Credit for a lot of Star Wars usually (and often fairly) go to the men creating it- George Lucas, Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau, J.J. Abrams and so on. And all of these men are incredible storytellers and creatives who we're lucky to have contributing to the stories we all love so much. But there are so many women working hard to contribute to our galaxy far, far away, and I wanted to highlight a few of those women today for International Women's Day. We'll also be highlighting a few more throughout the month as it is Women's History Month!
Jennifer Corbett
It is a personal pet peeve of mine that fandom at large keeps attributing the high achievements in Star Wars storytelling that The Bad Batch accomplishes all to Dave Filoni. While he is an executive producer on the show, he's said himself that he isn't directly involved in a lot of the direct writing - more of the credit should go to Jennifer Corbett, head writer of the show and the writer of many episodes. Jennifer Corbett continually brings some incredible Star Wars stories to our screen across The Bad Batch's 3 seasons (not to mention some of the episodes she wrote for Resistance), have given us incredibly compelling stories, thoughtful character work, follow-up on many loose plot threads, and more as the series ties the entire franchise together. I hope even as The Bad Batch concludes this year, we get to see some more of her work for Star Wars in the future.
Susanna White
Susanna White wowed us with her episodes of Andor in 2022. She directed the mindblowing Aldhani arc, where she directed the performance of the complicated misfit group of rebels and the stern Imperials that they face. It filled me with so much joy while Andor was airing for those weeks to see a woman's name under the "Directed by" credit, especially after such incredible and universally beloved episodes. Susanna White isn't slated to return as a director in the second season of the show, we were so privileged for her to lend her talents and knowledge to our galaxy, and I hope we may see her return to Star Wars some day.
Deborah Chow
Deborah Chow made history as the first woman to direct an episode of Star Wars television in The Mandalorian, and went on to become the executive producer and director for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Deborah Chow has brought incredible episodes of Star Wars television to us, both in The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Her clear love for both the Star Wars galaxy, its characters and the craft of storytelling is so inspiring. We've been so lucky to have her handling such beloved characters so masterfully, and I'd love to see her work in Star Wars continue.