Star Wars First Woman Director Says It’s About Time, Will She Save Rey’s Story?
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will be the first woman to direct a Star Wars film. Speaking to CNN, Obaid-Chinoy talked about her new project, saying “I’m very thrilled about the project because I feel what we’re about to create is something very special,” and, “We’re in 2024 now, and it’s about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away.”
Obaid-Chinoy will be heading up the Daisy Ridley film where Rey builds a new Jedi Order years after the events of Star Wars – Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.
“I’m very thrilled about the project because I feel what we’re about to create is something very special. We’re in 2024 now, and it’s about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away.”
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has won two Oscars for her work on the documentaries Saving Face and A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness. Some of her other notable projects include the documentary Song of Lahore and the animated 3 Bahadur films. Obaid-Chinoy recently worked with Disney directing episodes of the MCU’s Ms. Marvel series, and the new Star Wars film will be her next big project for the House of Mouse.
Fans are excited for Daisy Ridley to return to the role of Rey, though are understandably wary after the disaster that was Star Wars – Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. The newest trilogy of films started off promisingly enough with The Force Awakens and then was followed up by the interesting, yet very divisive The Last Jedi. However, The Rise of Skywalker was universally reviled and stopped the Star Wars film train for quite some time while Disney went back to the drawing board.
“I’ve spent my life meeting real life heroes, who have overcome the most oppressive empires and battled impossible odds and that to me is the heart of Star Wars…which is why I was attracted to the promise of a new Jedi Order …And why I’m particularly excited about being immersed inside a Jedi Academy with a powerful Jedi Master.”
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
It appears Disney is ready to dive back in with a new slate of Star Wars films that were announced last year. In addition to Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey film, there will also be films directed by Dave Filoni, James Mangold, Shawn Levy, and Taika Waititi. There is also a Lando film in the works and a Rogue Squadron film directed by Patty Jenkins.
As of now, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey film is the only announced Star Wars film with a release date. The movie is set to come out on May 22, 2026, so we’re going to have to wait quite a while to see if Obaid-Chinoy can redeem Rey’s character. If her social media post is anything to go by, it seems like Obaid-Chinoy is on the right track and could make the first good Star Wars film in a while.
Obaid-Chinoy posted about the project saying, “I’ve spent my life meeting real life heroes, who have overcome the most oppressive empires and battled impossible odds and that to me is the heart of Star Wars…which is why I was attracted to the promise of a new Jedi Order …And why I’m particularly excited about being immersed inside a Jedi Academy with a powerful Jedi Master.”
Obaid-Chinoy recently worked with Disney directing episodes of the MCU’s Ms. Marvel series, and the new Star Wars film will be her next big project for the House of Mouse.
George Lucas’s original Star Wars trilogy gave us an all-time great cinematic underdog tale and hero’s journey with Luke Skywalker and the Rebellion overcoming the Empire. It sounds like Obaid-Chinoy definitely has the ingredients in place, and it’ll be interesting to see what she brings to the table in 2026.
In the meantime, there are numerous Disney+ Star Wars TV shows to hold us over until the franchise returns to the big screen. In 2024, we’re set to get new seasons of the animated shows The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi. There’s also a chance that we’ll see Andor return in 2024, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
Source: CNN
