As Star Wars aficionados know, one of the most despicable things about the evil Galactic Empire was its prejudice against non-human species.
Yet over the years some have questioned whether Star Wars itself hasn’t been guilty of a lack of inclusivity. The galaxy counts fluffy little ewoks and a giant slug by the name of Jabba the Hutt among its inhabitants, but the heroes have mostly been straight, white males.
Now that might just be changing, as Hollywood’s most lucrative sci-fi franchise announces its first gay character. Moff Delian Mors will appear in Lords of the Sith, a Star Wars novel coming out next month. “She was a promising officer of the Empire, who was assigned to an undesirable post at the far end of the galaxy,” the publishers explain. “At the same point in her life, her wife was killed . . . and the weight of these burdens led to Delian becoming lax in her duties.”
The publisher said: “There should be diversity in Star Wars. You have all these different species and it would be silly to not also recognise that there’s a lot of diversity in humans.”
When the original Star Wars film was released in 1977, all the main characters were white. In the second film, The Empire Strikes Back, Lando Calrissian, played by the black actor Billy Dee Williams, joined the rebel cause, and Samuel L Jackson played the Jedi Master Mace Windu in The Phantom Menace. Despite this the galaxy has remained conspicuously Caucasian.
Advertisement
With Disney buying the franchise for $4 billion in 2012 , however, things are changing.The first trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, to be released on December 18, opens with a shot of a black storm trooper, played by the British actor John Boyega. The film will also feature the Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o.