Looking at the photo from the Star Wars: Episode 7 cast reading that was released yesterday, one can’t help but notice a glaring lack of female faces. In fact, the only new female lead in the photo is Daisy Ridley, and while her presence may double the number of female lead roles alongside the original trilogy’s Carrie Fisher, two female stars and one producer around a table of 15 isn’t going to win any awards for progressing gender equality.
Sci Fi has long been a fairly male dominated world – at last month's Middle East Film and Comic Con Breaking Bad star Gianluca Esposito questioned the lack of women among the event's celebrity guests, and Star Wars fans themselves have in the past bemoaned the lack of strong female roles in the previous six films.
Of course, casting isn’t yet complete, and rumours from Hollywood suggest at least one substantial female role has yet to be cast. The Hollywood Reporter claimed earlier in the year that director JJ Abrams was seeking a mixed-race female in her 20s for a major role, and discussions took place with 12 Years a Slave star Lupita Nyong’o. Whether that role remains or has fallen foul of a rewrite, we don’t know, though word among the Star Wars community is that May 4, aka Star Wars Day, may be when we find out.