Wimmer (who wrote the terrible remake of Point Break) to write a Padmé series.
(via ComicBook.com, image: Lucasfilm)
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