{"id":2256935,"date":"2024-05-31T16:36:01","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T20:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lucasfilm-head-talks-new-star-wars-series-from-lgbtq-activist-director-leslye-headland\/"},"modified":"2024-05-31T16:37:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T20:37:45","slug":"lucasfilm-head-talks-new-star-wars-series-from-lgbtq-activist-director-leslye-headland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lucasfilm-head-talks-new-star-wars-series-from-lgbtq-activist-director-leslye-headland\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucasfilm CEO Discusses New LGBTQ\/Activist Director&#8217;s &#8216;Star Wars&#8217; Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flucasfilm-head-talks-new-star-wars-series-from-lgbtq-activist-director-leslye-headland%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2256935&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In response to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-spike-in-florida-coronavirus-cases-despite-no-mask-mandate\/\" title=\"No Spike in Florida Coronavirus Cases Despite No Mask Mandate\">criticism<\/a> of \u200bthe new \u2064&#8221;Star Wars&#8221; series &#8220;The Acolyte&#8221; by director\u2064 Leslye Headland, Lucasfilm \u2064CEO Kathleen\u2063 Kennedy defended \u2062the show&#8217;s female-centric and minority Sith-focused approach. Kennedy highlighted the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-is-the-left-so-quick-to-dispose-of-women\/\" title=\"Why Is The Left So Quick To Dispose Of Women?\">challenges women face<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/congress-has-officially-gone-gender-crazy\/\" title=\"Congress Has Officially Gone Gender Crazy\">male-dominated<\/a> &#8220;Star Wars&#8221;\u2064 universe\u200b due to misogyny and toxic fandom \u200battacks. She emphasized the importance of \u2063inclusive storytelling\u200c and Headland&#8217;s \u2063pioneering role as\u200d the first female writer for a &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; series. Kennedy also\u2062 addressed the online\u2062 discussions regarding the series and denounced bigotry and hate speech within the fan base, reaffirming her empathy for genuine &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; \u200bfans while condemning \u2064such behavior. Headland&#8217;s reference to &#8220;Frozen&#8221; as an inspiration for her series, particularly focusing on non-traditional relationships, sparked additional interest and\u2064 discussions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Disney\u2019s Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy defended the new \u201cStar Wars\u201d series \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d from LGBTQ\/activist director <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/yet-another-star-wars-show-wants-to-challenge-the-story-this-is-about-power\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Leslye Headland<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  amid criticism about the very female-centric and minority Sith-focused show.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Speaking to The <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">New York Times<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Kennedy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/29\/arts\/television\/leslye-headland-the-acolyte.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> that oftentimes when women step into the \u201cmale-dominated\u201d \u201cStar Wars,\u201d they often \u201cstruggle\u201d because of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-news\/kathleen-kennedy-star-wars-misogyny-the-acolyte-1235911781\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">misogyny<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cOperating within these giant franchises now, with social media and the level of expectation \u2014 it\u2019s terrifying,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cI think Leslye [Headland] has struggled a little bit with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI think a lot of the women who step into \u2018Star Wars\u2019 struggle with this a bit more,\u201d she added. \u201cBecause of the fan base being so male-dominated, they sometimes get attacked in ways that can be quite personal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Kathleen Kennedy says \u201cI think a lot of the women who step into Star Wars struggle with [toxic fandom attacks] a bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of the fan base being so male dominated, they sometimes get attacked in ways that can be quite personal\u2026 Operating within these giant franchises\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Cq86hSE2E1\">pic.twitter.com\/Cq86hSE2E1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DiscussingFilm\/status\/1795927352536453421?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She also defended hiring Headland to create the first \u201cStar Wars\u201d series written by a woman.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMy belief is that storytelling does need to be representative of all people,\u201d the head of Lucasfilm said. \u201cThat\u2019s an easy decision for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/who-is-disneys-new-star-wars-director-the-queen-of-raunch-comedy\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Headland<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  avoids the discussions online, good or bad, about her upcoming series and told the Times, \u201cAs a fan myself, I know how frustrating some \u2018Star Wars\u2019<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">storytelling in the past has been. I\u2019ve felt it myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1716990157394000&#038;usg=AOvVaw33qQydjIo8bet419amChif\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI stand by my empathy for<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Star Wars<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">fans,\u201d she added. \u201cBut I want to be clear. Anyone who engages in bigotry, racism or hate speech \u2026 I don\u2019t consider a fan.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Earlier this year, a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EndWokeness\/status\/1770167671654396333?s=20\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">video<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  from the 2023 Star Wars Celebration resurfaced in which Headland said the new series will be like the children\u2019s movie \u201cFrozen,\u201d which she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/who-is-disneys-new-star-wars-director-the-queen-of-raunch-comedy\/\" title=\"Who is the new director of Disney's 'Star Wars', known as the 'Queen of Raunch Comedy'?\">labeled \u201ccoded queer<\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Headland talked about watching \u201cFrozen\u201d as an adult and was captivated by \u201cthe concept of true love being between two sisters and not a heterosexual relationship.\u201d She said it \u201cinspired\u201d her to create a similar story that her parents would have allowed her to watch when she was a younger \u201cqueer\u201d person, as previously <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/elon-musk-reacts-to-star-wars-the-acolyte-creator-crazier-than-the-south-park-parody\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2021, Headland spoke to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.advocate.com\/film\/2021\/7\/01\/lesbian-leslye-headland-brings-queer-lens-star-wars-franchise\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Advocate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  about having representation on \u201cThe Acolyte,\u201d on screen and behind the scenes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She said with her new series, she fully \u201cintends to allow her own personal experiences as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/survivor-host-asks-contestants-if-saying-come-on-in-guys-is-still-okay\/\" title=\"\u2018Survivor\u2019 Host Asks Contestants If Saying \u2018Come On In Guys\u2019 Is Still \u2018Okay\u2019\">queer woman<\/a> shine through in the finished product.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIn the same way that the original \u2018Star Wars\u2019 film, \u2018A New Hope,\u2019 is about a young man living in Modesto, California, who doesn\u2019t want to take over his dad\u2019s hardware store,\u201d Headland said. \u201cThere\u2019s just no way that me being a queer woman is not going to be reflected in my work. I could try not to do it, but why would I? It just feels like a natural extension of what I do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She also talked about the characters in her stories and made it clear they will all be queer, in some way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2020, Headland spoke to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/tv\/the-acolyte-star-wars-leslye-headland-amandla-stenberg-lee-jung-jae\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Entertainment Weekly<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  about improving LGBTQ representation in films and promised that \u201cStar Wars\u201d fans will \u201csee more morally ambiguous characters than you\u2019ve seen in other \u2018Star Wars\u2019 content.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe Acolyte\u201d debuts on Disney+ on June 4.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy supported the new &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; series &#8220;The Acolyte&#8221; by LGBTQ\/activist director Leslye Headland. The show&#8217;s focus on female characters and minority Sith prompted criticism. Kennedy, in an interview with The New York Times, highlighted the challenges women face in the traditionally male-dominated &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; universe, often encountering misogyny<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":2256936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/03\/Leslye-Headland.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2256935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/03\/Leslye-Headland.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2256935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2256935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2256935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2256936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2256935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2256935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2256935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}